36 Things Your Bathroom Doesn't Need

Did you know that there are three super simple steps to creating a house that is so easy to manage? So today we're going to start, well step number one is to declutter. I have a list of over 27 things your bathroom absolutely does not need anymore. We're going to go through the steps. We're going to add in a little new organization. And I want to talk about this idea of why the opposite of sad isn't happy. We get this so wrong and it makes decluttering harder. We're going to, we're totally going to get rid of that thought today. Hi, I'm Dawn from The Minimal Mom and we've been minimalist for nine years now. That's wild. We got rid of 80% of our stuff nine years ago and have not looked back. I really want that for you too, because it makes our house so easy. All right, so here are our three steps to maintaining our home. Step number one is we declutter first. So we're going to do that today. Like I said, a bunch of things we are going to get rid of in the bathroom. Number two is to organize and organizing can actually be fun if you declutter first. And like I said, I have some new containers we're going to put in place here. And then number three is to maintain it. A lot of times we get down on ourselves. We think my organization isn't working. It's just because we actually have to maintain it. It doesn't do it for us. We'll talk a little bit more about this, but let's go right to step number one, decluttering. I have a whole list of things that your bathroom absolutely does not need. Okay, so number one is old and expired medicine. Number two is older unused makeup, brushes, beauty sponges, dried out nail polish is number four. Five is old nail files. Six is dull or rusty nail clippers. Number seven is half used or old shampoo and conditioner bottles. Number eight expired sunscreen. Number nine is old toothbrushes. Number 10 is unused toothpaste and dental accessories. You know, these like things you get, they send home from the dentist. If you're not using them, let them go. 11 is any older unused mouthwash. Number 12 is older unused lotion. The next is unused and old razors and then of course unused hair products. We're gonna talk a little bit more of this. If there is like guilty clutter, things we spent a lot of money on that you're not using. Now, how do you know if these types of products are still good? A lot of them don't actually have an expiration date, but you look for this little icon and it means it's good for 12 months past the date that it is open. So look for that. And then there'll usually be like a month range in there. And so you have to know when you got it and when you opened it. But so many of these things have been in our cabinet for such a long time. They do go bad and they do have a specific shelf life. I'm just walking by the kitchen to go to the other bathroom to show you more things. And there's just like cookies waiting to go in the oven and more cookie dough here. So we might just, might just have to take one of these. I would rather eat it as the dough than the actual cookie anyways. Well, I don't know. I go back and forth. I'm also glad that they make cookie dough edible now. This stuff's not edible? No. There's, I think there's two types of people in the world. Those that would eat cookie dough even if it says it's not and those who wouldn't. I am the type that will eat it and I would love to know, leave a comment down below if you would. So, all right, bathroom. Okay. So I wanted to come into this bathroom. Again, we're still in step one declutter and then we'll talk about the other ones too. There's some more things I'm going to show you here, but what's nice on a daily basis, I did nothing to prep this bathroom. This is just what it looks like and it is awesome. So next we have no bathroom rugs, no rugs that set out all the time. And then we have one bath mat. So get rid of any extra rugs you don't need, unused bath mats, also old bath towels, worn out bath towels, washcloths, also any duplicate grooming tools and old expired unused perfumes. You can usually tell by how dusty they are. This is so old. I can't, I don't know. You know how they just start to break down over time. I mean, I think this still smells pretty good, but if you have duplicates and just lots of extra sitting around, let it go. Any extra Epson salt, bath salts, shower steamers, bath bombs, that kind of thing. And then any extra, um, travel toiletries that you want to use. We have this and this honestly, it's probably too much, but it fits the containers right now. And we will not allow any more than that. Also, if you have extra hair cutting kits that would go along with the extra grooming tools, any old or worn out shower caps that you're not using or just other extra bath accessories that just don't get used anymore. And then unused bathtub toys. Oh, this is so dirty down here. Do you know what's sad? You don't know the last day that they're going to use those. These haven't been played with for months now and everybody takes showers and I don't know if I have the heart to let them go today, but yeah, they'll be headed out. Next is unused or broken bathroom scales and then old or stretched out worn out loofahs. We don't really do