I have always LOVED nail polish, even as a small child.  However, I never liked my hands, they are very small and child like.  If I could have any body’s hands, it would be Lucille Ball’s. Her finger were long, elegant and graceful.

Since, I always thought my fingers were short and stubby, the only way I truly liked my hands was when my nails were manicured and painted. This is how my nail polish collection began and when I began organizing my collection – more on that in a minute.

Throughout my teens and early to mid ’20s I ALWAYS had acrylic nails. My best friend often made the comment “No matter what, Arlyn will have her nails done.” That was SO true. If I broke a nail,  I would get to the salon ASAP! I loved my acrylic nails.  Sadly, the damage they had done to my nails for 10 years was really adding up. My natural nails were thin, weak, peeling and just awful!  I decided to quit destroying my nails, as well as my nail beds, and grow my own nails.

I actually have very nice natural nails when I take care of them. Shortly after this decision, I got engaged! All of a sudden I had this amazing ring, I really needed to have beautiful nails to show off my hands!  So, this is when my “hobby” of nail polish collecting began (from 2007 to 2008).

I started out buying a few polishes every time I went to the mall or the drugstore. After a month or two I really had a nice collection started.

It is so much fun to change polishes!  It’s like the best and easiest accessory to switch!  I have what most people would consider a lot of polish.  Actually, in the “nail-polish community” I am still at “amateur” status.  I own just over 150 bottles, and most of the women in the nail-polish world who I speak with have 300-500 bottles! Some have even more. Because my collection is still relatively small, I know the names and corresponding colors of all of my polishes.

Spreadsheet organizes nail polish inventory

One of the ways I organize my polish is by using a spreadsheet.  I did not think I needed one  for my “small” collection, but with some persuasive friends I went ahead and made one.  It was SO easy and a lot of fun!! When I buy or swap polish, or get rid of a polish, I just edit my sheet!

I have found it easiest to list all of the polish brands alphabetically. I then list the names of the colors alphabetically.  I made columns for any notes or comments for that particular polish. I also listed the kind of finish each polish has.

I suggest that anyone with a collection (of any kind) create a spreadsheet.  I do think a spreadsheet is helpful and almost essential.

Good storage is a must

When it came to the actual “storage” of my polish, it has been a work in progress.  At first, I just needed a plastic storage shoe container. Then, as my collection progressed, I needed more storage so I bought two more shoe containers.  They are made out of clear plastic and they aren’t the sturdiest construction. So, they cannot withstand the weight of three full drawers of polish. The containers started buckling, and opening the drawers became a daily (yes, daily) challenge.

The  overflow of polish bottles was getting stacked on top and on the floor around the storage unit.  It was becoming one hot mess!

I had outgrown my three drawers (which I NEVER thought would happen).  I knew a fourth drawer would just add to the madness, so I bit the bullet and upgraded to a “melmer”.  What is a melmer?  A melmer is a storage container you purchase at Michael’s Arts and Craft store.  It is not actually called a melmer, but that’s what the polish community calls it. (It can be found in the scrap booking section.) It runs about $39, and Michael’s always has a 20-40% off coupon.  My melmer cost me $30.09.

Ikea, has a storage unit called a “Helmer”, that a lot of women use to store their polish.  So, that’s where the word “melmer” came from.

Depending on your personal preference you have to decide what you would rather have.  For my preference, I went with the melmer, and not the Helmer, for a couple of different reasons.  First, there is not an Ikea where I live. I also prefer the material that the melmer is made out of versus the metal that the Helmer is made out of.  I have never seen a Helmer in person, but from what I can tell, the metal seems flimsy and it looks more like office furniture rather than home furniture.  I like that the melmer is stackable with other units, and I think it’s all around a nicer piece of “furniture”.

I brought the melmer home and assembled it (with the Husband’s help).  I do think it’s very important to line the bottoms of the drawers with non-slip shelf liner.  If you omit this every time you open the drawer the polish will slide everywhere!  The way you choose to organize your polish is up to you, but I found it easiest to organize by brand I had the most of and then organize the colors.  I do own a few “randoms” polishes, but I put all of my polishes in the same drawer.  It’s what I call “The five-or-less” drawers.  I still use my plastic shoe boxes for my files, buffers, remover, cotton balls, etc.  My new set up is so much easier and efficient to use. It doesn’t make me fight it every time I try to go in there.

Making nail polish last

“Polishes, do have a shelf life, and after a certain amount of years they will get gloopy, thick and extremely difficult to use.  I have heard of people adding nail polish remover to the polish, but I have been told that this is not good to do.  Remover will change the chemical makeup of the polish, essentially “eating” the polish.  The best and recommended method is to use nail polish thinner.

Thinner doesn’t change the polish; it just thins it out.  I have never used thinner.

