Wednesday, August 10, 2016

How to Organize Your Bathroom Products and Makeup

Never underestimate the power of an organized bathroom!  Getting ready in the morning is all about having a system and being able to access the items you need to use in a quick and easy manner. 

We aren’t Kylie Jenner showing off our perfect makeup organization, and our bathroom cabinets aren’t part of a daily home magazine photo shoot that need to look camera ready and picture perfect.  The following 10 tips are practical tips to keep your bathroom clean and perfectly organized. 

Here's my 10 Step Process for de-cluttering and cleaning your bathroom:

1.    Empty out all of your bathroom cabinets. 

2.    Place contents into divided piles. (For example lipsticks into one pile, eye shadow in another, shampoo in another one….(you get the picture)

3.    Get rid of anything you haven't used in the last 3-6 months or anything that's old.  This applies to old bottles of lotion or products that are nearly empty.  Don't keep old products! Their effectiveness diminishes and most of them lose their original scents over time.

4.    Buy plastic bins/containers (like you see in my photos below) to put the items that you're keeping in to.  (See my photos below)   You can always raid your plastic food container stash, and use those little containers if you don’t have time to run to the store right now.  They make great storage bins for lipsticks, eye shadows, etc. You don't need to spend a lot of money to get organized, and little boxes work well too!  I love the acrylic sorters for my lipsticks and mini cosmetics, and they can be found at any Bed, Bath, Beyond for a small amount of money. TJ Maxx's and Marshall's also sells them.

5.    Organize your hair ties, headbands and clips:.

Get rid of old hair ties that are stretched out, broken or have those metal bars around them  Place the good ones into their own, separate container.  Do the same thing for your hair clips and hair pins.  Separating them out allows you to see exactly what you have available to you when getting ready. Put your headbands into a plastic container too. I sort mine out by color and place each color group into their own ziploc bag within that bin.  When I want to wear a headband, I just pull out the bin and go to what color group I'm looking for.

NOTE: I don't keep tons of headbands, so there's not a lot fussing to find the one that I need.  Throw out the ones you haven't worn since high school.  Headbands will create bathroom chaos and clutter by getting caught on everything, and they also have a magnificient way of collecting dust and gross hair.  So, be smart and keep only the ones you’ll wear. 

6. Clean out those drawers.  Literally!

Vacuum out your drawers and cabinets and wipe them down: by now, you've probably noticed all of the hair, makeup and products that have built up in your drawers over time.  Get a small vacuum and take out all of the hair from the cabinets and drawers.  Using the cleaning product of your choice, wipe down and remove all grime and residue.  Cleaning out the cabinets properly sets a clean stage for your entire reorganizing process.  (You can also place liners in your drawers for future protection of the cabinet finishes if you chose to do so).

Wipe down all products that you're keeping.   It's a habit of mine to always wipe down or rinse off all of my bathroom products after using them.  It only takes a fraction of a second, but it helps to keep my drawers, cabinets and shower clean.  Plus, the next time I go to use the item it doesn't get my hands all goopy and gross.


7.  Get rid of all old tweezers, nail clippers, nail files and pumice stones. 

As you prepare to place all of your clean items back into your cabinets, trash any of the old items! It seems like everyone tends to keep those used, gross pumice stones, rusty nail clippers and old nail files.  Throw them out and start fresh! Pumice stones and nail files are a breeding ground for bacteria and dirt.  My favorite pumice stone is the one by "Swedish Clover" because dirt and dead skin can't get trapped into it.  Plus, I can easily soak it in bleach to clean it and it has a lifetime warranty. 

8. Clean Your Makeup Brushes and Hair Brushes

Use this time to clean out all of your brushes and makeup brushes.  This is a good habit to get into, as makeup brushes and hair brushes can build up with product and hair.  There’s nothing worse than seeing a hairbrush that is loaded up with months or years worth of hair.  I remove all of the hair from my brushes first, and then soak them in a hot water with a mild shampoo.  I then place them in a solution of water and vinegar before rinsing them off completely.  I wash my makeup brushes often with a makeup brush cleaning solution from Sephora.  You can use whatever brush cleaning method you prefer.  The important part is that you keep them clean!


9. Sort products on your shelves by category. 

As you put back together your cabinets and drawers, place like products together on shelves.  I separate out my shelves by category.  One shef for hair products, one for lotions and creams, etc.  Then I sort the products in rows by product type.  For example, I place leave-in conditioners together, hairsprays together, face washes together.  (You get the picture).


10. One Last Purge

Before we give you your “Gold Star” for organizing yourself, Skim over the stuff you've kept and see one last time if there's anything else that you can get rid of.  Remember, LESS is more!  Especially when it comes to keeping products and makeup.


10.   Stay Organized by Putting Items Back in Their Place
Now that you're bathroom cabinets are in tip top shape and you feel back in control, make sure to keep organized by taking a few seconds each day to put your things back into the proper place and to also wipe them off before re-storing them.

Products lined up in rows by product type.  Perfumes on bottom shelf

ORGANIZE BY PRODUCT TYPE: (from L to R) hair ties, eye brows, dental floss & whitener, concealers, mascaras, eye pencils

lipsticks and extra eye shadow palettes
s

eye shadows & powders!






Happy Organizing and thanks for stopping by today.

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