the loofahs anymore. I do really like this style of like shower mitt because it has like the open weave. Very effective. Like this will get you clean, but it doesn't like collect all the grimy stuff. Oh yeah. And if you have any extra first aid supplies, uh, we seem to go through a lot of them between Tom and the kids. So that's not generally a problem, but we try to keep it contained to what comfortably fits in here. And that seems to work out pretty good. Oh no, the cookies are done. It smells so good. I wish you could come over for fresh cookies. Wouldn't that be lovely? Cup of coffee maybe? All right, back to the other bathroom. We have a few more things to declutter then we'll talk about the other steps. Okay. I don't actually know what number we're on right now, but broken and unused hair clips and hair ties, um, old hair accessories and brushes. How about things your kids used to wear but aren't wearing anymore? That's kind of sad, right? Unused styling tools, old contact lens cases, unused or expired face masks, expired skincare products, old jewelry. We're going to come back to this one. Anything we spent a lot of money on, that's hard. And then lastly, unneeded or duplicate cleaning supplies, old toilet brushes, magazine racks, unused hand soaps and dispensers. But isn't it incredible when you look at all of this unused, expired, excess stuff together, it creates so much clutter in our bathrooms. So that's why the first step is first we declutter, right? And then next we're gonna talk about organizing. But real quick, let's talk about some of these harder things to declutter because we spent a lot of money on them, right? A lot of these skincare, I mean, these, I never use these. I don't know, do these even expire? Oh, expired 2024, 7-15. Okay. I have a little more time, but what is that data telling us? We're not using it, right? What about these things that we have spent a lot of money on? Whether it's for our face or skin or hair or those kinds of things. It is amazing how little tiny packages can cost so much money. So here's what I want to talk about. The opposite of sad isn't happy. If keeping these things made us feel good and we eventually use them and they added value to our life and it actually made us happy, then I would say just keep it, right? Because we get really down on ourselves. We not only feel sad, we feel kind of shameful. We beat ourselves up over the money we spent. Like I would just rather have the money back than have this dumb product now. But keeping it doesn't make us happy. Here. Keeping it does not equal happiness. So we have to just let it go. In fact, keeping it actually makes it so I continue to feel bad and beat myself up over it. Well, that's not helping anybody. And it's cluttering up my bathroom. It is just like negative, negative, negative, right? So if keeping it made us happy, I would probably just say, keep it. Fine. If it makes you feel better, just keep it. But it doesn't. Keeping it does not make us feel happy. It makes us feel worse and it clutters up our space. And like I showed you, both of these bathrooms function so well because they are number one, so highly decluttered. Because I've gone so far with decluttering, it is very easy to maintain them. I mentioned five of us, five people, including two teenagers use this bathroom and it's very maintainable. But we also had to do some organizing. So let's talk about step number two now, which is to organize. This is the fun part after you've done the decluttering. Okay. Now what I'm about to show you, you might say too far Dawn, too far. But when I was at Target the other day, I saw that they have these containers in white now, which, um, I'll show you the different organization in here. We kind of have a mishmash of different things that I would find just to fit the space as well. And in my top drawer here, where I keep all my stuff to get ready, I had the green ones and I just, I've never really liked them. I'm not one of those people that's like, everything has to be white now. I just like how bright it is and easy it is to see what you have. So I thought this would be a good opportunity just to make a quick pass through here. I declutter this space pretty frequently. In fact, we just went through it on our last full house declutter. So luckily there's not really much to declutter in here. Never hurts to take another look, but I just wanted to switch these out for white containers. I know. I fully get it if you're like, that is just kind of silly. I will use these containers elsewhere. So this one just has Bobby pins in it. This one is my like everyday jewelry and I'll put a link to my affiliate link for Trades of Hope down below. They've made some cool new restructuring changes too. So for anyone that had concerns in the past about how they were treating their affiliates, it's awesome. Like it is so good what they're doing now. But again, the whole goal of this is that it has to be very easy to see everything and to put it away. It has to be just as easy to put stuff away as it is to leave it out. So that's our goal with our organization. Ease of use, right? Everything just gets put back away when we're done with it. All right. So it's all nice and bright and white. I