10 Simple Ways to Organize Your Bathroom
Is your bathroom kind of a disaster? Maybe you live with someone who is messy or maybe it’s you. If you have a million things out on your countertop you aren’t alone. Not everyone has a giant vanity cabinet where they neatly tuck everything away.
My husband and I are vitamin junkies, but for you it might be cosmetics. Whatever is taking over your bathroom can be corralled and given a real home.
Try one of the 10 tips below to keep your bathroom neater and prettier. Clutter isn’t just paper, clutter is any “stuff” that is sitting out that you aren’t actually using right now.
1. Add a Medicine Cabinet
You might think that medicine cabinets are outdated, but there are modern sleek versions that don’t even have to be installed in the walls, which can be important if you rent.
I recently replaced the mirror in my bathroom with a medicine cabinet. There are lots of small things in bathrooms that fit nicely on narrow shelves. Fortunately there are some great looking, inexpensive medicine cabinets available and they are the perfect way to store small things like pills, cosmetics, dental care items and hair products.
Here are a few of my favorites.
- Pottery Barn wall mounted medicine cabinet – This comes in two sizes, three finishes (including grey and black) and it’s easy to mount.
- Lowes Wall Mounted medicine cabinet – This one is only $129 and it adds lots of storage. The doors also have mirrors.
- Wayfair Surface Mount medicine cabinet – This cabinet is only $113 and it has really unique hardware for a vintage look.
2. Add a Rolling Cart
Bar carts are everywhere in 2019. They can also work in a bathroom. There are many small bar carts that can fit on an unused wall or corner in your bathroom.
They can be great places to store things like brushes, a blow dryer and larger odd sized things. There are some very expensive carts on the market, but also some great lookalikes. You can search for bar cart or utility cart.
I like to use metal in the bathroom because it’s easy to clean up. You can find pretty much any color you are searching for and if you don’t find it the metal ones can be spray painted your favorite color.
- Utility cart from Target – This comes in grey and white for only $35.
- Turquoise utility cart from Amazon for $45 – This cart also comes in grey and black.
3. Ruthlessly Throw Things Away
Maybe you are reluctant to throw away that eye shadow you haven’t used in two years. Or maybe you have a brand new box of cotton squares that you’ve never opened in three years. It’s OK to throw these things out.
The criteria in your bathroom is different than the bedroom or living room. There is probably nothing that “brings you joy”. If you don’t use it on a regular basis, throw it out or donate it.
There are strategies to identify what you don’t use, like put a sticky dot on everything you DO use and after a week, throw away anything that has no dot. This is too complicated for me, I prefer to just touch each item and decide on the spot to keep it or throw it out.
4. Add Hooks
Does your bathroom have towel racks? Mine doesn’t but I don’t need them. I have hooks.
Hooks can be so much more versatile than a rack. You can hang your robe up or pajamas, but that would look strange on a towel rack. If you have kids I find that they are much more likely to hang a wet towel on a hook than they are to use a towel rack.
5. Use Suction Cup Storage
If you don’t own your home, or even if you do, storage in the shower can be tough to change. Suction cup storage that sticks to your tile has gotten a lot better. This can give you the chance to reduce the stuff that is sitting on the side of your tub or shower.
Bathroom shower caddy from Amazon
6. Double Deck storage under your sink
If you have a vanity there is often this giant space under the sink that gets wasted. When you put small things under the sink you’ve got all that room above them that goes unused. There are removable double-decker shelves. Many of them have a drawer on the bottom and a shelf on top. This can multiply the storage you have under your sink.
Target has a great selection at reasonable prices.
- Under sink double-decker storage at Target for $24.99
- Under sink storage from Target
7. Add Floating Shelves
Floating shelves can be a great place to store baskets full of light weight items like toilet paper, tissue or soap. You can also store hand towels and wash cloths. I like to put a basket on top of the shelf, which can be a great catch all for bathroom clutter.
8. Add Canisters
Canisters aren’t just for the kitchen. I use some glass canisters that hold Qtips and cotton balls. You can even line a glass canister with a pretty wrapping paper or fabric. You can also use them for soaps, nail supplies, hair accessories or anything small.
If you don’t like glass because you’re worried about it breaking there are many plastic canisters that can also be useful in a bathroom.
- Tiered apothecary canisters from Target
- Glass canister with wood lids from Target
9. Add a Tray
Trays can be a nice way to corral things and make them look intentional. It can also be a good way to divide up his and hers stuff in a bathroom. I’ve found my husband can really cover a lot of counter space but a tray kind of gives him boundaries. The boundary says, once this is full you have to put things away.
10. Add baskets for storage
Baskets can be a great way to stash things like toilet paper, small towels or makeup. It’s especially nice if the baskets have some type of lid to protect the contents from all the things we slosh around in the bathroom.
- Vosarea Rattan Storage Basket – I have a basket like this on the back of my toilet and it holds toilet paper. This one is only $15 on Amazon.
- Three tiered seagrass baskets on Amazon – This one is great because if you really need storage you can stack them.
Unclutter your Bathroom
Do you struggle with neatness in your bathroom? There are many small things that we use every day in a bathroom, which makes it hard to keep them looking neat.
Try one of these 10 suggestions to help you control the clutter in your bathroom. You may not be able to get rid of a lot, but you can use these tools to make your bathroom look less cluttered.
If you are interested in expanding your decluttering efforts to the rest of your home, check out this post with lots of great suggestions.
