Our bathrooms: the most un-lovely spots in our homes (besides, maybe, the laundry room). How do we hide embarrassing things like anti-itch creams and unwanted hair removers? You don’t! You just organize them. Because organizing makes everything better. Well, organizing and wine. (Just be careful when you put the two together.)
I realize that, like everything else in life, if/when I have children, my home will change, my stuff will multiply, and organizing will be more difficult (not impossible, just not as easy). Of course, my first reaction is to say, “Not in my house! I’m the boss!” but I know that, especially in the bathroom, things will pile up. As usual, my philosophy is less is more, and what you have is enough. Organizing is easier when you have fewer things. I feel like I already have some practice as my husband is the king of nerds cords and I’ve had to find clever ways of organizing and disguising the obscene amount of extension cords, computer cords, and phone plugs he owns.
Anyway, below are some photos and explanations of the 2 bathrooms we use in our house. (Side note: our house is unique. For starters, the whole second floor is a “loft” and we have 3.5 bathrooms… but 2 include a toilet and sink, 1 is a normal toilet, sink, and bathtub, and one is just a shower and sink. It’s a weird house, like us.)
Inside the MIRRORED cabinet (who decided mirrored SHELVES was a good idea?!), we store as many products as we can.
Top shelf belongs to my husband, which holds: dollar store shave cream (his skin is composed of olive oil… nothing affects his creamy complexion), some free hair gel he got 6 years ago from a salon, Tiger balm for his back when it hurts, ALDI lotion I bought him because his skin is unaffected unlike my sensitive skin, and the classic Old Spice deodorant which he always forgets to put on (in other words, my husband can live without anything–anything besides copious amounts of cords).
Next shelf: nail polish remover, sunscreen, my curly hair gel, and hydrogen peroxide…
My shelf: a glass jar with tweezers, a comb, and other nail clipping accessories, body lotion, Castor oil for eyelashes, coconut oil I use to remove makeup, and my deodorant.
Shared shelf/ teeth shelf: baking soda, my retainer, floss, toothpaste.
The incredibly cheap and therefore almost-useless narrow-shelved storage unit I got on sale at Target. The top houses my makeup organizer, extra tall face moisturizer and extra tall curly hair gel that doesn’t fit in the mirror shelving unit.
I’ve mentioned before that I’ve switched out many moisturizers and face cleansers for few. Using fewer (one face moisturizer, one facial cleanser, one body moisturizer, two shampoos, one conditioner) items helped clear my skin, save me money, and open up space.
I’ve also spent money on expensive cleansers and moisturizers to combat wrinkles. News Flash: they aren’t going anywhere, and a lotion isn’t going to stop them from arriving. Sunscreen is the best prevention. Unless you want to get Botox, which I don’t plan on getting any time soon, if ever. [Side note: For awhile there, I was frightened by my “laugh lines,” but then I learned that anthropologically speaking, and evolutionarily speaking, wrinkles are good. They mean you’re a trustworthy person, especially to little kids. That matters to me. Read this article if you’d like to learn more.] Spending tons of money on high-end lotions and cleansers is (in my opinion) just buying into a marketing scam. On the other hand, buying non-toxic, pure, natural cleansers with as few ingredients as possible will help your skin feel and look and be better. Sometimes those lotions happen to be expensive. But just because a lotion is expensive doesn’t mean that it works better.
We store our dirty laundry hampers in the shower room. Left = cold laundry (dress shirts, pants, delicates) and the right = hot laundry (cottons, underwear).
My shelf in the storage unit: hair stuff: comb, round brush, regular brush, clips, bobby pins, hair ties.
Second shelf: curling iron, straightener.
Husband’s side: his hair shaving appliances and his Dobb (Dopp?) Kit: which has travel products like shampoo, face lotion, extra deodorant–anything he needs to grab and go, throwing into luggage for a vacation.
These are the two products my husband uses in the shower (besides a bar of soap, which is not pictured; I buy “Kiss My Face” soap for us to share). The face cleanser is technically mine, and I leave it in the shower because that’s where he washes his face. I made the huge compromise to grab it from the shower every night when I wash my face. I’m telling ya, living with someone else requires a lot of sacrifices.
