Organizing Your Bathroom

The bathroom is one place where being organized makes a BIG difference. After all, this is where you prepare for your day, every day. A neat, organized bathroom saves you time in the morning and gets your day off to a good start! Try to schedule either one hour or four 15-minute increments to tackle this challenge.

Start by taking everything off the countertop and out of the medicine cabinet, under-sink cabinets, and drawers. Throw out expired medications and any makeup that's over a year old. Also throw out any products that have been around longer than you can remember or that you haven’t needed in the last year. Throw away, repair, or donate anything you don't use at all (like that broken hairdryer or the old hot curler set that are crammed under the sink). Then sort through everything that's left, separating the things you use daily from those you use less frequently. Gather like things together, such as as all the dental care items, all the hair accessories, and all the skin care products. Then take the time to think about the best location for each type of thing.

Countertops

The only things that should be stored on the countertop are things you use every day that don't have a convenient home out of sight. Make this space look neater by using baskets, makeup organizers or a vanity tray.

Drawers

If you're lucky enough to have drawers in your bathroom, use the most reachable of them for things you use daily or very often. Assign certain types of things to certain drawers, and use drawer dividers to keep things neat (be sure to measure first). Use labels to help you get used to the new locations, and put them on the inside walls of the drawers if you'd rather they not be obvious.

Medicine Cabinet

If you have a medicine cabinet, be aware that this is not the best place to store your medicines. Medicines and any other items that shouldn't be exposed to humidity should be stored in another room nearby, like a clothes closet or a linen closet outside the bathroom. A medicine cabinet is great, however, for small items you use daily or once or twice a week. Basic first aid supplies, dental care items, and skincare items are handy when stored here.

If you don't have a medicine cabinet, consider replacing the bathroom mirror with one that has mirrored doors. Don't worry about setting it into the wall between the wall studs. You can get a fairly inexpensive medicine cabinet at Lowes or Home Depot that mounts on the surface of the wall. Look for one with lots of storage room and plenty of shelves.

Under-Sink Cabinets

This space is best used for things you don't use often, such as extra supplies (soap, shampoo, toilet paper) and cleaning products. Use a plastic drawer unit (check to make sure the bottom drawer won't be blocked by the frame of the cabinet door) or clear, stackable plastic bins with lids to store first aid items, suncare items, travel supplies, etc. I've even used empty shoe boxes or inexpensive photo boxes for these types of things. You can also get various types of shelving or wire baskets that fit under the sink, some of which even fit around the sink pipes to maximize storage space. Here again, label everything to help you get used to your new system.

Linen Closet

If you have extra room in a linen closet, try keeping large items here, like that bulky heating pad, the foot spa you love but don't use often, and extra rolls of toilet paper or paper towels. Consider using large plastic drawers in the bottom of the closet to store rags or extra toiletries or supplies. To keep sets of towels together, try loosely rolling the bath towels with the matching hand towel and washcloth in the middle. You can do this with sheet sets, also. If you prefer your sheets and towels folded, try to fold them into similar-sized rectangles and stack them neatly. Consider adding more shelving to keep your stacks manageable, or use under-shelf baskets to make use of vertical empty space.

Maintenance

Now that everything's back in place, enjoy the new order! Be mindful of putting things back where they belong, and make it a point to sort through everything again regularly, perhaps every four or six months. I strongly recommend scheduling time into your calendar for organizing maintenance, whether that be blitzing the bathroom, donating old clothes you don't wear, or weeding papers out of your filing system. Make a date with yourself and keep it.

Copyright 2005 by Cara Kinning, ORGANIZED FOR LIFE

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