Have you had a good look at your bathroom counters lately? Are they in need of decluttering? Welcome to week 19 of the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge. This week, we continue our bathroom clean-up by decluttering bathroom counters.
Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve decluttered under the bathroom sink and cleared out our bathroom drawers. How is it going? Do you find your less-cluttered bathroom a more peaceful place to start and end your day? I definitely notice a difference!
Are you ready for week 19? Let’s get decluttering!
What is the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge?
In this year-long journey, we’re tackling one task at a time with the goal of cleaning up and organizing our homes. If you’ve just joined us, no worries. You can jump right in with this week’s challenge. Just check out the first two posts in the series to download your free checklists.
You can get easy access to all previous weekly posts on the main Decluttering page.
Week 19 – Decluttering bathroom counters
We have two bathrooms in our house. Our second bathroom downstairs is a declutterer’s dream. It has no vanity, drawers or counters. This means all my decluttering has been done in our main bathroom.
Our bathroom counters aren’t really too bad. I keep only 6 items on the bathroom counter: a basket with my daughter’s hairbrushes and toothbrush, a box of tissues, 2 liquid soap dispensers, a soap dish, and a Winnie the Pooh Dixie Cup dispenser that I don’t really need but it’s just too cute to get rid of. Considering three of us share this bathroom, that’s not too bad.
In fact, there wasn’t much difference between my before and after view of the counters. But, we have a small shelf unit on the wall beside the sink that was looking a little overstuffed, so I focused my efforts there this week.
This week’s decluttering and organizing tips
I’ve already embraced the notion of a decluttered bathroom counter. For me, there are three main benefits of a clutter-free counter:
- Cleaning is easier. I hate cleaning so anything I can do to make the chore faster and less painful is a good thing. In the days when I had dozens of items on the counter, cleaning took longer. These days, I can clean the bathroom in 5 to 10 minutes.
- It’s calming. This is a benefit of decluttering in general. Less clutter means fewer distractions and a more relaxing, calm feel.
- Nosy people have nothing to look at. Do you remember the episode of Seinfeld when Jerry snoops through his girlfriend’s bathroom cabinet? I’m sure this happens more than you think. Since we don’t have a private master bathroom, guests use our main bathroom. With that in mind, I’d rather not give visitors too many things to gawp at. And, if anyone pulls a Jerry on me and goes through our drawers, they will see they are neat and organized.
Let’s keep in touch! Join my mailing list and I’ll email you when I add a new post.
What I got rid of
This week’s decluttering turned into more of an organizing and relocation exercise. I moved my box of essential oils to the free space in one of my decluttered drawers. Then, I moved several items to the medicine cabinet, and a few others to the downstairs bathroom. I also found a small bottle of lotion that I’ll make a point of using up in the next few weeks.
In the end, I only got rid of 4 things – 3 expired items and 1 decorative jar that I used to keep cotton pads and swabs in. It had been sitting empty for a couple of years because I no longer buy these disposable items.
New-found space in the shelving unit meant I could move the box of tissues from the counter to the shelf. Now, there are only 5 items on the counter to move when I clean.
That’s week 19 done. Next week, we’ll move on to our medicine cabinet.
If you have friends or family members who could benefit from a little less clutter in their lives, please share this post and spread the word!
How did you make out with decluttering bathroom counters this week? Tell us below.
Luckily I have a small bathroom with a shelf above the sink with toothbrushes, shampoo/conditioner & things like that so it’s not much to move when cleaning.
Even though you didn’t have that much clutter, it’s greaat you were able to relocate some things & get rid of some expired things.
Thanks Karalee. No matter how many rounds of decluttering I do, I always seem to find more stuff to get rid of!
We have one bathroom in our house. I don’t keep anything on our counter except for our toothbrush holder, a box of tissues, a candle, and a bowl of nature. I want to make sure the space is calming and presentable for us as well as any guest.
I shudder when I think about how cluttered my bathroom was six years ago. I had a shelf on the counter that held a bunch of stuff we didn’t even use. Ahh, it was horrible! A clear bathroom counter is the way to go!
I agree Suzanne. It’s so much better to have a clutter-free bathroom. I realize now I never needed most of the products I used to buy.
Total coincidence, I did ours today. It was quite tidy already but got a new basket to keep things in and it’s looking much better now. Feels more fresh.
That is a coincidence. It’s interesting how just a small change can make a difference.