A graphic of a clean, tidy and organised bathroom
Episode 11 – How to Declutter your bathroom once and for all

Your bathroom is one of the smallest, but most important spaces of your home. It always surprises us how long it takes to sort through lotions, potions, perfumes and makeup, but the payback in time and money is worth it. Here are the key things to remember when you declutter your bathroom.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
Intro  0:07  
Welcome to today's episode of The Declutter Hub Podcast, your channel for super easy, no nonsense advice on how to declutter and organise your home. Please welcome your host professional organisers, Ingrid Jansen, and Lesley Spellman.

Ingrid  0:28  
Hello, and welcome listeners to Episode 11 of the Declutter Hub Podcast.

Lesley  0:32  
I'm Ingrid. And I'm Lesley.

Ingrid  0:35  
If you have clutter and want to short it out, this is the show for you. In today's episode, Lesley and I are talking about decluttering the bathroom. Now, it's one of the smallest but most important spaces of your home. And it always surprises me how long it takes to sort through your lotions, potions, perfumes and makeup. But the payback in time and money is worth it. So Lesley, what do you think about bathrooms and decluttering them?

Lesley  1:02  
Well, I think they're really, really important spaces aren't there, they're there. They're the space where you get ready in the morning, where you relax, where you have family time, if it's you know, kids bath time, things like that. So they're really important spaces. And there's there tend to be quite chaotic at times with sort of like empty loo rolls that are on the floor, cleaning products dotted around random toilet rolls here and there and a lot of kind of, you know, empty makeup, things just sort of scattered around. So I think it's really important to give the bathroom as much sort of prominence as the rest of the house because we really do spend a lot of time in there.

Ingrid  1:37  
I know I mean, dirty towels or towels in general. Are they clean? Are they dirty? If they're on the floor, you know? Have they been used by somebody? Are they still damp? Did they need to go in the wash sometimes there's laundry baskets in there lots and lots going on. And it's actually not a very big room so you have to really stay on top of it to make sure that it stays in good condition and that you know what's going on in there

Lesley  2:00  
and I think it's fair to say there are people out there who love lotions and potions and by makeup that's their thing to me. Yeah, so you know we've got you know, a kind of shopping addiction for some people as well going on in the bathroom. And of course not everybody puts their makeup on in the bathroom but a lot of people do. Yeah, I do. I put my makeup on in my bathroom. Do you?

Ingrid  2:19  
Yeah, yeah, I've got a makeup bag in my bathroom in my cupboard and I don't have tonnes and tonnes of makeup but I don't think I've got tonnes and tonnes of anything except photos. But ya know, I don't have a lot of makeup. So I've got a little makeup bag and I made I do my makeup in the in the morning in the bathroom when I get ready after I brush my teeth and done my hair and then have my makeup on soon. But I know there are people out there who have gotten you know, maybe a nice How do you call those things vanity desks in their bed like a dressing table, table dressing table and then ended with a makeup in the morning there because you've got light there and they've got mirrors there and everything. So I don't think it doesn't really matter where you put it on as long let's but let's pretend that it's in the bathroom to make up so we can.

Lesley  3:04  
Okay, so how do we go about decluttering a bathroom because there's a lot of emotions, a lot of our standard psychological things going on really in a bathroom, it's got kind of everything under one roof really doesn't. The most important thing really is that you go into your bathroom declutter aiming to be ruthless. Because I think it's fair to say that a lot of stuff in the bathroom is expensive, you know, a bottle of shampoos somewhere between four and 10 pounds, isn't it? Everything costs a lot of money. And so if it's not fit for purpose, there's an element of guilt associated with throwing things away. And we need to get over that, don't we? Because we don't want that guilt to be perpetuated by leaving it sitting there, if it's not going to be used for the next five years. And let's face it, some of these things do sit there for four or five years, even longer sometimes. You know, when I'm doing bathroom declutters with clients, there really are things with old school Brandon's still sitting on an MP and a lot of that is because oh my god, it cost me so much money to buy it. I feel really guilty about throwing it away. So now's the time to be really ruthless I think and to be really honest with yourself about how long you've had these things sitting there and whether you're ever ever going to use it. You know, a lot of reasons you know things like shampoos, you buy things with the great idea in mind is going to be fantastic is going to change my life. I'm gonna look amazing, then somehow it doesn't happen. You don't like it makes her feel greasy. And so there's a psychological barrier that it's stopping you from using that again, but yet still you or at some point, actually, I am going to use it when I run out. It's that sort of standard. I'm going to leave my kettle in the garage at my old kettle in the garage in case man who cuts or breaks it's that same psychology really isn't it feeling guilty about things I think it's really important to get over that straightaway and to be really honest with yourself about whether you are actually ever going to use something again.

