It’s not quite spring but if you’re getting stir crazy in your house, you may want to get some of that spring cleaning and organizing done. In the haze of chaos that is my house, there is one place where I try to keep a shred of organization (and thus, sanity) – my makeup drawer. Every three or four months it gets a little unruly, so I dump it all out, clean everything off and sort the good from the bad. So when Meijer challenged me to do a spring clean, the timing was perfect.

When it comes to keeping your beauty routine on track, here’s a few tips/pointers that have made my life a lot easier.

* Get a great organizer. Every one has their mainstay products but if you’re a product junkie like me, you’ve probably got a bunch of stuff that you use occasionally or set aside for big nights out. You’re going to want everything in one, organized place so you can easily see what you have.

I like having everything stored away in my bathroom drawer, so I opted for this Ikea clear box with all kinds of compartments. It keeps everything in one place, has lots of storage and makes it easy to see everything. Now, if I had more space – I’d keep all my beauty gear in one place with this storage piece. The Container Store also has more options than any one person could need that will make organizational nerds squeal with happiness. 

* Dump it & Sort it.  Now that you’ve got a place to keep everything, you’re going to want to dump everything out and sort it. Get rid of anything that’s in a broken container – it can let in unruly germs especially on cream/gel products. Trash anything that’s past it’s expiration date (see guide below) and ditch those products that you’ve tried but not loved or even liked. If you’re not using it, don’t let it take up unnecessary space. 

* Clean It & Categorize It. Makeup containers can get grimy. Not only will they get all dirty from makeup residual but they can get covered with germs from touching them everyday. So grab some wet wipes and clean off the stuff you’re keeping. It will look nicer but more importantly you’ll have cleaned off any germs that are lingering on your favorite products.

Then store things together so they are easy to find. Sounds pretty simple but just creating little areas for each product will keep you from digging around, asking “where did I put that mascara?”

So now that you know when everything expires, do a quick run through of what you’ve got and make sure you’re not holding on to some serious oldies. When it comes to foundation, face creams and mascara, we usually run out of a product before it hits its expiration date. But on things like nail polish, lipstick and eyeliner, you may have some things in your collection that are way past their prime. Make sure to toss those since they are much less effective once they’ve expired. Think runny, discolored nail polish, dried out lipstick and crumbly, dull bronzer. And we all know, that’s not a good look.

If you’re on the hunt for new products to replace those old, expired ones definitely head over to Meijer to check out their massive beauty department. They’ve got all the brands you’re looking for and all the options you want (think fully stocked shelves so no wondering what N4 actually looks like).

Disclosure: Thanks to Meijer Beauty for sponsoring this post and for sending some samples my way. As always, all opinions and thoughts are my own. When it comes to partnering up, I choose brands and products that I personally use and think you all might be interested in too!