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So I bet you thought this was going to be some serious blog post full of personal information about how I feeling alone. Or something. WRONG. You should know better by now.
This is about sample hoarding. You know the samples you get at Sephora when you order online? What do you do with them? It appears that we all do the same thing with them. We hoard them. Â Last night I was talking to people I have never met in real life chatting with my friends and we discovered that I wasn’t alone. Â We all do it. Â I had thought it was just me until it asked if anyone turns down the samples. Â A few crazies do, but for the rest of us it’s very important to collect the samples. Â Very important. Â In fact, more thought is put into those selections than is put into most decisions. Â Do I want the Coach Poppy perfume I’ll never use or the Philosophy skin cream I’ll never use. Â Decisions, decisions. Â I’m not sure what we all plan to do with these samples, but maybe a sample trade is in order. Â I’ll trade you my tan towels for your deluxe size Kiehls samples. Â Done! Â I also appears that we all hoard hotel products as well. Â Mini H20 Plus shampoos? Â Yes please! Â And I learned that some hotels have / had Hermes samples (say what??), while others give away silver plated toothbrushes. Â Amazing. Â I need to start saying in better places. Â I think it’s amazing when you get slippers and have a collection of them at home. Â Do I wear them? Â No. Â I save them. Â Because they are too good to use. Â Like all my product samples. Â What if I want that Duwop Lip Plump for a wedding in two years that I haven’t been invited to yet? Â You just never know. Â Better save it!
So do you save all the free samples to get  / steal?  If not, what exactly do you do with them?
Let’s see I want the Aveda and EO stuff. And if you have anything Stila send it my way too. It’s not like you are going to use any of it!! LOL
I’m tempted to post my stash!
Hope this isn’t a duplicate – I’m with ya! I keep a sorted basket of my collection in our guest bath hoping they’ll use!
I do the same thing!!
I do the same thing. Then when I feel overwhelmed, I go through them all and donate a large bag to a local woman’s shelter. I figure they can always use the stuff.
Omg…impressive collection! I was nodding enthusiastically through most of your post because I have never met another person who collected samples and, therefore, have spent years wondering if I’m weird for doing this and always coming to the same conclusion- that I’m not weirder than everyone I know, just smarter.
My aforementioned enthusiastic nodding stopped abruptly when I read your confession regarding keeping a collection of those ugly, scratchy, bleached white hotel slippers not because you put so many miles on your slippers that you need to stockpile them to ensure that you’ll always have a replacement pair, but to “save them”…because they’re “too good to wear,” no less. It’s time to admit that you have a problem. I’m going to gather a group of your closest “friends” on Skype and host the first taping of my new show: Intervention: Junk Junkies. You, of course, will say you can stop sampling whenever you want to and hang up on us followed immediately by ordering from Sephora online with shaky hands.
You totally lost me when you admitted thst you dont use the samples. When i stopped crying and gave up on trying to reach that Shiseido sample through my iPad screen, I suddenly pictured you going to that non-existant wedding in two years, wearing your dried up sample of DuWop Lip Plump and stealing the wedding cake while everyone’s listening to the groom’s speech because it’s “way too pretty to eat,” and posting a picture of it after adding it to your pile. 😉 I predict that will be your rock bottom. He he…
Now that I’m done judging your beauty sample habits, I’ll describe mine. I have an adorable basket in the cabinet under my bathroom sink that I put all sample-sized items into when I get them. Next to the basket is an adorable fold-out travel bag that contains 3 pouches that are the perfect size for sample products. (The bag matches the basket. These simple things make the chaos appear organized=no more feeling overwhelmed.)
I do 2 things with the samples: 1) *The Good Stuff*- Whenever I travel or stay overnight somewhere, or even go to the gym, I get my little bag out and fill it with everything I’ll need for the time period. You can actually fit a weeks worth of stuff in this bag, which isn’t much bigger than the first Harry Potter book! I always bring the bag home empty. The only thing worse than a stockpile of samples is a stockpile of partially used samples. Ew. 2) *The Okay/Duplicate/Tried & Didn’t Like Stuff*- When guests come to stay, I take all of my carefully chosen, rationed appropriately, way too expensive products out of the bathroom and put sample size shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deoderant, lotion, toothpaste, etc. on top of the towels I leaves out for them= they are always impressed at my hostess skills and comment that “it’s like a hotel,” every time. 🙂
I believe you may have met your match, “Rambling Suburban Mom”. I have a feeling that, if we were to start an online business/website of some sort with our powers combined, we could easily rule the Mommy market. 😉 Let me know if you ever want to join forces…I have notebooks of brilliant business endeavors that my extreme ADD prevents me from doing anything other than writing out elaborate plans that I will never follow through with on my own.
Happy Sampling to you all, ladies. 😉