don't know. It makes my heart happy. It's okay if it doesn't, if you're like, that was really quite silly. And then this next drawer is a combination of Ikea containers and then one I got off of Amazon. And then the bottom drawer is also Ikea containers. Now the last but important step is to maintain it. So often we think like, Oh, my organization doesn't work. I suck at life because I'm not able to maintain it and my bathroom still gets messy. But this is just a very natural part of the process. We get it decluttered, we get some organization in place, and then we have to maintain it. We have to put stuff back away. It's not going to magically do it for us. But you should find that it is so much easier. And if the maintenance feels really hard and you're like, my bathroom is still not working well, guess what you do? You go back to number one and you declutter some more. This is why we call it the onion method. We say we declutter in layers because we get rid of a bunch of stuff. We're like, Oh my goodness, I got rid of so much. And then a lot of times we feel like we have to go even further. So if the maintenance feels hard, your organization's not really working, you might have to go back to the beginning and do a little more decluttering. Now sometimes getting the work done is the harder part. So I want to show you a sample of the live decluttering, or the body doubling as we call it, that we do inside of our mentorship group. We do body doubling every single day. Live decluttering, a date and time that you can put on your calendar and it is so effective. So here's what that looks like. I want to start with the, with our medicine cabinet here. Like the towels and stuff are, those are fine. We keep those pared down. It's this section that gets a little out of whack. I've mentioned this before. Do you have someone in your house who, when they get sick, they like go and buy all the things? Like they like go to Walgreens and just like buy everything. And I'm just like, and often we, we already have that same thing at home, but they don't check. Right. So I don't know. Okay. So speaking of which we have cold and flu stuff. At least these are generic. It really bugs me when they buy the name brand stuff. And then up here. So I have these three bins and this is kind of what I like to limit all of our medicine stuff to. Definitely I use the container concept in here. And so this to me, like I know if we're exceeding this and if they're overflowing, we're, there's stuff that has expired and we're not using it all. So that's always a good signal to me to take a few minutes to go through these. Okay. So I'm going to pull out, see it's so tough too. And there's like just a little bit left in there. Oh shoot. I was just going to mix it with this one, but green and red, that might make it look a little grody, right? I just, is that even a full serving? This is so expensive too. I don't want to just get rid of it. Darn it. So we got these two guys. Well, and like this one's not even full. It's just that nothing is like stood up right in there. Right. Okay, cool. Well let's work on these two to start. So I'm just going to look for things that are expired duplicates. This, I don't know. I don't even feel like this works. And it expires in like a month. I'm not totally afraid of, I'm not afraid of using expired things. It's more so that that's giving me data that if stuff is expiring, it's because I didn't use it. Right. To me, I didn't really feel like those worked. So I'm just going to let those go. Ibuprofen and aspirin. So I like to have all like the cold and flu stuff in one. And then all of the like just regular pain relievers in another. The problem is they're all kind of mixed up right now. Daytime. So we're going to make this one the cold and blue one. Didn't like Excedrin Migraine get like recalled or something? Isn't that like not even supposed to? When does this expire? September 23. There's only like two left in here. I'm going to let that go. Cause we have this like whole thing of migraine relief. And actually when Tom's careful with his diet, he doesn't get migraines anymore. So that's fine. Okay. More. Oh, well that's empty. Come on guys. Benadryl that can stay in here. Oh, and another Excedrin. Oh, March 22. Yeah. I just don't think we need multiple containers of that. Okay. So this is just going to be all pain relievers. Oh, and we have another one. Advil Migraine. Oh, that expired at 2-22. So again, like I wouldn't necessarily be afraid of taking an Advil from a 2022, but we're obviously not using it. So I don't need this full container and this full container that has 200 capsules in it. That's full. So I'm going to let this go. I mean, we can keep it, but what's the point, right? Like that's, again, our whole focus is like creating a bathroom that is really easy to clean. Benadryl, we'll put Benadryl in here too. Any other pain relievers? Eardrops from when the boys had like tubes and stuff. Like, I'm not kidding. I would forget that I have that. There's no point. Oh, what do you know? Another Excedrin Migraine. What are we doing? Now, okay. This one is June 24 and like maybe Tom would want a smaller size for like a travel size. So I'll keep this one for now, until it