Some polishes do last longer than others. I have polish that is more than eight years old and still in pretty good shape.  I also have my absolute FAVORITE polishes. There are three that I drool over every time I see them! They are: Peridot by Chanel, Cajun Shrimp by OPI and Holographic by GOSH.  I have tried to work on a “Top 10″ list but I can’t seem to get it under 12.

Take care of your nails too!

Nail Polish is a fun, easy and (sometimes) cheaper way to spruce up your wardrobe.  I was told once, “Nails are an extension of your personality”. I will never forget that because its so true.  All it takes is a little time, dedication and loving care, and your nails will reap the benefits.  Nail care doesn’t stop at the polish. Please treat your cuticles and nail beds nicely also.

They are where it all starts!  Diet and nutrition play a huge factor on the health of your nails.  Do the small things, and you should see a visible improvement in your nails.

Note from Janice: I met Arlyn Parker on Twitter, and she’s my go-to source for the latest trends in nail polish colors and styles.

Some people take the hope in a jar issue just a little far, as you can see in the photo below.

This vanity belongs to one of my friends who graciously let me photograph it.

There are two issues. First, my friend’s house is similar to mine (1960’s style ranch house), and the built-in vanities original to the house have narrow drawers not conducive to holding a modern woman’s beauty regimen.

Second, this is an issue of overshopping. I’ve seen it before, and I’ve heard about every excuse in the book. They need more products because they have thin hair; they have curly hair; or they can’t find the “perfect” foundation or lipstick.

One of my friends was always on the search for the basic black flat since she had narrow feet, and she ended up owning 50 of them. Overshoppers get on a never-ending perfectionistic loop, always searching for the Holy Grail. The next purchase will be The One.

Not only does overshopping reduce the size of your wallet, it takes up valuable space – as you can see in the photo above.

When it comes to the vanity, this is what I recommend:

• Take inventory and see what you really have.
• Toss any items that you did not like
• Toss things that have expired or changed in texture, color and fragrance.
• Use what you have before buying anything else.
• If possible, keep one item out for your daily use, and stash extras in your storage space.
• Round up your daily use items and put them in a container for easy access.

Here’s an example of how to organize health and beauty products.

In the commercial for designer Jeff Lewis’ new show Interior Therapy, the home of a wealthy couple shows a pile of stuff in a room, and Jeff asks the question: “Can rich people be hoarders? I don’t know.”

I found myself answering the television, “Yes, they can.”

Hoarding is a mental illness, and it doesn’t matter how much money is in your bank account, where you live, what education you have, what job you have, or your gender and race.

Hoarding does not discriminate

Three or four years ago, a surgeon and his wife who lived in an expensive neighborhood in Houston died in a house fire because firefighters couldn’t reach them due to the clutter throughout their home. One of my co-workers recently sent me an article about a man who was trapped in his home because hundreds of yachting magazines fell on him.

Now there is some indication hoarding can run in families, but whether it’s a nature vs. nurture matter is unclear. The research continues in that area. I can tell you from the organizing work I do that some people have natural tendencies to be on the “messy” or “neat” side of things.

Hoarding can also develop with people who are compulsive shoppers. With compulsive shoppers, it doesn’t matter whether they’re shopping in thrift store or expensive stores. The result is still the same.

So yes, Jeff Lewis, rich people can be hoarders too.

If you or someone you know is a hoarder, you can seek help through the Institute for Challenging Disorganization and mental health professionals.

This past Saturday night was an exciting night in the Simon household. I was deep in my closet, sorting through my wardrobe. Even professional organizers have to redo their space every now and again.

One of the side effects of the health issues I’ve been dealing with since May 2011 is weight loss. I’ve dropped over 50 pounds, and I’m not complaining about that “side effect” at all and consider it a gift for all the crap I’ve been through.

During the past two or three months, a couple of my co-workers suggested retiring some of my wardrobe because the clothes were too big and looked weird. It’s always interesting how we don’t see ourselves as well as others do.

I began digging through the carefully packed boxes of smaller clothes in my closet, and I was excited that several things fit for the first time in a long while. One of my friends is jetting off to Hawaii to celebrate her anniversary, and since she didn’t want to buy a bunch of new clothes for a trip, I dug through my boxes to find some pieces for her. She’s a size smaller than I am now so it works out very well.

By digging through my six boxes (all sorted and labeled by size) for several weeks, I created a giant mess in my closet. This weekend, I devoted the time to clearing out the stuff I no longer need and adding in the things that now fit.

Donate or Keep

First, I had to make more space so I went through the items already hanging in my closet. This meant trying on everything. For me, the choices were: 1) Too big! Awesome! Donate pile. 2) Oh, this looks better. Keep!

