My routines are probably more elaborate than a non beauty lover and I'll have several of one type of product on the go. I personally like to pick and choose a routine for a particular morning/evening rather than stick with one product until its done.
@TreesinthePark I said earlier that I’m quite strict with having one of each thing open at a time however I’ve realised one thing to me is not one thing to other people 😆. For example moisturisers I have an everyday day, everyday night, a more balmy one for when my skin is feeling dry or irritated, a lighter gel one and a facial oil on the go. To me they’re different products as they serve different needs. So still room to choose different routines I just wouldn’t have say two gel moisturisers on the go at once. I also have three toners open, normal, acid and milky/soothing so again can choose within those depending on what my skin needs on a given day.
I’m also totally with you on ignoring expiry dates, especially if things are unopened. I do try to rotate stuff to use the oldest first though after I had bought a couple of bottles of an expensive serum I loved, then it got discontinued so I was hanging on to the second bottle for ages before I could bring myself to use it knowing this was the last one I’d ever have and when I opened it it smelt really bad and had gone gloopy 😢