If several household members are sharing a bathroom, follow these 14 tips to help organize it.

Tip #1

• Clean out every drawer and shelf in the bathroom. Get rid of anything that isn’t being used.

Tip #2

• Move your medicines to the kitchen. The heat and steam in the bath can ruin them.

Tip #3

• Give each household member a different colored basket to fill with toiletries. No sharing. Make sure everyone has their own toothpaste, eye drops, cosmetics and grooming supplies. Each person will keep the basket in his or her bedroom.

Tip #4

• Evaluate your storage. You will need places for: towels, nail care, extra paper, feminine hygiene products, hair care and back-up supplies of soap and shampoo. Nothing else belongs in the bathroom.

Tip .#5

• Use a shower/bath caddy for shampoo and soap. They hang on the wall of your shower and keep the clutter out of your shower area. They are relatively inexpensive and available in many different styles.

Tip #6

• Set up a drip-dry container for bath toys if you have small children.

• Corner to corner suction cup hammocks work well

Tip #7

• Make space for a small, lidless hamper or laundry basket. Otherwise, have a system for depositing used towels in the laundry room.

Tip #8

• Use hooks instead of towel racks for kids. They’ll be more likely to use them. Have as many hooks and/or towel racks as you have persons using the bathroom.

Tip #9

• Make a checklist of all products in your bathroom as well as those used by each individual. Review your list weekly before shopping.

Tip #10

• Explore the variety of storage options you can use in the bath.
• Small countertop drawers can organize cotton balls and Q-Tips.
• Use cutlery trays in drawers, plastic shelves under the sink and caddies which attach to doors.
• Rolling carts can all contain the clutter that frequently accumulates in this much-used room. To keep things organized, each person can have one basket on the cart.

Tip #11

• If pressed for space when storing towels, consider a space-saving towel rack that clips right over the back of the bathroom door.

Tip #12

• Transform the dead space over your toilet by adding a stacked cabinet to store some of those items that have been kept under the sink.

Tip #13

• Consider installing a shower dispenser right on the wall to dispense liquid soap, shampoo and conditioner and eliminate all of that clutter

Tip #14

• Use organizational cosmetic containers or even small boxes to organize each person’s cosmetics individually.

I recently received a question from an addSpace follower. I am certain that many of you also have a similar concern so I wanted to go into detail and provide practical steps to help you declutter your life. This is what she asked:

What questions can I ask myself as I sort through boxes of “stuff” in order to get rid of most of it?

The answer:

For starters, if these boxes have been packed and loaded for a long period of time (over 3 months), before you open them you need to ask yourself – “what exactly is in there?”

If you don’t have a Read the rest of this entry »

Situation

This room needed to function as a laundry room, crafts and storage area as well as the production area for a home-based business. Although the home is beautiful, it is small craftsman built back when closets and all rooms were very small.

Challenge

My client has a popular line of gorgeous baby accessories including burp towels and bibs but does not have a lot of room to create and sew as the orders come in.

Solution

We divided and conquered this room by first determining which activities were most important within this space. After deciding that the home-based business needed as much space as possible, we re-contained and moved every unrelated item up and off the counter and into the side cabinets. We decided which shelves should hold which craft based on the frequency they were needed. The more frequent gift wrapping and card-making supplies were stored in the shelves at eye level.

Once the counter was clear, we were able to sort and organize all fabrics and place them within the sewing zone to the right and under the counter.

As you can see in the photo below, we still have an area for miscellaneous projects and tools in the side cabinet.

The one thing I love about craftsman cottages is that once you can organize and look beyond their small size, they often have exceptional built-in storage areas!

Are your bathroom drawers a jumble of disorganized chaos?

Never fear. With a little love and proper organization within, your drawers can help you get ready in the morning instead of hampering your progress to get out the door and off to work on time!

Situation

As you might notice, there were many items in this drawer that were not part of a man’s daily ‘off to work’ routine.

Solution

We moved everything out that did not help in the morning and brought in everything that was part of the early routine. With everything he needs organized into one drawer, my client is now less frustrated, off and out to work on time.

All of the wife’s items are now in her own drawer and she is also organized!

I recently tried out the new Rubbermaid ALL in ONE container system. I love it! There are only two sizes of lids with multiple sizes of containers. The beauty is this: you can pair any lid with almost every container. This helps to end the constant search of finding the proper lid when you are putting away leftovers. Simple and brilliant. Finally, an end to having more lids than containers or more containers than lids!

The lids come in 4 varieties and are designed for Read the rest of this entry »