[cmarie]

I recently got the idea to TRY to organize my tarts chronologically (or at least be aware of which ones are the oldest so I can use them up). To do this, I did some searches in my email and compiled a timeline of *most* of my wax orders since my first one from Nene's in November 2008. (I joined CF the previous month, so that didn't take long, haha.)

I noticed a weird pattern in the timeline -- I tend to order a lot in the spring (March/April/May). This has been consistent over the past 3 years. Gearing up for those hot summer months, I guess. Good thing it's almost time for ordering season, haha!

My first targets: anything from that first Nene's order, anything from my Spotted Hog winter sampler (which I just realized is from 2008 also -- yikes!), and a stray AMS freebie from Dec '08. And any Everyday Whims tarts I run across, but those might be gone.

Next after that will be GHBT (I've already been making an effort with all of those, setting them aside whenever I see them) and LOL, both from April of '09. (In the meantime I want to continue working through some much more recent LSC stuff due to messy containers.)

Maybe this strategy will help me order less! Fat chance...

[Juletones]

Great effort. I'm still chuckling over "ordering season".

[Aria]

Good idea Christy! Maybe you will find some fun treasures while you are at it. You must be very organized. I don't keep emails from orders after I have received the order. I tend to use up my tarts and don't have any that are over a year old...I'm pretty sure. At one time, I had a "reject" box of tarts. These were tarts where I just didn't care for the cold sniff, but saved them to melt in case I changed my mind. I eventually tossed the entire box out since I just couldn't bring myself to melt something that I didn't like. I guess I am a tart snob!!!!

Good luck girlie!!!!

[cmarie]

Aria, on 10 February 2012 - 07:31 PM, said:

You must be very organized.

I'll be darned if that isn't the funniest thing I've heard in a while.

If you always melt everything within a year, Aria, then you are FAR more organized (or disciplined) than I. My search is bound to reveal some 3-1/2-year-old tarts and there is just no need for that.

I'm looking forward to seeing what turns up!

[sweet&spiceygrl]

I find that I order more in the autumn. Those are the scents I like the most. That, and I probably have a little of the 'squirrel storing up acorns for the winter' syndrome. I'm OC enuf that I keep my receipts, too, so know when/what I ordered. I need to do some tart organizing, too & pull my elderly tarts and use them up, too. Thanks for inspiring me Christy!

[cmarie]

Sweet, I think I do the "storing up for the winter" thing too, except I never order wax in hot weather, so for me, wax "winter" is actually summer, haha.

Well, here's the epic saga of my organizing. During a trip to Target I got some color-coded stickers to permanently keep track of how old my various tarts were. I put my orders into groups for color coding (for example, April/May of 2010 was pink). Pretty soon I figured I could save a lot of stickers and work by just putting the orders into bags within their scent category. So for example, all of my fruity Can-Do's are in one bag with a big green sticker on it. For other tarts I did put a sticker on each one, it just depended on the situation.

The oldest tarts I found included a cinnamon roll scent from Nene's (Nov. 2008) and a couple Everyday Whims ones. I also have a plastic container designated especially for those very oldest ones, since they have to be melted next. (I called them "emergency" tarts, and DH would giggle whenever I said "uh oh, EMERGENCY" and threw a really old one in the bin.) This container also got a lot of my swapped tarts, since I can't look those up and find out how old they are. The tricky part is that the so-called "emergency" container now holds well over a month's worth of tarts.

Now my bakery, fruit, and floral collections are MUCH more organized because vendors are together (this wasn't true previously) and the oldest stuff is on top. I also rearranged my candles on their shelving unit and am much more motivated to use those up. (Got my eye on Pure Integrity for a future restock, but I gotta earn it first.)

I've had great fun doing this and am relieved to have some sense of order in place for future tart selections. It makes me realize what a big stash I've accumulated. Sometime soon I'm going to dive in for some Spotted Hog, but that'll probably be it for a while. Those of you with big stashes, I highly recommend doing this sort of thing to make sure some of your oldest tarts aren't getting overlooked. It feels great to have things more organized. Hooray!!

[Aria]

cmarie, on 11 February 2012 - 04:52 AM, said:

I'll be darned if that isn't the funniest thing I've heard in a while.

If you always melt everything within a year, Aria, then you are FAR more organized (or disciplined) than I. My search is bound to reveal some 3-1/2-year-old tarts and there is just no need for that.

I'm looking forward to seeing what turns up!

Me? Organized??? Not too sure about the organized thing, but if I accumulate too much, it just makes me cringe. I'd say the oldest tarts I have are some fruity scents from last summer. I also have a small amount of tarts left from this past fall. Like I said, I used to have that "reject" box that probably had some pretty elderly tarts in in, but they were scents I just didn't care for on cold sniff. That box got tossed...I know, that is bad, but I just never thought I'd melt them. I'd say there was probably 50-60 tarts in it. I do have a few CBV jars that might be over a year old.

Good idea with the color coded stickers! See...you are organized!!!!