Bathroom Organization Ideas

Please welcome today’s guest poster, Kristen, to the blog.

With the daily demands of maintaining a home and tending to my family’s needs, the time I get for myself is very important. To me, there’s no spa could beat a bathroom. This is where I usually take refuge when I need to escape the stresses of being a mother to my baby girl and wife to a busy man.

Since mess easily gets to me, I make sure there’s nothing about the bathroom that distracts me. It’s important that things are in order, and that everything is in its right place. With a family, this can easily get out of hand. This is why as early as now, I teach my daughter how to value cleanliness by taking care of her things. She knows where to find what she needs and understands that items have to be returned to their proper places.

Here are some tips to improve your bathroom space:

First, take a look at the supplies you have in the bathroom and get rid of the things you don’t need: expired medications, hair products that haven’t been used in years, empty tubes of pimple cream, and whatever else isn’t being used. Janet Hall of Online Organizing offers this check checklist for bathroom items we don’t really need:

• make-up, hair products, and lotions you haven’t used in 6 months
• products that are dried up or evaporated
• prescription medications that have expired
• over-the-counter medications you haven’t used in 6 months
• old razors, scissors, or other dull and rusty metal items
• pack duplicates of toiletries in your suitcases

Efficient storage is a matter of knowing how to use your space wisely. Don’t overcrowd your bathroom with an unreasonable number of beauty products. Also, you don’t need towels of every color –since a towel’s fabric is relatively thick, I realized having four towels per family member is advisable.

(note from Laura:  my recommendation is just two towels per person!)

If you keep linens in your bathroom, I suggest you stick to three sets of linen per family member unless you have a lot of space to spare. Add a twist to your bathroom makeover by using color-coded baskets or shelves intended for family members’ toiletries: loofahs, hair products, and toothbrushes, among other items. Throw in only what you use daily and place them in a convenient area.  Keep extra supplies elsewhere.

Another great rule of thumb is to be practical with the space you’re working with. For example, I notice that many people place paintings on their bathroom walls—that space might actually be better used for extra storage space, in some cases.

A quick glance should tell you how the family bathroom is organized: can you spot what you need straight away? Is there something that looks out of place in its surroundings? The bathroom should be a place for the family to feel safe, get clean, and relax; keeping it well organized does wonders for this.

Kristen works as a freelance writer for Backyard Ocean, an online store for above ground swimming pools, inflatable pool toys, and accessories. With a husband and a five-year old daughter, she challenges herself to find creative and practical ways to make their home enjoyable to live in.