Beneath the surface bathroom decluttering is a needed project in the Urge to Purge series. Joining with “No Place Like Home Bloggers,” we are all decluttering and organizing for the month of January. As this week’s challenge is bathroom decluttering, I jumped in because my bathroom hasn’t been really decluttered in 20 years. I didn’t realize I had so much excess because it’s all beneath the surface.
Here is a view of the bathroom…pre-purge and it doesn’t look too bad, but just stay with me.
Bathroom Decluttering
Four grocery bags of old makeup, dried up lotions, nail polishes I haven’t worn in umpteen years, contact lens paraphernalia, (I haven’t worn contacts in 4 years) half-empty bottles…you know what I mean!
My 40-year collection of soap scraps has finally bitten the dust (I made soap bars out of the scraps 35 years ago. Ask me if I’ve done it since), and my pink hair brush I’ve had since Junior High, missing most of the bristles is also gone. Can you tell it’s hard for me to throw stuff away yet??? Yes, I had to get firm.
And just the other day I was thinking I need to buy some red lipstick. After the purge, I found 4 tubes.
I’ve finally broken myself of the habit of cleaning out old lipsticks with a brush to get to the very end. Did you know there’s a lot of lipstick left after a tube is “empty”? My mother, who grew up during the Depression, taught me this years ago. In fact, if you want to read more about those down home lessons, click to read Depression Thinking.
We have no medicine cabinet, unfortunately, so everything has to go in a drawer. I’ve found it very helpful to label the tops of bottles so I can tell at a glance what something is.
See all those headbands? I haven’t had long hair in years! Gone
I used to pull cotton out of medicine bottles to save it, another down home lesson….no more.
2 Undersink Cabinets below:
Top: 3 bags of old makeup. I’ve needed for years to purge this!
Now it’s all in a basket…easy to find and pick up.
I went through 9 drawers and 2 cabinets. Hubby just did these three, but he got in the spirit and did a good job. No before photos.
Thanks for sticking with me in my bathroom decluttering project!
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Florence
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Looks great Florence! It feels so nice to let stuff go doesn’t it? I’m helping my daughter move to a new apartment this weekend and she has been doing some serious purging! Thank goodness because she was drowning in stuff.
Tania
And you took the time to read & reply to my post! Thanks & hope the move is a successful one for your daughter. I know it takes a while to bond with a new place.
Florence it look so much better. And now you know what you have! I too used to save all sorts of weird things, cotton balls, rubber bands and empty bottles. But really, there is only so much you can save before it becomes counterproductive. It looks great and it’s good that you got hubby involved too.
Sure does look better Mary! I was just telling hubby this morning that I was so glad I had done it! I can find everything now.
My bathroom is probably the room in the house with lees junk than any other room. There is extra space in the vanity and the linen closet. I like the way you labeled the tops of your medication. Like you I do not have a cabinet – just drawers. I plan a kitchen drawer purge next week. I have reserved one whole trash can to do it.
Oh kitchen drawers! I need to add that to list! I hope one trash can is enough…LOL. Garage is pretty far up my list too.
Well done Florence! It’s so much harder to actually start than it is to do the job to the finish. Bravo for tackling this chore.
Thanks Colleen. I didn’t really want to start, but so glad I persevered. Sometimes I think starting IS the hard part. Once you get going….not so much.
Good job! Bathroom decluttering is on my list. It’s only been a few years, but I bet I could still rival you. And I only have three drawers and under the sink! LOL
But wait! Digging out lipstick tubes? You can do that? Aw man! I finally threw away my favorite lipstick that is no longer being made. I could have got some more uses out of it?!
Seems like my mother saved the cotton out of medicine bottles, too. One habit I didn’t bring with me. Or more likely forgot about it. I remember her saving aluminum foil, too. She’d stopped that by the time I was a teenager, though.
Oh yes! I’m guilty of digging out lipstick tubes, until I gave that one up. Finally quit on saving the cotton this year. My mom saved aluminum foil…actually washed it & saved it. I do the same if the piece is large enough and not grimy & gooey to start with. It’s funny…these habits are so ingrained, I now feel guilty if I don’t do them, but still trying to break these old habits.
Don’t believe you’re worse than me…LOL. How about my 40-year collection of soap scraps? Can you beat that???
Florence, your post cracked me up. It sounds like you were raised like me. We saved and reused everything. I can tell some stories of things my parents did. lol. I love how you have written on the top of the bottles for easy access. Thank you so much for linking up to our No Place Like Home decluttering challenge.
I sure was probably raised just like you! I detect a kindred spirit! Would love to hear your stories too! Wouldn’t it be fun to do a roundup somehow of stories like that? I’ve enjoyed the linkup too.