Ingrid  4:42  
I think it's also literally that people give you gifts like maybe for your birthday, or whenever you receive this lovely package from you know with a soap and lotion and like these nice packages, these gift packages that you get and then you think oh, I don't want to break it up. So it's all like Oh, All together in your bathroom, and then it's never used because you've never opened it or you think you have to use it all in one go, or there's two or three things out of the five. So you don't even like using but then because you feel bad of not using it. So it's kind of like this vicious, vicious circle almost

Lesley  5:15  
absolutely. It's a vicious circle. I'm just thinking of a couple examples of me. And as probably shouldn't have made this really, but I'm not really very good at putting lotion on my body, even though I know that I should, because I'm against that age. And well, I think that ship has sailed to be fair. But, you know, I do feel as if I should be putting lotion on my body. And I do feel as if I should put be putting cream on my hands. But I don't. But yes, people buy lotions for your body. And people buy lotions for the hands because they use those things and think other people do. And then they just sit there because you do think oh, well, I probably should use that. So I am going to keep it. So there's things like that as well. And those are the kinds of things that are really quite hard, particularly if they're gifts to get to get rid of. But what happens is we leave them there. We don't use them, they go well past their kind of usable date. And then we can't send them into the charity shop. So they're completely wasted. Yeah. Which is a real shame as an app.

Ingrid  6:04  
I know it and then it feels really wasteful, so that you feel guilty that you haven't used it. So it's like this this thing that kind of so I agree with you, you know, if you're going to declutter your bathroom, this is now the time to kind of go right, what am I actually using everyday on a very, very regular basis. And what's been lurking in the back of my cupboards for a long time. And I don't even know anymore, why it's there, why I bought it in the first place and just kind of draw a line on the data a little bit because just by keeping it in there, it's not going to make you use it any more than you've done in the past five years, or two years or 10 years. And if it starts to look really good, kind of grotty and a bit, the book starts to get damaged, and it feels like dusty and it's been in there. It's, you don't even want to use it because it doesn't look good.

Lesley  6:51  
Exactly. So So now's the time, to be honest. So we've talked through some of the psychologists and there are as I said, there are quite a lot wrapped up. A lot of psychology is wrapped up in a bathroom declutter because we spend a lot of time in and we spent a lot of money in there. So we've decided to be ruthless, we're being very good declutter, is here, we're getting rid of lots of stuff. So what's going to be the benefits? And so moving on from the decluttering, which I think is obvious, we've talked about the kind of things that need to go, we go through we declutter those things. So what are the important things really in a bathroom that are going to make the difference to the way that bathroom looks?

Ingrid  7:22  
Well, I think if you've got a really nice streamlined look in your bathroom, it makes you feel really good. You know, when you come in, in the morning, and you know, you've got a big day ahead of you with lots going on. And you can put your hand on anything, you know, you know where everything is just I think you must save tonnes of time as well, when you when you have everything in the right place in your bathroom. So it's getting ready quicker, it's gonna be much quicker in the morning,

Lesley  7:47  
I think it gets you off to a good start, doesn't it? Or ends the day? Well, either of those things really talked about, you know, you spent a lot of time and it was important to get this right. I think you know, if you can get rid of stuff as well, and you've got less stuff hanging around, it's getting to be more hygienic content, really, because it's easy, then please clean the bathroom. There's so many people where they've got shelves and shelves and shelves and stuff. But to take 30 You know, beauty products or hair products or whatever off the shelf to clean it is something that's probably not going to happen that often not to me. So if you can somehow do something to make that more streamlined, it becomes more hygienic. And the one thing that I am a big advocate of when I'm doing declutter, and it's unusual, actually, because I do a consultation with a client and we're doing a bathroom. It's the one time probably that I will buy storage for a client before we actually declutter because I pretty much know what's going to be left. Yeah, obviously volumes are going to be different depending on who it is. But in general, the storage in a bathroom is dictated by the space that you've got. And so many people don't use sort of boxes and baskets to containerize in a bathroom and I think that's a mistake. So I am a massive advocate of using boxes in a bathroom. If you've got the space to do that. I mean I've got nice bathroom cabinets anyway, but I still containers even within my bathroom cabinets as well so I can pull things out and it makes it easier because it's difficult to rummage to the back of a shelf and find what you need but it's much easier to rummage through a box and find what you need. We're not talking about perfection here I you know as you well know Ingrid as clutter fairy. I am not a perfectionist at all. I'm all about ease of use and practicality and getting things done rather than things looking perfect. You know, so I like to rummage through things whether it's Monica drawer or or my makeup. You know, I don't want everything to be perfectly organised and things it just needs to be together so that I can find it easily I can put it back and put it away. So what kind of boxes and baskets to use in the bathroom declutter that you've done

