Scrapbook Saturday: It had to happen...the Bathroom!

I tackled the kitchen the other week and showed you the pics last Saturday.  If you missed it, you can check it out here.  This week as I was heading in to really scrub my bathroom, I decided I had to tackle the cabinet under the sink.  It makes me crazy with its collection of plastic drawers that I labelled long ago, in another house, for a children's bathroom.  Here's what I was dealing with:

The cabinet before I started.  Not the worst junkhole in the world, but not well functioning and too much junk we didn't need.

The stuff as I separated into piles of like items.

This was a simple fix, really.  I took everything out and sorted out the trash and dumped it; sorted out stuff nobody was using and dumped/moved it.  I washed out the drawers and got the missing drawer from the basement because I had taken it down there to dump tea lights into another container of tea lights...it's a long story.

Simple, basic organizing:  Group like items together, get rid of what you don't need or use, and make the most used items the most accessible.  Here's the end result:

I guess it doesn't look a whole heck of a lot different.  However, it is different.  It has the junk weeded out and the "stupid" drawers are gone.  For example, I still had a drawer labeled "Toys" even though I cannot remember the last time I actually owned a tub toy.  Maybe 2 years ago?  18 months ago?  I remember my brother, Zaneybro purchasing some cool frogs for NuggetizerB5 awhile back, but they are long gone now.  Those were the last tub toys we had.  I wonder where they went to?

Anyway, here are some close-ups of the drawer categories.  There are two that I have altered in my Paint program because they are labelled with my daughters' names, so I altered those labels in Paint to include the handles I use for them in my blog.

This is where my feminine hygiene products went.  Right on top of the toilet.  I had these containers already - bought them over 2 years ago in a set of 4 graduated sizes and have never used a single one until now.  Love this.  Accessible and nobody has to look at my boxes of pads and tampons.  I couldn't fit all the pads in, so I put one pad in each purse I own.  Great idea, if I do say so myself!

I also have a linen closet.  There are not a lot of linens in it.  I reduced my linens quite a bit when I moved to this smaller house.  I keep extra blankets in bedrooms to reduce the junk in this closet.

I re-did this closet awhile back, before blogging, and have no "before" picture.  I'm afraid it might come out looking junky in the pic, but oh well.  The bottom line here is that I can access everything I need to access easily.  I don't have the budget to have cute little matchy-matchy fabric containers and whatnot; I used what I had and it's working very well.



Top shelf containers: Hair color; hair cutting (including razors and clipper set); Extra hair products
Under the helper shelf: Travel toiletry bags; jewelry cleaner and thermometer sit here too so they are out of reach of tiny hands.
Second shelf contains: First aid supplies; cleaning supplies;
Under the helper shelf: heating pad; container of lotions and moisturizers
Third shelf contains: bins for washcloths; extra box of cotton swabs; extra dental care container; extra soap and big bag of cotton balls are tucked in behind the washcloth bins
Floor: Container for electric hair styling tools; container of extra sheets and pillowcases; plunger and trash bags; toilet paper

Hot tip:  I think this is genius, personally...I could never figure out what to do with my plunger.  Yes, you can buy cute little plungers with cases or whatever, but they don't really work.  Fortunately, a plunger has only been in use here a couple of times, but when you need it, you need it, right?  Mine was stored in the basement...2 long flights down from this bathroom.  Not smart. 

I had one of those big old coffee containers, the plastic red Folgers kind (I have no idea where it came from; I don't drink Folgers coffee...I think my kids brought it from their dad's house).  Anyway, it seemed to fit the circumference of the industrial plunger I have.  So after using it on the very day I did the under cabinet reorganize (my wonderful sons use way too much toilet paper), I washed it with bleach and put it in a used plastic shopping bag as per my usual habit.  I then slid it down into that red plastic coffee container.  Perfect!  Now I'm keeping it in the bathroom closet, accessible and not grossing anything up...and not sitting out next to my toilet. 

So there you have it.  A better functioning bathroom!  This is a great trend.  I keep thinking of things to improve and show pictures of...when I get my entire house completely revamped, the blog will die!  Ha!  I am constantly reorganizing and improving for use and efficiency, so I doubt I will ever be truly done.  I do have an offer from Neonatal Nurse Nancy which states that if I should ever find myself in such an awful predicament (having nothing left to organize), I may go to her house and organize it.  She won't let me take pictures though!!!!

So, what are you working on?  Tell me in the comments!