Decluttering The Bathroom

Welcome back to my 31 Days of Decluttering In December!  If you have missed any days in this series, no problem!  You can find each day here!

Today’s challenge is decluttering the bathroom in your home.  We have 2 bathrooms in our house, one on the main floor and another upstairs.  All 7 of us share both of the bathrooms, which means that they are a very high traffic area in our house!  Neither bathroom has very much storage but in an old house like ours, I am thankful for 2 bathrooms!

Decluttering the bathroom takes time.  I realize that many of you will not be able to completely declutter that bathroom and that’s ok!  If you don’t have much time, divide the challenge up and do one cabinet, clean the toilet, or the bathtub.

I’m planning on being home today, as our weather is terribly cold.  If you are working or aren’t able to finish, please don’t feel guilty, do what you can and feel good about that!  One thing done is something that wasn’t done before.  That’s success!

There are many personal items that are needed in the bathroom such as brushes, soap, a towel, and toothpaste.  However, there are also many things that make it into the bathroom that do not need to be there.  In our home where storage space is very limited, it’s important to eliminate anything that doesn’t need to be in the bathroom and it’s also important to maximize the space you have.

One important step in decluttering your bathroom is deciding what needs to be in there, what products do you actually use, and what you will never use again.

Here are some tips for decluttering the bathroom:

• Get all clothes out of the bathroom and either put away or into the laundry.
• It’s always good to begin at the top and work your way down.  Get rid of any cobwebs first, then dust the top of the cabinets, and work your way down to the floor.
• Do one cabinet at a time.  If you run out of time, you have way less mess to put away!
• Take everything out of the cabinet and wipe it out.  Group all like items together and then put them back into the cabinet.  As you are grouping, look for things you can give away, throw away or that need to go somewhere else.  Do not put those items back in!  If something is broken, throw it away!
• Check items for expiration dates!  Make-up can grow bacteria if it is kept too long.
• Remember, if you haven’t used the items in a long time, it’s better to bless someone else than it is to have guilt every time you look at it! This is also true for items that you know you won’t be using (curling irons, waxing pots, etc).
• As far as lotions, shampoos and other products, decide how much is enough.  If you have 20 bottles of lotion and 7 are half used up, something can probably be tossed.  You can donate the full ones or toss the half used up!  If you are like me you have your favorites.  Feel free to keep those and get rid of the rest!  You can also take gallon size Ziploc bags and place unused lotions, shampoos, and toothpastes (and many other toiletries) inside to give to the homeless.
• Remember to add any item to your shopping list that you are almost out of such as toilet paper or new toothbrushes  if it’s needed.  That way you don’t forget next time you’re at the store.
• If you don’t have enough space for your towels, they look neat and pretty rolled into a basket!  You can even tie a bow around them to look festive at Christmastime.
• If keeping the toothbrushes off the counter is a problem, suction cups attached to them work or a silverware divider inside a drawer also works to keep them from touching the others. (I will be doing this when we build our new house, my drawers are not wide enough in this house!)  I’ve also seen Mason Jars for each person to keep their toothbrush and paste inside.
• Put away anything that doesn’t belong on the counter.
• If you need some storage ideas, an easy fix is to put some hooks behind the door. You can get over the door organizers to help as well.

I’m excited about this challenge because I am sure I will find some items to bless others with as well as I love having a clean bathroom.

Have you enjoyed what you here today?  Do you have friends or other women you know that could benefit from this resource?  If so, please do me a favor!  I have included the links below to share with other intentional women!  They’ll be glad you did!