The Bathroom & Your Relationship to Yourself

June 22, 2023

This post is part of a series that I will be sharing with you over the next couple months, based on the 5 week journal that I’ve created. If you don’t want to wait for each post to come out, you can download the journal here: The Seattle Sparkle Method to Get Organized and Stay Organized

My favorite room in the house is quite possibly the bathroom. The bathroom is a place of personal reflection, renewal and cleansing. It’s is a space for releasing, renewing and personal hygiene. It’s a great place for letting go of thoughts that don’t serve you, and for manifesting all your desires. Mentally, it’s where we can get another perspective as we look in the mirror to see what other people see. It is a place to reflect and to expel thoughts, banish shame and guilt, and process feelings. Emotionally, the bathroom can be a place for self-loathing, but it can also be a place for self-adoration. Spiritually, it’s a place where we go to purify. Creating a bathroom environment that supports these processes is integral to your health. So where to start?

Home Assignment: Organize the Bathroom

Declutter and organize the bathroom. This could be one bathroom or if you have multiple bathrooms, all the bathrooms. Throw out anything that is expired or you just don’t like. Recycle or donate when possible. Then give the bathroom a good deep clean using your favorite cleaning products!

Supplies needed:

• Bags or boxes for trash/recycle/donate
• Boxes and bags for sorting similar items
• Containers: Use cardboard boxes, or other temporary containers until you know what size you need.
• Labels: Post-it notes and/or blue masking tape and a black sharpie are great for temporary labels as you’re sorting

Decluttering and Organizing Guidelines

At some point in the process, give your bathroom a good deep clean. Vacuum the floor (as long as it’s dry) or sweep, and then mop. Some bathrooms will need this step to be done at the very beginning, some need it as you go, and some spaces can wait till the end. Use your own judgement as to when to clean vs. declutter and organize.

If your bathroom trashcan is full, take out the trash. Then remove any obvious trash or recycling off the floor, countertops, bathroom drawers, or cabinets. Keep your trash bags close by until they get full, then take them out and replace the bags.
Create a staging area. Clear a space for sorting like items. If you have things in the bathroom that go other places, create boxes or bags for the different places things need to go like another bedroom, the laundry room, or the basement, so you don’t have to make multiple trips. Create a bag or box for donations or things to give away on Buy Nothing or to local homeless shelters. Unfortunately, if your bathroom products have been opened, and you don’t want them anymore, you’re probably going to have to just throw them in the trash.
Sort items in the bathroom by category. For example, put all the face stuff together, the hair stuff together, and the body stuff together. From those categories, you can make sub-categories like makeup, hair gel, and lotion.
Purge what you don’t need or don’t like. Cosmetics expire, so don’t keep them around past their prime. If your bathroom is too full, get rid of some bathroom stuff, or find alternative storage solutions. Let go of anything that you don’t like, that didn’t work for your body/hair type, or that’s gotten gross.
Decide where the things you want to keep are going to go. Do you have adequate storage spaces for all your stuff? If not, this is the time to figure out what kinds of shelves, cabinets, drawer organizers, or under-cabinet solutions you might need are. Don’t try to figure this out before you’ve decluttered though. Otherwise you’ll have no idea how much storage space you’ll really need.
Use containers or drawer dividers to group like items if necessary and label them clearly. Closed containers (containers with lids) are good for storing things that you don’t need to access often (like extra products). Use open containers to group like items within drawers or on shelves. You can also use drawers (either under the sink or on the counter) that are labeled to group together like items.
Maintain! Get into the rhythm of a daily tidying schedule to keep up your good work.

If you don’t have a long time, do what you can do. Even just throwing out all the trash or getting rid of expired products/products you don’t like might make a major difference!

For more tips on organizing your bathroom, read these posts:

Bathroom Organizing

Churching Up the Bathroom

7 Steps to Bathroom Harmony

Life Assignment: Relationship to Self

What is your relationship to yourself like? What is your inner monologue like? Make a list of 30 things you love about yourself!

The words you speak to yourself are the most powerful words you’ll ever hear. If you want to get your home organized, you need to get in control of your inner critic. When your inner critic is in charge, you’ll never feel like you’ve ever done enough, and so this will be reflected in your home. You will never feel at peace, and your clutter and disorganization will taunt you. When you can make peace with your inner critic, you will be amazed at how your organization falls into place. However, it’s pretty common to not even be able to discern what your inner critic is saying. Lots of times it will be so subconscious that it will fly under the radar. The first step is to identify what the inner critic is saying. The next step is to disrupt the cycle. The third step is to rewire those patterns.

For more help with your inner monologue, read these posts:

Authentic Positivity

Toxic Positivity

The Number One Habit to Break To Get Organized

Manage Your Mind

ADHD and Self-Criticism

ADHD and the Emotional Scale