Your Guest Bathroom Isn’t A Sephora, And That’s Okay

Ever feel that calm rush when a restock video clicks into place, then realize your cart just doubled your grocery bill? We open up about the subtle shift from organizing for peace to buying for the camera—and how that shift is shaping our homes, budgets, and our kids’ expectations. What starts as tidy bins and color-coordinated snacks can morph into vanity hauls, boutique guest bathrooms, and a vibe that says love equals more.

We trace the roots of this trend back to the pandemic, when screens became our window and creators turned their homes into sets. Aesthetic consistency exploded, and the message spread: stack fifteen backups, decant everything, and match every label. It looks serene, but it teaches a costly habit loop—purchase, display, repeat. We share where we’ve fallen for it too, from the thrill of The Home Edit to small moments with our twins asking for luxury gloss at eight years old. Instead of shame, we offer a path back to grounded living: finish what you have, backstock with intention, and buy to support your real routines, not an algorithm.

You’ll hear practical scripts we use with our kids to decode marketing, navigate “wants” versus “needs,” and keep special moments special without normalizing luxury at a young age. We get honest about money trade-offs, why paid-off and modest often beats flashy and financed, and how “normal” life—repeating outfits, mismatched plates, non-aesthetic kitchens—can be deeply satisfying. This is a warm invitation to choose margin over merchandise, calm over carts, and a home that serves you, not your feed.

If this resonated, share it with a friend who loves a tidy drawer but hates the pressure to perfect everything. Subscribe, leave a quick review, and tell us: what’s one purchase you’re pausing this month?

