Is Your Bathroom a Happy Place? Time to Konmari It

If you're like me, you're still half-asleep when you head toward the bathroom in the morning. Eyes closed, you open the medicine cabinet above the sink and a bottle of nail polish falls out and hits you in the head. When it's time to dry your hair, you spend 5 minutes digging around under the sink trying to find the hairdryer. At that moment, your bathroom is not a happy place and you promise yourself that one day soon you will clean and organize it.

RV Travel Days Means Things Fall Over!

Time to Konmari Your Bathroom
Well, my friend, if you don't declutter and tidy that bathroom space, it won't be long before that bottle of nail polish falls out of the medicine cabinet and knocks you in the head again. The reason things fall out of your cabinets is that you have been hanging onto too much stuff. Time to purge that bathroom.  I'd like to recommend you use Marie Kondo's Konmari method to help you create a space that you actually enjoy using. Open your cabinets and pull it all out.

Sort by Category
With the Konmari method, you sort your things by category, not by the room. I made a mistake when I first started sorting the bathroom. I thought I didn't have that much stuff, so I threw a towel on my bed. I probably should have used the floor.  When I gathered up all of the related items from my bedroom, kitchen area, and living room, I had much more than I thought I did.

As you're pulling things out of their spaces throw away all those old expired and broken things that somehow just got tossed in a drawer or under the sink. No sense in even sorting those into categories.

Here are the categories of things you might like to store in your bathroom.  These are just a few ideas to get you started.

• Skincare: These are liquid-based products that you use to clean and moisturize your skin and hair. I include razors and shaving products in this category. Most people keep these products near the sink or shower/tub. 

• Makeup: Many of these items are dry, powder-based products and the tools you use with them. If you have a lot of makeup, consider storing those you use daily in one box or container and those you keep for special occasions in another. 

• Relaxation Goods: I was able to put my Young Living essential oils in several long, thin Dollar Store caddies in one of my drawers. I used to keep my oils on a counter in my living room area of the RV. I like this storage plan much better. I also created a "spa day" caddy with my nail polishes, pumice stones and other fun things I use once or twice a month on a weekend. These fit in the medicine cabinet in a little white Dollar Store basket.

• Medicines: Since I mostly use Young Living essential oils to support my health and wellness, this category is really first aid for me.  I have a clear box with bandages and a few Young Living products (Deep Relief, Cool Azul).  I must confess I also have a bottle of Advil with some leftover medicines from my pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. (I know, I should throw them away, but I consider these to be sentimental items.) 

• Towels and Washcloths: I keep my "guest linens" in a vacuum bag under my bed and other linens in a drawer in my bedroom. Otherwise, the towels and washcloths I use daily are hanging on rods or command hooks in the bathroom. 

• Cleaning Products: I have just one bottle of Thieves cleaner under my sink. Any other cleaners I have will be stored together in one place. Since I haven't Komari-ed them yet, I'm not sure where that is. Right now I have cleaners under the kitchen sink and in a pail in the back of my car. (Oh, and maybe in a bin under the RV.)

•  I have one extra category, (DIY ingredients). I plan to make my own skincare and cleaning products using natural ingredients and essential oils. I picked one cabinet in my bathroom to house all of these ingredients. If I don't actually start making these products by April, I will find a friend or relative who can use them.

Be Brutal and Purge

Now that you have everything spread out and sorted, be really honest and a little firm with yourself.  Throw away expired skincare and makeup. These products are only supposed to last 6 months to 2 years. Do you still have lipstick, shampoo, or body lotion that you opened a few years ago? Likely, you still have these because you really don't like them or use them. They were a purchasing mistake. Now you feel guilty that you spent the money and hate to throw things away. Let it go. Be thankful that you learned what you like and don't like. Opened skincare products and makeup can't be donated. If you have unopened products that haven't expired, check with your friends, family members or neighborhood women's shelter to see if they might want them. Expired medications should be taken to a local police department or pharmacy for disposal. Do not flush medicines down the toilet or throw them in the trash. 

Create a Calm, Relaxing and Pretty Space

3 for $1 baskets/bins at Dollar Tree

Try and find small boxes and containers to put your things into. Store things by the same category. Then find a cabinet, drawer or other space to put these containers in. Don't leave a lot of things out on the counter or tub edge. Keeping these spaces empty will make it easier to do daily, quick wipe-downs. Having your counters and tub ledges empty of stuff will also make you think your bathroom is a little bigger than it really is. Getting a bathroom organized so it looks bigger is especially important when your bathroom is in an RV and it is only about 12 square feet.

Tidy More Spaces
Once you see how wonderfully tidy and organized your bathroom is, you are going to want to clean up more rooms. Just seeing my Young Living Essential oils all organized and in one of my bathroom drawers just made me SO HAPPY.

This blog post is just one in a series of posts that share my journey of tidying using the Konmari method. I am about halfway through the process.

If you'd like to learn more about how I decluttered my clothing, books, papers, and electronics using the Konmari method, click on the links below:

Using Konmari Method to Reduce Clutter in My RV Motorhome, Again!

Do Your Clothes Spark Joy? Konmari Organizing Helped Me Find Out

Are You Being Buried Alive in Paper?: Konmari Steps 2 and 3

Get Rid of Old Technology: Konmari Your Electronics