The two shampoos, one conditioner, razor, and body/face brushes I use. Less is more! I try to buy smaller bottles of shampoos, conditioners, and lotions, so that when I inevitably get sick of the product, I’ll use it up quickly and buy a new product, rather than accumulating dozens. I used to buy new products before I ran out of my current products, and suddenly found myself with dozens of half empty shampoos. I’d end up throwing them away. What a waste of time, money, and space! Now, I just buy two different shampoos and switch between the two every other day. A bottle of conditioner can last me six months to a year! I use pea size amounts. I also use conditioner as shave lotion, because it’s all the same! Remember, you don’t need a different product for every activity just because advertisements tell you so.
I have only purchased 6 towels (the purples ones) in my life. The others (white & teal) were gifts. Towels are useful (unless you have more towels than you need and/or they’re gross). I fold them and stuff them in this closet. This is an example of things being organized, but not perfect. I have decided I’m not going to spend more time than necessary folding these towels so that they’re picture perfect. Hardly anyone sees these cottony things. They’re folded. They’re organized. That’s enough.
I also store extra sheets in this linen closet. Again, I don’t want to spend time folding these fitted sheets perfectly. And I don’t want to spend time asking my husband to help me fold them so they’re acceptable should the Queen of England ever enter my home. So, I fold them–some days better than others–and leave store them by size in the cabinet (for the record, I own mostly queen-sized sheets because we have slept on a queen-sized mattress the entirety of our 5 year marriage, and only recently purchased a king-sized mattress).
This delightful storage unit was left by the previous sellers. I planned on repainting it white, but after I spent 5 hours painting our staircase spindles after which I developed carpal tunnel syndrome (seriously, I had to go to the doctor), I decided to just accept it as it was and decide it was vintage/distressed/whimsical/ I didn’t care enough to paint it. In life, there are times when you just have to say, “Eh, oh well!” or “It’s FINE!” and move on. This is one of them.
And here is the first floor bathroom. I changed the paint color and shower curtain. Amazing what a few small changes will do to the aesthetic of a room.
Inside the storage unit: our medicine.
For the record, I don’t often take medicine. About once every six months, I’ll pop an ibuprofen. Usually, I deal with pain by 1) calling my mother to complain, 2) finding an elderly person on the street and commiserating over our aches and pains, 3) dumping my issues onto my sisters on a group text thread, 4) dabbing Tea Tree Oil / Lavender Essential Oil on every inch of my body, or 5) drinking a bottle of wine and writing in my journal. Number 5) tends to be the most frequent source of release for me.
Why don’t I take medicine? Well, I’ve been to the doctor enough to know that nothing is really anything; whenever I think I’m dying of some sort of disease I go to the doctor and they say, “Hmm, not sure what it is but if you still feel this way in a month come back.” It often goes away, or I just decide that I have some strange Irish/German genetics that haunt me, reminding me that life is supposed to be painful/miserable and if I don’t feel pain then I’m not really living/ I deserve to be in pain all the time/ I’m not tough or cool or a hard worker if my joints aren’t swollen and my feet aren’t purple. You know, that Protestant work ethic + Irish humor.
Anyway, here’s the medicine we do own, which I organize in this beautiful little basket:
My husband has severe allergies so we have a Netty Pot, sinus medication, and a hot/cold pack. (He also FORCED me to place a tissue box in EVERY [seriously, EVERY] room of the house so he doesn’t have to walk far whence a sneezing attack seizes him). We also have a thermometer which often tells us we DON’T have a fever and we are FINE, we have bandaids which I believe are useless because your cuts need air to heal, anti-itch cream which let’s be honest does nothing, Neosporin which actually is great, and eye drops that are probably expired, and Tylenol Cold and Flu for that once a year flu my husband gets.
Like I said, when I’m sick, the best medicine is dumping my complaints onto everyone closest to me to make their lives miserable, too, or wishing on these “magic crystals” I found on Etsy for $5, or rubbing essential oils like Lavender or Tea Tree Oil on my skin.
Nothing ever works, which is why I just drink a bottle of wine alone and sit on my back deck talking to myself. Ever tried it? Does wonders.
How to organize your bathrooms? Own little. Use less. And separate by category & frequency. Remember, you don’t need much. One moisturizer, one facial cleanser, one deodorant, and twenty-seven bottles of wine.
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