How to Organise Shit Without Losing Your Mind

Pinterest is full of aesthetically pleasing minimalist interiors which isn't real life, right? We all (lots of us) have this dream of only having the things we really need in our home, perfectly filed, stored and arranged. It takes time, effort and know how to actually achieve this and I can't name a single person who has been successful.

Like every good mover, I had every intention of clearing the clutter instead of transporting it all to the new pad. But guess what? It didn't happen. The offer of a cheap van came up, and we decided to lock and load one weekend, so de-cluttering took a back seat.

Now we're in, I need to get my shit together. I started out with my favourite procrastination technique - researching what to do. 'The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo was having rave reviews at the time, and sounded like the kind of kick up the butt I craved. It totally rocked, and I've set about getting shit sorted, starting with the bathroom.

To make it a bit quicker and easier on my brain, I refined a process of elimination written out below. If you fancy a quick fix de-clutter, then follow along and make sure you take some before and after pictures, purely for your own satisfaction. You'll feel totally smug after this, trust me.

Pre-Declutter

Organising Bathroom Products

1.   Empty all bathroom storage units, placing everything on the bathroom floor.

2.   Search the rest of the house for similar products e.g. lotions on the dresser and even hand wash around the house. Put it all on the bathroom floor.

3.   Take each item and check the following:

•   Use by date - throw the item away if it is out of date.

•   Quantity left - if a small amount of product remains, decant with similar products into one bottle. Immediate space-saved.

•   Duplication - place duplicate products together. If you can, decant all into one container to save space (even more spppaaaaccce)!

4.   Group items into purpose - I went with face, body, hands/feet, hair, teeth, first aid, bath, towels and cosmetic bags.

5.   Sub-group further if you can - I grouped my face products into face wash, masks, toners, moisturisers etc.

6.   Clean all the items with antibacterial...nobody gross dusty products. Make them look beautiful again!

7.   Place items into storage boxes and organise in a unit in order of use. I placed my products into Ikea SKUUB boxes with the heaviest products in the lowest drawers of my unit.

8.   Donate any items you no longer 'need' to friends, family, charity shop or a women's refuge.

9.   Send me your before and after pictures! or share them over on facebook.

 

 

Drawer Categorisation | Face, body and bath products - I should probably purge some more items.

Drawer Categorisation | Towels and the essential bathroom items

TOP TIP

Put the samples you kept for 'travelling' into a cool jar and leave in your spare room for guests, or on the bathroom worktop so you actually use the buggers.

That's it for now! I'd love you to share it with a person who has more lotions and potions than they know what to do with. Go on, you might get the freebies they no longer 'need'!

Tune in next time for my top tips on how to get rid of stuff you don't actually need, but you think you do.