Ingrid  9:44  
well I think for me, the most important thing is that you use when you do in boxes in a bathroom, they should be from plastic and I would never use a cardboard or wicker or return or things like that in a bathroom because I Bathroom is always has moist and is a bit damp, you know, because people shower there and have bots there and sometimes you can't air the bathroom, always properly because there's not a window to open or maybe the ventilation system is old and is not working properly. So, I would always go for plastic if you if you're going to buy some little baskets and make sure you measure the sizes of either your windowsill or your cupboard and don't take big baskets take smaller so on a shelf, it's better to have two smaller baskets next to each other. So you can containerize it a bit better than having one big one is still losing stuff in there. So I think that's really important. I think curve graph got some really nice little baskets.

Lesley  10:45  
curva is definitely my go to bathroom storage of choice really, I was looking at a few this morning just to remind myself so they they have things that look like rattan or look like knitted or there's a kind of Victoriana sort of range. And they're all fantastic. Now they're some of the ranges are more oval than they are square that haven't any square ones, but they're rectangular, aren't they sort of straight edges, it's really, for me, it's really important to get that up right sides. Let's get it all right, you know, what you don't want it is baskets to kind of flare out up the sides that are sort of angled, you know, you need straight baskets, so that you absolutely maximise on the space that you've got in your bathroom. And not too shallow. It's finding that sort of happy medium between, you know, obviously, there's a shallow basket, but you know, if you're putting hair sprays and things like that, that they're still going to pop out the top. So it kind of medium depth, probably about six inches, that kind of thing. Probably six inches and centimetres, 30 centimetres,

Ingrid  11:42  
I know I shouldn't, can't do

Lesley  11:45  
six inches. Afterwards, I'm still living there. So

Ingrid  11:49  
I'm going to put in the show notes. What's interesting is in centimetres, so I've lived here for 10 years, I still cannot do feet and inches and macules.

Lesley  11:57  
You should know what a centimetre

Ingrid  12:02  
in centimetres, yes.

Lesley  12:06  
And then But then there's the really, there's the really deep ones, but then it might be a little bit difficult to get to the bottom. So it really is, in terms of, you know, precision precision shopping for storage. This is when we're going to do it really, you know, when you might not have any space on your bathroom, on your bathroom window. So it might be really shallow, it might be got some shelf at the side of your bath. Often I will put shelves upon walls to hold baskets, you know, you've really got to be quite inventive, because bathrooms tend to be on the small side, with very, very little storage, you know, the more if you can go vertical on storage in a bathroom, then you know, it's great, but it's not always possible. So you really have to think outside the box. But I think the most important thing is if you want that streamline look to really go for storage, and to try and containerize things in boxes. At the end of the day, all of these beauty brands are all vying for, for us to see their brand and so all these different brands and all together, and it can be very distracting on the eye really. And that's not going to give you a sanctuary in your bathroom that you want. Same with kids toys as well, you know, in the bathroom, but all kids toys, don't leave them in the bottom of the bath because they they'll sit there and they'll get a little bit mouldy, you know, so those kind of net bags are brilliant, aren't they? Or if you do need if you do use a plastic basket, always make sure that you're putting some holes in the bottom of the basket sort of the water is going to drain through. Again, it's nice to keep those toes containerized as well because it's just all a little bit messy, isn't it? You do have to really keep an eye on those toes as well because they do get a little bit mouldy.

Ingrid  13:36  
I think they've even said no, you can't do plastic ducks. It's really not good for the kids to use them because actually the water gets in it and it gets really good really grotty. So. Oh, gosh, that's not good. So

Lesley  13:50  
I wanted to share with the tradition. Yeah.

Ingrid  13:56  
Another piece of advice I would like to give to our listeners is to have hooks in you for your towels. So if you have several people using your bathroom, it's nice to have a couple of hooks that everybody can place their towel on their own hook everyday so you don't get confused who sow will it is he keep washing and washing towels over and over because people just after one use kind of dropped them on the floor. And I mean, we don't have to, you know, we can use a towel more than once. I think you don't have to change them every day, maybe about four years. If you've got a hand towel on next year sink or you dry your hands off. You might want to change that a bit more often.

