It’s the most under-represented room in friendly discussions. Really, no one talks about their bathrooms. They should. The bathroom is a place of so much much excess and wasted time. Americans spend an average of 3 hours a week in the bathroom. That’s a lot of minutes that could be used doing more fun things.
Luckily you’re here! The lean method can be boiled down to three simple steps for stations like the bathroom sink. This process works for any place that you stay in one spot for the entire process. I highly suggest starting in the bathroom because it’s the place we start our day, and it will feel amazing to start your day with an organized and minimized space.
This might seem like a big job, but be honest with yourself and it should take around 30 minutes. Being honest with yourself about your routine and product use is the faster way to a more efficient home.
Cleaning Out and Cleaning Up
The start of any good organizing and simplifying project is to clean everything out and get rid of the cobwebs. Take a towel or old sheet and lay it out on the bathroom floor or just outside the door if your bathroom isn’t big enough. Take everything off of the vanity, out of the drawers, and out of the cabinets. Put everything on the towel. The next step is to clean the bathroom. Wipe down all the surfaces in inside the drawer and cabinets. Clean the mirror, faucet, and counter top.
Decide What Stays
How do you decide what stays? Walk through your routines and but things back as you “use” them. Start with hand washing; this is easy as it’s likely just soap. Then work through your morning and evening routines. Put items where they are easily reachable and contained. If you have a bin or basket for the items on the counter use it. Use the top drawer or two if needed. Try to keep everything within arms reach to minimize movement in your routines.
If you have doubles (or triples!) of anything, put the ones you aren’t actively using in the cabinet under the sink, lower drawers, or in a linen closet. If you have unopened product you want to try, try them this week then decide to keep of toss. Is there anything that you would use in another space? Move it there and find a home for it.
Get Rid of the Rest
This is the easy part. Throw away any used products you won’t use. Donate anything unopened or cleanable. Pay attention to what you’re getting rid of. Do you have a bunch of stuff that is mostly empty you didn’t get around to throwing away? Is it stuff you bought to try and then didn’t like? Do you like to keep broken items thinking you’ll get around to fixing them? Let these items be a guide to your decisions about future items. Maybe you need to be better about getting rid of the used or broken things, or maybe you need to re-evaluate your spending habits. If you have bunch of gifts you didn’t like, can they be re-distributed (never re-gift opened gifts, but feel free to pass them on with full disclosure of the used status).
What was the most surprising thing hanging out in your bathroom? Did you realize anything about your habits? Tell me below about your bathroom organizing! I hope this process jump starts your journey to a leaner home so you have so much more time to yourself and with your kids!