Giving our bathrooms some TLC!

I hope that by now you are already enjoying closets that are more functional, practical and that have room to welcome those nice summer dresses you have been flirting with.

Today we’ll tackle the bathrooms! Those spaces many times overlooked, that get as much action as our beloved kitchens. And it will fast and easy!

Make yourself comfortable in front of your cabinets and pull out everything that is stored in there.

Take a look at each of your products and check for the expiration date. If you find something that you haven’t used in the last year, most likely you won’t use it in the next one, so be honest and throw it away. Also discard all products that have expired and put aside medication that are not in use anymore as well as past due date.

Now that you have been through all your products, look for what you have and see if you could organize it in small containers, creating groups like: face, body, hair, make-up, first-aid, hair accessories and anything else you find that can help you organize your products.

If you have girls, you know the amount of hair accessories you have there. Great containers for these items are the Snapware, stackable ones, with snaps on the sides and one lid on the top. You can organize them by type, by color or by owner and they will always stay neat inside, without spill overs in the cabinets.

In the past we were told to flush all expired or unused drugs in the toilet and down the drain; however contamination in the water supplies have changed the guidelines issued by the EPA, Dept. of Health and Human Services and other agencies for the procedures on how to discard these items. In this case:

-       Don’t flush drugs in the toilet unless the information that came with it advises to do so.

-       When discarding both prescription and non-prescription medication first crush pills and dilute liquid medication, then mix them with coffee ground, dirt, kitty litter and place it in closed plastic bag before discarding it.

-       Make sure to remove all the personal information from the containers.

-       Look for places in your community that would collect the expired medications. From time to time, large pharmacy chains hold campaigns for that purpose.

-       Your pharmacist is a great source of information, in case you still unsure about what to do with your expired medication

Now, off to the towels! Do the same with your towels and check for the ones that have spots, holes or that are just so old that you can see through it. Set them aside and if they are in “dignity condition”, put them in your car for donation, if they are just too old, use them as rags for cleaning.

Look around your bathrooms and see if you need to remove anything, like a painting which frame got damaged, a mirror that is broken, and a curtain that has seen better days and clean up.

Give yourself a treat and make your bathroom look like a spa. Put a glass jar filled with your favorite soaps on you counter or a candle with your favorite scent and your space is now clean and organized, your self-care time will be so much pleasant!

And remember, when it comes to counter tops, less is more!