Innards of the Bath and Bedroom

A few years ago, many of my close friends and family would have told said that I could keep a neat house, but warned anyone of impending catastrophe should she look under the bed, in the closets, or in the drawers. Thankfully, every woman has the potential to improve herself, as I learned to do in the area of organization. Now, if my life feels like chaos and I need a sense of organization, I open my closet, look in, sigh, and feel relaxed. My secret? Two things:

#1. De-clutter--if I haven't or don't use it--I give it or trash it
#2. Organizers--I use organizers to help me keep things in place

Not everybody gets a peek into their neighbor's closets and this is the only time I will ever open mine up to the public, but it is merely to give a visual aid to some of the tips I have found helpful over the years.

The Bathroom Closet 

1. Our bathroom closet is dull with a metal door and metal shelves, so I used double sided sticky tape and taped a flat lace to the front of the shelves to add a look of comfort.

2. I invested in a few of my best friends (Lazy Susan) and organized meds, cleaning products, and bathing supplies on each shelf. 

3. Another one of my favorite, attractive organizers are cheep wicker baskets that I purchase for a dollar at dollar stores. I use them in the bathroom to organize rags for cleaning or washcloths and towels.

4. Rather than folding my rags and washcloths, I roll them into small tubes and place them in the baskets--I think they are attractive and convenient to grab.

5. Once a year, I go through the meds and discard any that have expired. I also keep them on the highest shelf I can to keep them out of reach of little hands. The cleaning products are one shelf down and also kept out of reach from little people.

 

The Bedroom Closet

This closet has the potential to become the messiest because of its constant use, however, I have found it helpful to use organizers to aid both me and my husband in having a place for everything. A wise person once told me that things should be harder to take out than put back. I have tried to keep that in mind in organizing closets and cupboards in the house.

1. I use Rubbermaid tubs to store our seasonal clothes in. It keeps the dust off the clothes during the months they aren't being used, and it is always fun to pull them out when the weather changes. It is like going shopping for a new wardrobe for free. Plus, in a small space, I don't want to use that hanging room--half of the closet is now freed up for other uses.

2. Since we don't have a washer or dryer in our home, our bedroom closet is also the place I store all the laundry soaps, stain removers, iron and ironing board--as well as all my sewing supplies. It is nice to have all of those things near where they are needed the most.

3. We have the luxury of a walk-in closet. I am able to put a full length mirror in the closet---which I believe is a must for every woman to have in the home.

4. As with my other closets, I invest in several organizers. Since shoes are the easiest to have askew in a bedroom closet, I like to use the expandable shelf. At the end of every season, I discard the shoes that have worn out beyond further use (i.e. flip flops and cheap sandals are notorious for only lasting one summer)

 5. I like to use every inch of space-floor to ceiling, so I use stackable shelves to put jeans and slacks on.

 6. I keep my sewing supplies in rolling plastic drawers. I like to use a tackle boxes to organize little things like snaps, hooks, and pins.

 

The Dresser and Drawers

1. I used to use shoeboxes in the drawers to organized socks and underwear. They worked great; especially during my college years because I could keep the lid under the box and simply pop it on when it was time to move. Now I prefer a little more attractive look in the drawers, so I line them with scented shelf or pretty wrapping paper and use dollar store baskets to organize the contents.

 2. One of my newest realizations was that our dresser had become the catch-all for everything from loose change to keys. Instead of letting it become the cluttered mess it was destined to be, I decided to use a dollar store basket so everything without a place, now has a place.