The bathroom is one of the smaller rooms in your house. It also seems to be one room that we tend to overfill with a lot of stuff.
We start and end our days there and it would be great if it could be more relaxing than stressful. It’s stressful to reach into your medicine cabinet for the toothpaste and two other items fall into your sink or you trip over a package of toilet paper you left on the floor. You want this room so well organized that it is easy to put your hands on what you need even with one sleepy eye shut.
So how do we go from chaotic to organized?
1. Have a realistic vision and a plan as to the purpose of this room (besides the obvious). A lot of this depends on the size of the room and the amount of storage available here. Is your linen closet in this room or out in the hall? Is there room for backup rolls of toilet paper? Is there a place for a basket with reading material?
2. Plan how to use your available spaces. Think about what is used daily. Unless you have a huge amount of space, use the medicine cabinets, drawers, shelves, or space under your sink to only store what you use regularly. If your bathroom space is really limited, you might have a hanging bag on the back of your door for storage or place shelves above the toilet. If you have drawers or shelves, designate an area or drawer for like items. One drawer might hold everyday make-up, another drawer might hold hair products. Don’t overcrowd the drawers. You don’t want a tangled mess.
3. Find another space outside the bathroom for your backup supplies. Then store like items together.
4. Minimize where possible. As you sort your like items together, consolidate partial bottles. Get rid of items you bought but are not using or ones that have expired. Be ruthless about throwing out items like that free sample that came in the mail. If you are keeping small sizes of shampoo (like the one you took from the hotel), put them in your travel kit.
5. If you now have medicines in your bathroom, find another place to keep them. Medicines are best not stored in hot, humid bathrooms.
6. Keep the countertop as clear as possible. This makes for and easier clean up and slows down clutter build up. We all know that clutter attracts clutter.
7. Place your like items in baskets, bins, or caddies. For example, have a small basket or bin that holds everyday make-up. You can pull out that container when putting on your everyday make-up and then return it to its storage space.
8. Have a maintenance plan in place. Do a daily sweep and put away all items after use. Weekly give your bathroom a good cleanup. Yearly do a reorganization plan and adjust anything that is no longer working for you.
When you have your bathroom organized and decluttered, it will be so much easier to clean and maintain. What you need daily will be readily assessable. You will enjoy the relaxed feel of your bathroom, especially on those early mornings.
Are you struggling to find time to organize your space? Check out our Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time deck of cards. Break down your organizing projects into small, manageable tasks. Just set your timer and follow the steps on the card that you have chosen to work on.
Jonda S. Beattie, Professional Organizer owner of Time Space Organization, and co-owner of Release, Repurpose, Reorganize. She is based in the Metro-Atlanta area. As presenter, author of four books as well as a retired special education teacher she uses her listening skills, problem solving skills, knowledge of different learning techniques, ADHD specialty, and paper management skills to help clients.
Small bathrooms are easier to keep organized. But as you said, they can also be challenging because they don't have as much storage space.
In our guest bath we created an in wall magazine holder. It's recessed and flush with the wall (built between the studs.) I love it because it doesn't take up any floor space.