If you’re on social media, you might have already heard of project pan – but if not, we’ll run through exactly what it is and why we think it’s such a good idea for students to take part in! It can help declutter your space, save you money, and save the planet in the process…
What is project pan?
Project pan refers to when you make a conscious effort to use up your stash of personal care items, whether that be make up, skincare, haircare or something else. The term comes from beauty bloggers aiming to ‘pain’ their make up, e.g hit the metal pan that a powder product sits in. The term has been more widely adopted by a wide range of content creators to apply to all sorts of personal care and beauty products, and using them up before or instead of buying new ones.
How to take part
You don’t need to be making content and putting videos out onto social media in order to take part; simply do it! Here’s how to get started…
Look through your collection of products – everything from shampoo to period products to mascara – and make a note of how many you have. You can separate this into ‘open’ and ‘not yet open’ too. Then, as the year goes on, keep track of what you use up and what you don’t. Aim to use up your opened products first, and don’t buy anything else in that category until you’re done. For example, if you have three opened shampoos and another two unopened ones in a drawer somewhere, try to use up all three of the opened ones, then the other two, and only then buy new ones.
At the end of the year you’ll have a real idea of how much product you use over the course of 12 months, and you can even make notes about what you did or didn’t like about each item you finished. This helps to avoid repurchasing things you didn’t actually enjoy using!
Why is project pan good for students?
There are many reasons as to why project pan can be a great idea for students, so let’s run through them…
Money saving
Taking part in project pan and really making a conscious effort to use up your items before buying new ones is a really easy way to save money. You might love the look of a new body scrub, for example, but if you know you already have two to get through then do you really need to purchase another? By reframing your mindset when it comes to purchasing, you’ll definitely end up saving money over the year!
Decluttering
Whether you’re living in fresh and modern student accommodation like Aspire or you’ve got a room in a house, you likely don’t have too much space to call your own. For this reason, keeping your collection products small is pretty important! If you’ve got 20 shower gels, 17 blushers and 8 foundations, where are you storing them all? By consciously using up the products you own, you’ll have more space. A tidy room is a tidy mind, after all!
Refining your tastes
Finding products you love, and that really work for you, is a great feeling – and it’s much better to have a small collection of things that actually work (and that you enjoy using) than having a huge range of products just for the sake of it.
Project pan is a great way to shop your own stash, find out which products you really enjoy, and save some money over time. As a student, it’s an ideal way to declutter your space too! Will you be taking part in 2026?