I had a moment of panic when I saw how many things were gone, but this brings me to Step Two – seeing what fits of the smaller sizes. Again, I had to try things on. This time, my choices were: 1) Ooh, this looks cute! Keep! 2) Not quite yet (said in a singsong lilt). 3) Oh, I can’t wait until I get back into this! Back in the box.

For Step Three, I hung up everything that fit into the closet and repacked the items that didn’t. The boxes were still labeled so I didn’t have to re-label anything. I created more space in my closet since I was able to reduce my stash by one box.

The process reinforced a few facts I already knew:

• The actual size on a clothing tag means very little, and what counts is the fit. It’s amazing how much difference a size 16 is, depending on how who made it. No wonder shopping can be a frustrating experience.
• Shopping in your closet is FREE! The only item I need to purchase is a pair of strappy black sandals – an annual purchase when you live on the Gulf Coast.
• I am obviously drawn to cute dresses, comfy pajamas and colorful shirts. Going through all the boxes, I saw the pattern.
• I realized how much I had missed some of my favorite pieces. I felt as if I was greeting long-lost friends, and I definitely took a walk down memory lane. There was the blue silk shirt I wore when I met my birthfather Mike for the first time. I purposely chose that shirt since it makes my blue eyes bluer, a feature I inherited from him.  There was the super cute dress I found for $10 at a department store that I wore to the Savvy Auntie book launch party last year.

With any donations, make sure the items are gently used and do not have stains, rips, tears, missing buttons or broken zippers. Charities spend millions each year disposing of unusable donations. If an item is not good enough for donation, cut it up for rags or toss it.

Where can you donate your clothes and accessories? Charities such as Goodwill, Salvation Army and Purple Heart are always good choices.

Other resources:

Dress for Success. All business clothes, shoes, bags and jewelry are going to this program that helps women preparing for job interviews. There is a serious need for plus size items.

The Fairy Godmother Project. These fairy godmothers provide prom dresses for high school girls who don’t have the means to buy their own. They will take donations of cocktail and prom dresses, shoes, handbags and jewelry.

My next project will be to go through my socks, pajamas, underthings, shoes, handbags and jewelry.

I stumbled across this quote making the rounds on Twitter a couple of weeks ago, and it keeps popping up in my mind as I follow the incredible and horrific anti-women sentiment pulsing through politicians and media types.

The quote also reminded me of a scene in the movie “Thelma and Louise.” Near the end of the movie, Geena Davis, whose character transforms from a beaten-down mousy woman into a tough, independent woman, looks at the sunrise breaking over the desert and says, “I’m awake. I’m really awake.” That scene gave me goosebumps.

I can tell you that this woman is awake. Very, very awake.

Before I saw the sleeping women quote, I had posted on Facebook about my frustrations with the Komen/Planned Parenthood scandal, the argument about contraceptives and women’s health, discussions about knees and aspirin, and other serious anti-women sentiments. I was a little surprised and then annoyed when two men made dismissive comments about my concerns. Interestingly enough, I’ve heard from other women who said some men had dismissed their concerns too. I didn’t really expect this kind of behavior in the United States in 2012.

Women are flocking to the Internet to express their outrage. Melanie Notkin, founder of Savvy Auntie, wrote a great post about her feelings and encourages men and women to stand up for the children in their lives.

As an Aunt to 10 nieces, nephews and godchildren, I want the world to be a better place for all those who are following behind me. All of this hateful rhetoric about women is unacceptable, and it’s up to both women and men to stand up and stop it for the sake of our daughters and sons, our nieces and nephews. Ironically, March is Women’s History Month.

I hope you’re all awake. We have some mountains to move.

For several years, I had done the plucking thing with limited success. They always wound up crooked, and I’m sure I sported a raised Spock brow. Then someone told me how they had their brows waxed in a salon. I tried it. I liked it. It simplified one aspect of my life.

It was the first time I realized that sometimes we all need a little help. Over the years, I’ve sought professional help several times. I’ve worked with a life coach, a couple of fitness trainers, a therapist and my blog editor.

No matter how hard we try, we can’t be good at everything, and there are times when we need to call in the calvary. So when you do hire professional help?

You hire help when you need it, when you can’t do it by yourself, when you don’t have the skills (see my eyebrows), when you need accountability, when you don’t have time and need to delegate, and when the task is just so overwhelming that you know you can’t do it alone.

It’s not a personal failure if you need to bring in someone to help you. It’s called survival.

When hiring someone, play it smart. Ask for recommendations and interview them before making a decision. Then let your life change because you were brave enough to ask for help. Even if it’s just getting your eyebrows waxed.

In a related story published in December, the German-based Volkswagon agreed to stop emailing employees 30 minutes before their shift ends and won’t resume until a half hour before work begins.

