Declutter This Today: The Bathroom Closet

Declutter This Today: The Bathroom Closet

Today’s chore is to declutter your bathroom closet.  It’s fast and easy to declutter a bathroom closet, and you know you’ve been meaning to get that closet cleaned for quite a while!  If you don’t even know where to start, don’t worry.  Whether you’re a hoarder or just haven’t kept up on your organization, our step by step directions below show you exactly how to declutter a bathroom closet.

How to Declutter a Bathroom Closet: The Quick Version

Get the old clutter out of the bathroom closet!  It’s time to pare down the contents to what you actually need to keep in the bathroom closet:

• The items you use on a daily basis
• The items you use weekly
• The items that belong in the bathroom but rarely get used

We’re not cleaning today, just decluttering and getting rid of things you’ve been hoarding or stashing in that bathroom.

How to Declutter a Bathroom Closet: Complete Instructions

Supplies:

• Trash bag for garbage
• 1 container or box for items that belong in a different room
• 1 container or box for items to keep
• 1 container or box for items to give to friends or donate

Decluttering Guidelines:

• Holes: Toss all bath towels and washcloths that are ripped, torn, frayed or stained.  These can also be moved to a cleaning closet to use as cleaning rags.
• Limits: Keep only 3 towels per person in your family.  This means a family of 4 should have no more than 12 bath towels in the bathroom closet.
• Expired: Throw away anything that has passed its expiration date.
• Old: Throw away any health or beauty items that are so old you don’t remember when you got them.
• Not sterile: Throw away all first aid items that are opened or no longer individually wrapped and may be contaminated.
• Cosmetics: No old makeup gets to stay. If it’s older than 6 months, it goes in the trash.

Directions:
1.  Start with the very top shelf.  We’re going to work from the top down, one shelf at a time.
2.  Take everything off of the shelf and line the items up neatly in the floor, on a counter, or even in the bathtub.
3.  Set up your 3 containers: one for items that belong in a different room, one for items to keep, one for donations, and a trash bag for the garbage.
4.  Pick up one item at a time and decide on which container it goes in.  Take no more than 30 seconds for each item; this is a fast decluttering process.  Put each item in its proper container.
5.  When you’ve finished with all the items from one shelf, start again with the contents of the next shelf.
6.  When all shelves in the bathroom closet have been emptied, you’re ready to deal with your containers.
7.  Take the trash bag out of the bathroom, tie it up, and take it out to the dumpster or trash can for garbage day.
8.  Take the container of items to keep and put them into the bathroom closet neatly.  Items you use every day go on the middle shelf (this likely includes towels and washcloths).  Items you use weekly go on a higher or lower shelf.  Items you rarely use that really belong in the bathroom (like a curlers set or humidifier) go on the very top shelf.
9.  Take the container of items that belong in a different room and go on a walk through the house.  Put back all items in the correct rooms until the box is empty.
Now you’ve got your declutter directions for the day.  Go tackle your decluttering your bathroom closet with confidence!