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The bathroom is a place in every home where cleaning is a constant task, and it’s often made more difficult by mountains of clutter.
Whether you struggle to keep up with organizing or you just need a few more practical solutions for your bathroom, these tips for decluttering and organizing your home will help you find solutions.
In most homes, the bathroom is a space that, well, doesn’t have much space. Organizing can be easy when you know how to do it right, and having a system will make tidying up quick and simple.
Let’s start with the basics.
- Downsize
The truth is that you probably don’t need all the junk in your bathroom. If you’ve got half-full or almost-empty bottles of products like fragrances, creams, or makeup, it’s time to get rid of them. These products do expire, and if you haven’t used it in more than a year, it’s unlikely that you’re going to use it within the next year.
Do yourself a favor and toss out anything you don’t actually (and won’t ever) use.
- Separate the Essentials
Once you’ve thrown away the useless things like expired medicine, ancient products, and (if your bathroom needs serious work) straight up trash, it’s time to separate the everyday and frequently used items from the occasional and rarely used items.
This will differ for everyone, but here are a few basics you’ll want to keep in the bathroom:
- shampoo
- conditioner
- body wash
- hand soap
- toothbrush
- toothpaste
Anything else that isn’t used all the time should be kept away in a closet or drawer.
- Everything in Its Place
Your bathroom will inevitably become cluttered again (like after you bring out your makeup products and then rush out the door), but cleaning and decluttering will be much easier if everything has a home base.
I like to call this system “mise en place,” which is a French phrase used in the culinary world. It means “everything in its place.” Every single item in your bathroom needs a permanent home. It might travel every once in a while, but it needs to come back to its home base at the end of the day (or the end of the week).
- Keep Similar Things Together
When I teach my kids about organizing, I like to tell them that similar things are families and friends—they belong together.
For example, all your first aid items should be together. You don’t want to run to your medicine cabinet for the Neosporin and the hall closet for the band-aids.
They belong in the same place. This rule applies to all your things. Think about your towels, cleaning supplies, beauty products, and all the other items in your home as friends and family members. Who belongs together?
- Add Shelving
If there are lots of items on your countertops that feel cluttered, consider moving some of those items to the walls. Adding shelving is an easy storage solution, and when you organize your products in a way that leaves space, the room feels less cluttered. Even though the items on your shelves are practical, think of them as a display in a store.
If you have a stand-alone toilet paper holder and a small bathroom, that item takes up prime real estate. Consider adding a small shelf next to your toilet with a toilet roll holder hanging underneath. Now you have more floor space and a little shelf!
The best place to put shelves will depend on your bathroom, but think about corner shelving, hanging shelves above the door, and a standing shelf that fits around the toilet. Small decorative shelves and spice racks work great in the bathroom, too.
- Hang Items on Hooks
Some items store better on a hook than a shelf. Think towels and robes or long items like back scrubbers and hair dryers. If you own your home, you could install hooks. Command also offers tons of options to hang your items without damaging your walls.
- Use Trays and Boxes
Closets and drawers can become some of the messiest spots for two key reasons. You don’t see them all the time, so there’s less pressure to stay tidy. Small items like to roam around, get lost, or fall down. For closets, baskets and boxes can be game-changers. Sometimes the only difference between messy and organized is a box.
The same goes for drawers. If necessary clutter roams around in your drawers, a utensil tray can help contain and organize your items. Instead of searching through your belongings like an I-Spy puzzle, you’ll be able to find what you need quickly.
Trays and boxes can also
- Store Cleaning Supplies on a Tension Rod
Tension rods are usually meant for curtains, and some are better than others. If you purchase a sturdy tension rod that fits beneath your bathroom sink, it becomes a storage solution. You can hang cleaning supplies and spray bottles on the rod to make space on the bottom of your cabinet.
- Save Glass Jars
Glass jars are an awesome solution for storing items. I keep my hair ties, cotton swabs, and makeup brushes in various sized jars, and it makes them look like a cute display.
Sure, you could go buy some mason jars from the store, but the best option is to wait. You probably have plenty of glass jars in your fridge that you can empty, clean, and reuse.
- 10. Utilize Magnetic Strips
Where do you keep metal items like your nail clippers, tweezers, and bobby pins? Would you rather save that space and make room for something else? If the answer is yes, magnets might be the answer. You can attach a magnetic strip like this to the inside of your medicine cabinet. It can hold all your metal accessories and make space where you need it the most.
How to Organize and Declutter Your Bathroom
Organizing your bathroom is one of the most important tasks you can do to make cleaning your home easier and more efficient. If you don’t know where to start, then start from the beginning! Adding life hacks and extra items to a bathroom that needs a serious organizing overhaul won’t do much to help. Always begin the process by downsizing and categorizing. Then, you can move on to adding baskets, bins, hooks, and other useful items for containing your items.
When organizing your whole bathroom feels too overwhelming, work through it area by area. Begin with the countertops, then move to the medicine cabinet.
Think of each location like the shower, the shelves, the drawers, and the closets as separate spots that you can handle during different times. Cleaning your home can be easy and rewarding when you have a plan and these great tricks up your sleeve!
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