Transcript

Welcome And February Check-In

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everybody, this is Steele Roses Podcast. This podcast was created for women by women to elevate women's voices. I hope everyone is having a fabulous February. Something came to mind recently with my twins, my girls, and I wanted to share it with all of you because it hit me too. And I know I'm getting sucked into it, and I'm trying to be very mindful not to get sucked into it. Um, I was in my twins' room, one of my daughters, well, actually both of them. So I I really fell for um, I don't know if everybody remembers it, but on Netflix, um, there was the show The Home Edit um that had come out with um Clea and Joanna, and I was like obsessed when it came out. Like I loved it. I loved watching the episodes, organizing. I thought it was such a beautiful thing. And I got really swept up in that. I love it. So my house, well, there's one room that I'm recording in right now that is not organized at all. It looks like a bomb has exploded in here. It's so bad that I'm actually sitting on the floor recording because the desk has been taken over by laundry that I folded. But that's okay because the rest of the house is all good. If this is like the dark room that everybody has, that you don't want anyone to go into it. But I I really fell for the organization, right? The highly highly organized things. Like I got really into it. My fridge is like that. I am. I like it. I think it might stem actually from the fact that my mom was not highly organized and thus I have like an aversion to clutter. I consistently purge and throw things out like you would not believe. Like I just almost monthly am dropping off bags of donation clothes because I have to purge the kids' closets because they're outgrowing things so quickly. I'm constantly going through toys. Like I just declutter all the time. I don't like to have a lot of stuff around. I also was very much on board with the whole, I forget what her name was, but the whole joy of decluttering and and all that. Like it there was a whole series too on Netflix about just getting rid of things and like purging your life because we don't truly need all the things that we have, right? We're told by society and we're we get caught up in things where it says, like, oh, you need to have this, you need to have all the fanciest things, you need to have all this furniture in your home. You're like, you need all these things. That's highly, I want to say it's highly Americanized. I'm not a hundred percent sure about other countries, but I feel like that's something that's happening here very heavily. Um, and it's a whole marketing ploy. Don't let me go down a rabbit hole here, though, because I'm gonna lose focus. So, anyway, I'm in my twins' room. They've seen me watch organizing videos. So naturally, they've started to look at them themselves because now little girls are doing it on um YouTube where they'll show, like, oh, they have their little makeup vanities, and I'm gonna show you everything I have and I'm gonna clean it out. And it's real, it's cute. Like I've seen these videos, they're adorable. So my twins are really into it. And I'm sitting there watching with them, and this um, this mom is cleaning out her daughter's room and her daughter's vanity, right? And so the daughter's vanity, I mean, the amount of products that were on this child's vanity, and I think she was like 11. I mean, I'm talking hundreds of dollars. It could have been close to$500 worth of products. Actually, I'm probably lowballing because I do realize that some of these products themselves, each one was about$25 to$36. So it's probably closer to a thousand, to be per honestly, to be perfectly honest, because she had like a whole drawer of these lip glosses from Summer Friday lip glosses. They're like$25 a piece. So, nevertheless, right? I'm watching this video. Mom is cleaning up everything and talking through, like she doesn't do it all the time, et cetera, et cetera. It's fine. No judgment. I clean my kids' rooms too. But I'm watching the amount of things that are on this child's vanity. And then I look over at my girls' desks and like, ah, I've kind of bought into this a little bit. Like, I get them things, not name brand things. They consistently are asking me for sold de Janeiro, and I'm like, I'm not buying that for you. Like, it's not happening. But I will go and get the knockoff version from Five Below sure. But anyway, I'm watching this video and I'm looking at my girls and I'm looking at their dresser. And I said to my daughter, I was like, you know, this is all new stuff. And she was like, Yeah, it's new products. And I was like, No, you don't understand. What you're seeing here with this vanity that has loads of products in it. And you know, you're watching these videos where these people are doing bathroom restocks for their guest bathrooms, and it has like thousands of dollars of worth of high-end products, bath and body products for guests to just come stay at your house. And the one girl says, Yeah, I tell everyone just whatever you open, take home with you. And I'm like, Well, you're not a hotel. Like, that's not really necessary. I remember going and spending weekends at my grandparents' house. It's not like there was a stocked guest bathroom for me. You brought your own toothpaste. Like, you weren't expecting your host to have everything for you. Now, I do have a little guest basket here in this room that I'm sitting in that is currently exploded, but it's filled with free samples that I got at hotels or that like my father got at hotels that he gave to me, and that's what's in there. Like, I don't stock it specifically for guests. And if I did, I would not be spending thousands of dollars. But explain to my daughter, I'm like, this is actually all new. What you're seeing here is something that was not done, and it's actually just recently started. And perhaps some people did do this, right? And perhaps it was people that had money, you know, the really wealthy, those folks, yes, makes sense. Like they have the money for it. But now we're talking about everyday individuals, everyday mothers, everyday young ladies, middle class families that are buying into this. Now, I'm not gonna say I'm not guilty. I also get caught up in it. One of my daughters showed me um a mom that she was actually following, and I kind of fell for it. And I was watching all these beautiful little setups and gift baskets and movie nights and things that she was doing for like her four-year-old or six-year-old, excuse me. And I'm watching it, I'm like, my God, I'm like, I got caught up in it myself. And so I did like my girls started to ask me for a Valentine's basket. And they're like, Oh, look, look at this mommy does. Like, she makes all these really cute baskets. Can you do something for us? And you know, I love my kids, so I don't mind. But I filled it with products that I'm like, you use these every single day. So you I might as well just stock you up and give it to you as a present, quote unquote. But I was explaining to my girls, like, again, this is not normal. Like this actually started to crop up. I don't know if everybody remembers, but like this level of aesthetic and showing, like, oh, look at this beautiful, like how I live, and look at how how everything matches and it's all one