Declutter: the bathroom closet

The finished product

One of my goals this week was to declutter, clean out and organize our bathroom closet. We moved in to this condo eight months ago and while I did organize the closet at that time, I didn't do as thorough of a job as I could have done! After eight months, it was getting to the point where I didn't even know exactly what I had in my stockpile anymore.

To tackle this project, I took all of the health and beauty items out of the closet (and from undeneath the vanity) and put them on our bed. After I did that, I seized the opportunity to sweep and mop the floor in the bathroom. That is multitasking at its finest! :)

As you can see from the picture above, I had a "helper" for this project:

Yeah...actually, he didn't help me at all! I suppose you could say that he supervised my work... :)

Once everything was on the bed, I began to sort through the various boxes, totes and tubs. I am telling you - I found things in those boxes that I didn't know I had!

I have four plastic shoe box-size totes (leftover from my college days!) that are now much more organized:

1. One contains all first aid items (bandages, antibiotic ointment, etc.).
2. Another contains medications (extra vitamins, pain relievers, nasal spray, etc.).
3. A third box contains feminine products.
4. And the fourth box contains things like toothbrushes, extra facial care products, and contact lens cases.

I also have a larger plastic tote that holds extra razors, sunscreen and bug spray, and a few larger medication bottles.

The bulk of my stockpile is kept in two large cardboard boxes:

Keeping those items in boxes on the floor of the closet works so well for me. I do look through the boxes regularly so that I know what I have on hand!

When it was all said and done, I had "decluttered" quite a bit:

I threw away quite the collection of old, unused, unneeded or broken items. I also came up with a nice bag of donation items for the women's shelter: hair color, hand soap, Bengay cream, and a few other things.

The organizational part of this decluttering project took me about one hour this week. Now, the most important thing is keeping it clean and organized!