Yup thats it... 6 baskets of, well, stuff! I don't even know where it all came from. When we moved house we realised that our new bathroom had no storage so we went out and bought a wonderful IKEA shelf unit and baskets. Everything just got dumped in. I thought it was great because it was no longer taking up space in the bedroom as it had in our flat. But goodness me there is stuff I've not seen since 2002!
So this weekend, I finally decided to tackle it all. What you see above is all the baskets, a tub of soapy water for the things I was determined to keep but had got grimy (bathrooms as so good at getting nasty), and a bin. Oh and there is a fireplace in the piccy too... just ignore that please!
And so last night I spent an hour sat on the living room floor sorting. I actually think I did quite well... I filled that white bin with stuff I've throw out. I've given a load of girly hairclips away to a colleague who has a 5 year old daughter (oh dear, yes I really did buy those clips when I was younger). and cleaned and organised the baskets. I now have a medications/first aid basket, a new-unopened basket (I buy in bulk when things are on-offer, and baskets for face, body and hands. Then there is a miscellaneous basket (very small) and one for the hubby (which basically has just his hair clippers and some travel toiletries - how do men cope with so little? Ahem).
I have no idea how much I threw away as Mr PTC quickly disposed of the items before I could change my mind. But IT WAS A LOT. Well it felt like a lot. I've kept some things that I probably shouldn't, such as lots of nail polish that I basically never wear (I threw away two bottles that had gone hard so I thought that was quite good), a bath bombe which I've had for years and still not used (OK, I don't really do baths, I'm a shower girl, its not that I don't wash!). But I guess I've done enough for my first week in August, so I'm feeling quite good about it! Plus the bathroom got an extra deep clean because I moved everything out. Excellent!
I'm sure everyone is better at organising the bathroom better than me, but just in case this is the method I chose:
1. Remove everything from the bathroom and set it out on a big floor where you can see it all.
2. Categorise items into an order that makes sense for you and your family (e.g. items that you bulk buy and are unopened, face products, hair products, mens products etc.).
3. Chuck out anything that is out of date (this is particularly important for medications. Write a list of anything that needs replacing.
4. Clean anything that has got mucky and let it dry before replacing it.
5. Throw away anything you haven't used in 12 months (I say 12 because things like sun-cream aren't used all year round, especially in Scotland, you could probably make this a 6-month rule if you were better prepared for decluttering than me).
And my final helpful hint: get someone to stand over you while you do it to encourage you, and snatch any items in the 'bin-it' pile before you change your mind!
My baskets are all back in the bathroom, organised, still somewhat full, but at least not full of junk.
I'll try again in 6 months and see if I can improve ;-)
Thanks for stopping by,
Rose
Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com
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