thing. That actually, I mean, honestly, it didn't really become big until COVID happened. And if you really like look back, when COVID happened, that's really when social media blew up the way that it did. Because yes, prior to that, young people were on YouTube, young people were on Snapchat, Instagram, they were doing their thing. They're like, yeah, showing off, doing whatever they were doing for their friends and generating followers, right? But now it's gone so far beyond that because young adults, adults, people are making their living off of social media, showing a lifestyle that's been specifically crafted for social media to say, like, look at how beautiful and perfect this is. Everything matches, all the colors are the same. My whole house is completely aesthetically organized. And it does look beautiful and it does kind of pull you all the way in. Now, I'm not gonna say don't buy into it. I absolutely buy into it. I love it. I love how it looks, but I also am highly aware of what the messaging is here: consumption, buying more. You need more. You need, you need 16 bottles of um mouthwash in your closet so that you can refill them. I like to have backstock personally, but like I don't overdo it. I make sure I have what I need and then enough, you know, per pay cycle, actually, is how I clock it now. But because of the way the economy is right now, I feel like it's incredibly irresponsible as well to be pushing this lifestyle of you have to overstock, like you have to have all these things. You need to have this really like color-coordinated aesthetic lifestyle, because if you don't, then you're not living your best life, kind of thing. I look at my house and I'm very grateful for my house. Like, I love our house. Could there be upgrades here? Absolutely, there could be upgrades here, but this is not something that's a priority, especially when like people can barely afford eggs. So this lifestyle of overconsumption has really started to get to people and like really draw them in. And I'm trying to determine the best way to show my kids that they don't have to do that. That's just what's on social media. And so I've started to make sure I'm saying it out loud and I've started to try to set an example of, okay, absolutely, if you want to have this, that's fine, but you could do it this way, or you don't need to have all these things. All you need is what you're using currently. And I've tried to actually start to talk to them about it because I really don't want them to get sucked into having to live this life of like, again, overconsumption and buying everything that, you know, is put out there. And, you know, even the products that my daughters are asking for, they're asking for products that like I don't even buy myself because they're so expensive. But my my eight-year-old twins are saying, please, mommy, buy me this$25 lip gloss. It's not happening. I'm not gonna do it, like drawing the line in the sand. Because then I say to myself, if I do it now and I am getting my eight-year-olds used to this now, well, then what's gonna happen when they turn 15, 16? What's gonna be special about that birthday? If I give them everything now, what's gonna happen then? Are they gonna expect mommy to produce a couple of cars because that's not happening? You know, it's just kind of like you have to really keep your family grounded and keep yourself grounded because it is easy to get caught up. I'm not gonna lie. Like, I 100% get caught up in these videos sometimes. And then I pull away and I'm like, oh my God, let's take a break. We don't really need all these things. So the pin that I saw on Pinterest, which guys, by the way, um, I did edit my Pinterest account. So now it's actually showing a Steel Roses women. So you can actually follow me on Pinterest. And if you follow the podcast, the podcast page or whatever it's called on Pinterest that is under me, you'll actually get to have a preview of topics that I'm focusing in on for the podcast. So quick plug there. But yes, Steel Roses Women currently on Pinterest, and I do um repost and post things there that I'm thinking about having on the podcast. So this one is a post that I saw um that I'm just gonna read through, and this is actually what spurred me wanting to talk to you guys about this today. Not having cable is normal, not buying hauls weekly is normal, buying drugs, buying drugstore makeup is normal, not having the latest iPhone is normal, repeating your outfits is normal, driving your old paid-off car is normal. Using mismatched plates and cups is normal, living in an unaesthetic home is normal. Cooking in an unaesthetic kitchen is normal, having mismatched furniture is also normal. Normalize underconsumption, normalize living a normal life. Remember, social media is not real life. And that's the big thing. That's the big takeaway. We are so ingrained on our phones. Now, not me as much as like everybody else, because I don't have social media on my phone and I don't have personal accounts on social media. There, I don't get as sucked in, but Pinterest, YouTube, I do follow things there. It is highly easy to just get drawn into this aesthetic. Oh, I should be living this life. I should be going on all these vacations. My home is is ugly if it's not this. I should have all these things. Should is a dirty word. It's not needed. You need it to survive. This is kind of where I'm going and gearing towards. And I'm trying to remember this as I live my life because I want to make sure my children have this example of well-balanced. What is needed is needed, but you do not need to overconsume and waste all your money. I'm reminded of hit scene at some point. There was a post and it showed, or, you know, it talked about you have the person who is driving their paid-off vehicle, and it's not the current model and it's not not all flashy, but it's paid off. And then you have the person who has the modest home. It's not this most beautiful blown-out home, but it's paid off. And then you have the person in the flashy vehicle who's paying a lease that's$1,200 a month that they can't really afford and they're scrounging by. And they have the big, beautiful aesthetic home, but they're drowning in their mortgage, but they're paying it, but they're just stressed out all the time, trying to get more and more and more to pull in to support this lifestyle that they want to have. Who's the richer person in that scenario? Is it the person that's stressed out trying to live up to this particular platform that has been set out there? Or is it the person who's remaining modest, that has money in the bank, that can sleep at night knowing my life is paid for, my life is supported by what I currently live, and I can do whatever I want because I don't have all this debt hanging over my head. That's really the big thing. We're really being pushed into debt more and more with what's being put out there on social media, and it's not real, and we shouldn't be doing it, and yet we're overconsuming anyway. And again, I'm not completely guilt-free of this. I'm also guilty of this. So working on it is one of my things. Um I hope this gives you gave you some good food for thought. Let's really try to scale back together this year. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you so much for being with me today, and I will catch you on the next one. Take care.