expires and then I'll throw it away. Okay. Okay. It looks like everything else here is like cold stuff. And then we have one more vent up here and a random bandaid. That again, I just want to look if there's children's Tylenol that can go in the pain reliever bin. Um, and this is just been other, other random stuff. Again, like these, the boys got when they had their procedures. When was that? Last August. We've never needed them again. I don't think we used it then. I think it was just a nasal decongestant. And I have other nasal sprays. So I'm going to let these go. It sucks because I know they charged us for those, which is so dumb. Like, they're just like, Oh, here's all your prescriptions. Right. I'm like, I don't want them. I'm letting you take them back. But at the time you're just like, whatever, get us out of here. We're just trying to get home. And so you just like, I don't know, at least I do end up taking it. Um, all right. Kids, cold and cough. When does this expire? I feel like we've had this forever. I don't know. So I have like some of our more natural methods of cold stuff in here. They have like, you know, elderberry syrup and that. So I'm thinking I'll put the more natural stuff in that one. And then the more traditional stuff, like our near empty bottles of NyQuil in here. So we have a baby chest rub and an adult one. I don't, I don't think we need the baby one anymore. The other thing, I had never labeled these bins. Every time I cleared out this bathroom or organized it, I'm like, Ooh, we need to label the bins. Today's the day. We're going to label the bins too because that is, um, get rid of the NyQuil. It's so expensive though. I mean, it's like highway robbery what they charge for that. I have room for it. Um, oh, okay. Accepted migraine is the only thing that works for me. They changed it in Canada. So when anyone in our family or friends go to the States, everyone knows to see if anyone needs more and brings them back. Oh, interesting. I thought they had changed it in the US too. I don't know. I'm really sorry though. That, man, for anyone that gets migraines, horrible. I'm so sorry. Um, okay. So we have like our natural things here. We got our, I mean, the dumb thing too is like, I have like, I don't know, three things of thieves oil. What's this one? Tea tree oil. We use that sometimes. Uh, dye dyes I like when we have stomach bugs. That actually works pretty well. Um, you know, it's, it's one of those things where I was like, we have like a ton of these like little measuring cups too. We don't need all those. Those can go. You know, even with the thieves and stuff, I'm always like, it doesn't work. I don't know. Right. It was just like the mental thing of like, no, no, I'm doing something right. Oh, they didn't change, et cetera. Migraine in the US. Oh, okay. Good to know. I think there was a recall on it for a little bit. You live on. I'm so sorry. Oh, that sucks. Darn it. Well, the good thing is we have these all like pared back down and everything is fitting neatly in here again. So that feels good. Yeah. As an aromatherapist, essential oils, if made from high quality oils do work in my experience. Totally. I think we're all getting a little feeling like we're been sold to so much about like everything. Right. Then I'm just like, Oh, I don't know. I get tired of trying to keep up on it all. But I do think these and digest we really like that. And I get tired of like having to research. Well, where are the quality oils from and where, you know, like gross. So anyways, awesome. Okay. This shelf we keep mouthwash. Don't I get, don't get me started on it. Like it's fine. We like go back and forth so much between like natural things and then not, you know, like we just kind of do it all. It's fine. Okay. Um, is this, Oh, conditioner. Do we need conditioner in here? Put that in the shower. Hydrogen peroxide. This was a gel that I think we grabbed it because Tom forgot his, he likes the crew gel, but we were somewhere and he forgot it or something. So we got this, this was from the dollar store, I think. And like it's still full cause no one used it or liked it. So it sucks. Like even if it's just from the dollar store, I still hate throwing stuff away and like, could I donate it somewhere? I don't know. Right. So for today it's going in the garbage and it just is what it is. So we try to do the best we can, but we have to be so realistic about our bandwidth and you know, what, what we actually have capacity to do. Hey, look, another pain reliever. But that is like empty too. So now all of our kids, I mean, this was like the children's, now all of our kids can swallow ibuprofen. Like it's just, we're in just, um, like our kids are not little kids anymore and it's kind of sad. But we don't need that. So let that go. Um, working man's hands. This actually works really well. If you have people in your household that their hands get really dry from, I don't know, working. I don't know. Oh, this is like a mishmash basket of fun, right? Okay. We have more Benadryl. We do have to keep Benadryl on hand because Corbin is not allergic, allergic, but he's sensitive to bee stings and he will break out in hives. And we have heard that it can get worse over