Both stories are intriguing. I tell clients all the time (and I practice it myself) to decide what time you stop working each day. Just because we can access work emails 24/7, it doesn’t mean we should.

I work with a number of Type A, high-achieving types, and many of them feel they should always be “on” for work, which means taking a peek at the Blackberry.

Stop checking email: You need the rest

If you are always working, you never get the rest you, your brain and your body needs. Tony Schwartz, author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, talked about how the need we have for rest and renewal.

Essentially, you need to take the time to rest to be a better employee. Otherwise, you’re more likely to suffer from burnout, and when you’re burned out and stressed out, you can’t be truly productive.

So – decide what time you end work each day. Put down the work email, and rest up. To quote Scarlett O’Hara, tomorrow is another day.

The buzz about Matthew Broderick’s Honda ad channeling his character Ferris Bueller made me giddy. After all, I am a child of the 80s.

Most of my friends and I have fond memories of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – where Ferris, his girlfriend and his best friend take the day off from school to frolic in Chicago. In the new ad, Broderick takes a day off just like his famous character.

As an adult, I see the movie as a good reminder of how we all need to take a day off now and again. We live in this crazy, multi-tasking world where we’re constantly bombarded by emails, phone calls, work, bills, traffic and other things that constantly drain our energy and resources.

To recover from the stress of our daily lives, we need to have regular regimen of rest. When you leave vacation time on the table, it’s not a badge of honor. We need rest to renew our spirits, our bodies and our minds. After all, even God rested on the seventh day.

When you’re feeling tired and cranky and need some rest, tap into your inner Ferris Bueller and take the day off. Bom bom chickah chickah.

Uh-huh. Getting right on that. But ooh, look. Something shiny and way more fun. Stack of what?

This happens to all of us. We have great intentions of accomplishing all sorts of things, but life gets in the way. Other stuff is always more fun than clearing clutter, unpacking boxes and folding laundry, but we know there are some things we have to do. Here are some ways to make time to clear clutter.

Take 15 minutes. Set the timer or put on some music (Lady Gaga gets me moving) and see how many items you can put in recycling, the donation box and trash. Do this several times a week, and you will see progress.

Other rooms. Grab a box or laundry basket and gather up anything you find that belongs in another room. Then take those items back to the rooms where they belong. Here’s a little trick several of my friends who are parents have told me. If items belong to your kids and they haven’t picked it up like you’ve asked, seize the item, and the kids have to “buy” their stuff back with chores.

Trash Day. The night before trash day, clean out your refrigerator and freezer. Dispose of any expired items. If you’re not sure if something is still good, check out Still Tasty. The website has an app that will remind you of expiration dates too.

Leave the “bad” room. If you are trying to clear the clutter in that room – the one that makes all the air leave your body, take a laundry basket, fill it with stuff and go to the happy room where there’s TV and snacks. Sort your basket and grab another load. If you stay in the “bad” room, it’s easy to get distracted with the other items you see. You will either become paralyzed and do nothing, or you start fiddling with other stuff all over the room and wind up accomplishing little.

Stay in the room. If you need to stay in the room and are not sure where to start, toss a hula hoop or embroidery hoop on the floor. Wherever the hoop lands, clear out the stuff inside the hoop. This works great for helping kids too. If you don’t have a hula hoop, then stick to one spot – one shelf, the top of the desk, the coffee table, the stack closest to the door. Whatever works, but just focus in on one area before jumping to another.

So my three words for this year are Courage, Creativity and Health. Let me explain.

Health. 2011 was supposed to be a rebuilding year of sorts. Personally, I had spent 2010 crawling out of a serious depression so I faced 2011 with plucky optimism, and things were coming along. Then things took a turn. An icky one.

I began not feeling well in May. I thought it was my acid reflux acting up, but I only got worse, prompting a change in GI doctors and oodles of tests. A CT scan and a treatment of antibiotics helped resolve a majority of my issues – all except the nausea. It’s been annoying to say the least. I wound up not cooking my annual Thanksgiving dinner or traveling to Oklahoma for Christmas because I wasn’t feeling well.

I want my health back so Health is one of my words. I want to be healthy. I want the nausea to stop.

Courage. Courage has many connotations, and there are times when we throw around the word a little too freely. When I hear the word courage, I think of the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz and his pursuit of courage. To me, courage is about gumption. You need gumption to fearlessly pursue your dreams. You need gumption to get off the couch and get moving.

Creativity. It’s been hard to be creative when you spend months on the couch. I want to get back to a regular writing schedule and actually finish something. I feel stagnant when I haven’t explored this aspect of my life as much as I want. For inspiration, I love this video on 29 ways to be creative. It’s bloody brilliant.

So what are you three words for 2012?

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from Vimeo.