Welcome to Week 17 of the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge. This week, we’re moving on to one of the most-used rooms in our homes—the bathroom. We started our kitchen decluttering with an easy task, clearing under the kitchen sink. We’ll do the same in the bathroom by decluttering under the bathroom sink before moving on to more challenging tasks.
This post was originally published in May 2021 and republished in April 2024.
The bathroom is an important room in our homes. It’s where we start and end our days, so we can enjoy immediate benefits from our decluttering efforts. A simple, clutter-free bathroom sets the tone for our day.
Are you ready for week 17? 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 17 – Decluttering under the bathroom sink
Like my kitchen sink, it had been far too many years since I had pulled everything out from under the bathroom sink. It’s just something I never think to do.
Here’s where I started this week. It’s a bit of a cluttered mess. I was pretty sure there were things lurking back there that I could get rid of.
This week’s decluttering and organizing tips
This was a fairly straightforward exercise, so I don’t have a lot of tips to share this week. I do have a couple of observations though:
- This small organizing caddy keeps my cleaning supplies neat and organized.
- The roll-out wire baskets help to keep things tidy.
- The biggest thing I learned was that I need to make a point of emptying everything out at least once a year to keep track of what I have and to make sure I use things up before they expire, or before buying more.
What I got rid of
In total, I got rid of 8 items this week:
- An old bath pillow. I haven’t used it in years.
- 3 expired items – bug spray, sun screen, and facial cleanser
- A broken storage container
- 2 half-empty bottles of bubble bath
- A bar of stinky carbolic soap
And…this week’s candidate for strangest or most useless item is a half-empty bottle of kids’ bubble bath that must have been at least 15 years old.
So here’s what things look like now. Much better!
2024 Update
It has been three years so I’m rebooting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge to see how much I can get rid of in 2024.
Since I started to focus more on sustainability, I have significantly reduced the number of personal care and cleaning products I use. Even so, I found 6 items to get rid of, including a couple of expired items and an empty facial cleanser bottle that belonged to one of my daughters. How do empty containers find their way back into the cupboards?
So that’s week 17 done. This was an easy start to our bathroom decluttering. Next week, we’ll move on to the bathroom drawers. That will be more of a challenge.
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!
What did you declutter from under your bathroom sink this week? Tell us below.
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Having been dealing with working under sinks for years I can’t imagine the hours I spent moving clutter out so I could fix the plumbing. By decluttering it also helps air flow around your pipes and if you would have a leak by decluttering it helps keep the risk of mildew forming down.
I can just imagine. Thanks for the info about the air flow. I hadn’t thought of that!
I don’t have an under bathroom sink! I do have a compact apartment bathroom that has a pedestal sink and no under storage. That was really hard to manage when I moved in so I got a corner wired unit that sat between the door and toilet and crammed extra stuff there. It worked for awhile but there’s a yuck factor for me with uncovered stuff living next to the toilet even when the lid is kept down. After a few years I just didn’t care anymore about holes in the wall and hung up a shelf/cabinet thing to store needed items. I decided it was my gift to the next renter 🙂 I keep that organized and clean because stuff is still visible but I feel better about where it is. On a side note, because I use a hairdryer at times, and my one outlet is in that same quasi toilet/sink wall space I put up a removable hook and hang the dryer rather than having it take up shelf space.
Our second bathroom downstairs has a pedestal sink. You’re right that it takes a bit of adjustment. We have a corner cabinet with a cupboard and shelves, and a matching wall cabinet, that work well. If nothing else, it forces my girls to keep their stuff to a minimum.
This post actually inspired me Michelle. I had nothing on my to-do list for today so I’m taking another look at what I have on the shelves and making adjustments…again. Minimal is the way to go 🙂 Thanks!
Yes! I love it!
I haven’t looked at at what’s under my bathroom sink in ages! I think it’s mostly okay, but I have a couple of small bins with lids that are probably hiding some old treasures. I really like those wire baskets. That’s a great use of space!
Thanks Alison. Yes, I love the wire baskets. I told a friend in an earlier comment that I think I got them at Zellers. You probably remember Zellers! 😀
It looks great, Michelle! I really like those wire baskets. I need something like that, because everything is basically just sitting underneath the sink in no particular order. No wondered it looks cluttered (and not only looks cluttered, IS cluttered!) LOL
Thanks Cher. I can’t remember where I got those wire baskets. Probably Zellers! Do you remember Zellers? I really miss Zellers!
I sure do remember and miss Zellers! I wish we had them down here, and I know you wish they were still there!!
The thing that makes me mad is Target closed all the Zellers stores, and where is Target now? GONE – leaving Walmart as our only department store option.
Oh right, I had forgotten all about that. That’s extremely annoying, isn’t it? It’s one thing to take over a long-standing staple a.k.a. Zellers, but to then leave? I wonder what happened? I haven’t been to a Walmart in eons. I think they are primarily located in the suburbs.
I want Zellers!!
I don’t think Target had a good strategy for doing business in another country. They had major supplier issues – lots of empty shelves in their stores when they were still open.
Bring back Zellers!!!
Oh wow, it really sounds as if it was completely different than here. Never an excuse for Target to have empty shelves unless the next big thing is flying off the shelves!
Yes, bring back Zellers!!!
Ooo this looks great, Michelle! Under your bathroom cupboard looks like a smaller version of what it’s like under our kitchen sink cupboard. I’ve tried to think of storage solutions (tier racks and so on) but nothing would quite fit. The problem is with all the large bottles, the cleaners and such. I’m going to have to take another run at it now I’ve seen how you’ve got yours. The wire racks seem especially helpful. Definitely agree we need more regular go throughs of everything to see what we’ve got, what’s expiring, what needs refilling and so on. The same goes for all the cupboards, the spare freezer etc.
Caz xx
Thanks Caz. It’s funny you mentioned under the kitchen sink. That’s where I started my decluttering challenge back in January. It’s amazing what you find when you go through a cupboard that you haven’t emptied out in years.
It looks much better now. My bathroom is the only room that isn’t cluttered. 😀
Thanks. Our bathroom isn’t too bad, other than the cupboards and drawers. Out of sight, out of mind. LOL
Great job cleaning a space that I feel most people tend to avoid! I love the storage racks that you got to help organize your cleaning supplies. That space looks much better now!
Thanks Helen. The storage racks were always there but they were buried behind so much junk, you couldn’t see them. 😂
oh no!!