time. Right. Um, but why do we have so many boxes of it? Okay. This is 8, 24, 7, 23. Again, I don't really think this, I don't think we have to worry, but again, I just can't imagine we would go through that much Benadryl. Um, I mean, he hasn't used it in over a year and I have that, I have this container of it too that has a hundred tablets in it. Okay. I'm going to let the expired one go. Is anyone else ever too? I'm like 7, 23. Okay. We're good. And I'm like, no, it's, it's 2024 now. Like, no, it's not actually like it's expired. I like, what year is it? Okay. Okay. So we're going to put this up. But again, this is why we have to stay organized because otherwise we just rebuy all the stuff over and over again. Right. So I'm going to do my best to keep it all together here. And it doesn't guarantee that we won't buy it again, but okay. And then the rest of this stuff in here are actually like travel size things. And I have a bin in this bottom drawer for travel stuff. So I want to combine all of this together because this will not get, no one will think to look in here for the travel stuff because it's supposed to be in there. And then I just want to finish though, going through this shelf, which has some lotion, like ear piercing cleaning stuff. Oh, I wonder if Adeline knows we have a whole nother shampoo in here. You know, it just always feels better when there's room to see what you have, move stuff around. It's not like crampacked full. And even when we're using the container concept, like I like to consider or think about like my containers, whether it's an actual container like one of these, or just this shelf that is limiting what I can keep. I mean, my preference is to only have this container or drawer, whatever it is, half full, so that you have room to grow and to add things and to see what you have and not buy duplicates. And I mean, realistically, most of us know we are not using, this is actually a lot of stuff to use up over the next year or two. And so we just have so much inventory in our bathrooms that we couldn't, there's like not enough days ahead of us to use all of this stuff up, right? So being really realistic, if stuff has expired, if there's just something about it you don't like, permission to let it go, because it is not adding any value to our life if we're not using it or going to use it. So if anything, it just causes guilt and then blocks the stuff we do need and then we buy duplicates. So it's just amazing how reducing the inventory helps so much and saves us so much money. But I do want to answer your questions. How ruthless is Tom? That's a good question. He's getting more and more, like he is realizing the impact of inventory and having to manage so much stuff. He recently sold two trucks. Cause he's like, I just can't manage it all. He's more towards the end of like being willing to get rid of stuff than not. So does it bother you that your bins are different? I think I'd make a mental note to change it out every time I see it. Well that's probably Regina where you and I are different. No, it doesn't bother me. It was more like when we did this drawer, it was more trying to find the right containers that would fit in here. I really like to have lids on things in here that I don't want stuff to accidentally like fall into or get stacked on top of. And that's why it was really bothering me. Like that lid would not fit on that travel container anymore. But no, as far as I'm not matching, it's, that doesn't bother me. It's more about them fitting well. But some people are wired in a way that that would bother you. So, wow. Charlotte says, I got almost an entire container of expired medicine and makeup out of four drawers. Felt so good. That's awesome. Way to go, Charlotte. Oh, Michelle, thank you. She says, Dawn and all of you precious friends in this group are so precious to my heart. Tears of joy flood my eyes as I follow along this rainy, dreary day in the bayou where I live. So much sunshine in my heart. So thank you for this help with my home and mindset. Oh, Michelle, that is so cool. It's just my joy to get to spend this time with you all and to get to do this together and to encourage one another. I am so grateful. I am equally as grateful because I probably would not go through all of this as consistently as I do. It's certainly not our kitchen. And I was recording a full house to clutter video and I was in the kitchen and I'm like, I have, I don't actually really have anything to clutter in here because we go through it so frequently together. I'm so grateful for that. So that's awesome. So if you need a little extra encouragement or accountability, we would love to see you inside of our mentorship group. I think it is a way to 10 times your productivity. Get your house decluttered faster so that we can enjoy our time and go on to do all the other things that we are meant to do in our lifetime. Well, I have printables with all of the things that I recommend that you don't have in your house anymore. So all the videos we've done of things you don't need in each room, we'll put a playlist of those videos and we have a printable as well, if that is helpful for you. But I love you. I hope you have a really good day and I'll see you again soon.