- Downsize your essentials
If there are only three people in your household, do you really need 18 bath towels, 12 hand towels and 10 face washers? And how many bottles and tubes of cosmetics and ointments and painkillers crowd the shelves of medicine cabinets and bathroom vanity drawers? The first task for the clutter fighter is to get rid of what you don’t need; the second is to look for ways to save space — and here are ways to do both:
- To free up shelf space, attach three or four towel rails on the back of the door and hang a week’s supply of towels from the rails.
- Make up two bathroom toolkits and store one in a clear, zipped plastic bag for packing. Include tweezers, nail clippers, scissors, cotton buds and cotton wool balls.
- Search out shelf space
Use the space above a window put up brackets and a simple shelf to hold towels and other bathroom supplies. A 60-cm expanse of wall is enough for two- or three-tiered shelving, good for holding supplies of any kind. You could get even more mileage out of it by attaching a board to the bottom with hooks for hanging wet towels.
- Racks to the rescue
If you wish you had more towel racks in your bathroom, forget about installing them and simply stand a coat rack in the corner — ideal for hanging towels and bathrobes.
When it comes to storing towels, a wire rack meant for benchtops fits the bill. You should put the rack, which will accommodate from 5-10 rolled-up towels, depending on the design, wherever it seems most practical — the floor, perhaps or on top of a cupboard. On top of saving space, the rack will add an attractive architectural feature to the bathroom.
- Hang tiered baskets
Tiered wire baskets made for de-cluttering the kitchen also come in handy in the bathroom —and the less room you have, the more you need to make use of the bathroom’s ‘air space’. Hang a set of tiered baskets from the ceiling and then place rolled hand towels in the largest basket and toiletries and other small items in the smaller ones.
- Toiletries on the move
Here’s a clever space-saving idea for large families with limited bathroom space. Turn small wicker baskets into toiletry holders and keep one in each family member’s bedroom. Everyone can then carry his or her toiletries to the bathroom as needed.
Paint each basket a different colour and fill it with customized supplies — for Dad, his preferred toothpaste, shaving cream and razor and other grooming supplies; for Mum, cosmetics, hair-care products and similar. Whatever you load into the baskets will help to keep bathroom surfaces clutter-free.
- Move medicines out
Removing your prescription and over-the-counter medicines from a bathroom cabinet to the kitchen or bedroom will do more than save space in one of the home’s smallest rooms. The warmth and humidity in bathrooms can degrade the stability and potency of some drugs.
Instead, put them in a lidded plastic container or shoebox and store them in a cool, dry place. Make sure that the medicines are stored well out of the reach of children.
- Mount a magnet
A magnetic knife holder mounted on the bathroom wall makes an ideal holder for small metal necessities like nail clippers, tweezers and toenail scissors. You won’t have to search around for small items in a messy drawer.
- A hair accessories box
A compact box with a clasp and lots of compartments (a flat fishing-tackle box is ideal) is perfect for sorting a collection of hair accessories into the compartments by type. When young kids watch you taking items from the box and then return them to their proper place, they learn to keep hair accessories and other belongings in order.
Credit: Reader’s Digest
Picture Credit: Google
