Spring Cleaning Room By Room: The Bathroom

We’ve got more bathrooms than ever, which means even more places to accumulate junk. To round out our room by room spring cleaning guides, here’s some thoughts on bathroom clutter.

Picture by Jason McDowell

As with yesterday’s bedroom guide, we’re going to highlight some basic strategies for keeping the bathroom organised and launching a spring-cleaning attack. Once again, the general approach of the SPACE method will be very helpful here, especially when it comes to maintenance.

When in doubt, chuck it out. The most important principle of all. If you go inside your bathroom cabinet and drawers, chances are there’s a mixture of stuff you use all the time and things you haven’t thought about for years: half-empty tubes of toothpaste, unwanted gifts, random samples, and stuff you’ve grabbed from hotels or on planes. Get rid of anything that’s not in active use (or new, unopened backup supplies of stuff that’s in active use). The more clutter there is, the less chance you’ll ever use any of it. Start with a clean slate. The same principle applies to anything you store with the shower or bath.

That goes double for medicines: don’t hang onto old prescriptions or ancient general remedies. Wrap them up and throw them out.

Have a hamper for your clothes. If you do keep dirty clothes in the bathroom before laundering, make sure they’ve got somewhere to go rather than just chucking them on the floor. (If there isn’t space, keep a hamper in the bedroom or laundry instead.)

Favour functionality over decoration. Yes, if you’ve got a large bathroom, a vase full of flowers or coloured pebbles or dyed loofahs can look attractive. But don’t sacrifice functional storage for the sake of decoration. You can make the bathroom look just as good with accessories that actually perform a function (soap holders, tooth cups and the like).

Colour code towels, toothbrushes and other personal items. This is especially useful if you have kids, since everyone can easily identify their own items.

Finally, some quick ideas for revamping your bathroom:

• If you’ve got appliances such as hairdryers or straighteners in the bathroom, toilet paper tubes can help keep them under control.
• Having a supply of toilet paper in the bathroom is helpful. Store it in a clear vase to make it visible but protected from damp.
• If you’re crafty and recycling-minded, try making a shower mat out of wine corks (though I grant you corks aren’t so easy to come by these days).
• To stop rust from cans of deodorant or shaving cream, try
  using a stubby holder or treating them with nail polish.

Got additional bathroom spring cleaning hints? Scrub your way to the comments pronto!