Lesley  14:31  
I gotta be honest with you, like were you saying this now you see your kids are obviously really well behaved. The chances of my kids ever hanging a towel on a hook various it could be me that goes after them and hangs it on their whole Well, my two boys and even my daughter doing that not going to happen not gonna happen. It's a nice thought. I like the idea of it but yeah. So different kind of house that that would happen.

Ingrid  15:00  
Thank you for your honesty, Lesley, we really appreciate it.

Lesley  15:03  
I'm just thinking, what's upstairs, you know, seven sort of monkey towels and six pairs of boxer shorts, I have to go and pick up off the floor and the boys bathroom every day, and still continue to do that, even though they're 22 and 15. Like, who's me? My bad, my bad, I should not be picking up after them. But anyway, that's life with boys, isn't it? Or girls, actually, the girls are really bad. We've sort of manky makeup wise thrown on the floor, it's all even not even got lowing. We just you know, I

Ingrid  15:30  
know I'm not there yet, when the fake tan

Lesley  15:32  
comes in, and the grey men call them nice. I'm sure some of our listeners will know exactly what I'm talking about.

Ingrid  15:42  
I am so looking forward to now. Thank you. What else do we need to share with our listeners? I think maybe I think one more important thing is to tell them don't over buy on your products and on your shampoos, you know, you don't need to have four bottles of shampoo in stock in your cupboards. I mean, shops are open, but 24 24/7 at the moment. So the chances that you're going to run out of shampoo just overnight is really, really small. And otherwise, you can always go to the shop and buy a new one. So

Lesley  16:15  
I think it's finding that balance. Yeah, having one fine balance, isn't it? Yeah. When you when you bulk, buy anything, whether it's serials, toilet rolls, toiletries, yeah, you've got to find that balance, that's fine over buying and stocking up, if you've got the space to do it, but it's gonna, if you haven't got the space, yeah, it's kind of have an impact in the way that your house looks. If you've not got that covered. I mean, I've got a cupboard for kind of extra things that I put things in, and then I'll bring them into general use. So I can stock up on things, but I don't do that massively. But I do for toilet rolls, you know. So I buy a lot of toilet rolls, or at same time all like washing powder, think things like that. But you know, if you don't want 48 toilet rolls sitting on top of your freezer in your kitchen, then just buy them six at a time and forfeit the kind of 50 P or a pound that you might save. You know, it is a balancing act. And obviously for some people money is going to be more important than the look. But it's just something to sort of to consider quite often we kind of do what we've always done. And we don't really think about doing things differently. So if we've always gone and bought bought our toilet rolls, that's what we continue to do. So sometimes when I questioned people and say, well, is that absolutely necessary? Because you really fed up with having the toilet rolls on top of your fridge? Freezer in your kitchen? You know, do you actually need to go out and buy them? Or could you buy nine at a time? Yeah, yeah. And oh, yeah, actually, I could do that.

Ingrid  17:35  
Excellent point. Anything else Lesley that we want to share with our listeners about decluttering? The bathroom?

Lesley  17:43  
Things something else? Kind of everything? Really? Yeah, one more thing? Actually, what about cleaning products in bathrooms? I know, we spoke about this before we started the podcast about because I think it very much depends on how many people are using your bathroom doesn't it in terms of how often you got to clean it, you know, it's the that kind of thing. So, you know, my bathroom probably only gets cleaned once every five days or something. I don't mean obviously I sweat out in the meantime. But in general, I only clean it. So therefore I don't have cleaning products in my bathroom. I'll just do that with the general house clean once a week. But a lot of people have got a lot of cleaning products in their bathroom, which again, adds to the kind of cluttery sort of messy look. So what do you think about that?

Ingrid  18:23  
Yes, I have upstairs in my bathroom, I've got a bathroom cabinet. So on the bottom of the shelf, I've got some extra toilet rolls. And that's where I keep the toilet cleaner handy in case I need it. But my main cleaning stuff is indeed all in my cleaning buckets. That comes out once a week. And when I go around the house, so I don't have bleach and a toilet cleaner and everything out next to the toilet. Because I don't want to see that. But I do have a bottle of toilet paper in my cupboards kind of tucked away a little bit. So it's there. And I don't have to run downstairs but in my downstairs toilets I do. I don't have any cleaning products because my cleaning products are next door in the next storage area. So I don't have it out. And I think also that most of us are now all at school at work. We're not you know, when when the kids were little, then I think you want to her and you know they're your home a lot more than I would have been more head hand. But now with everybody gone all the time. It feels less necessary to have everything in like that in reach. Yeah,

Lesley  19:28  
I think if I'm honest, I think it's about being honest with yourself about how often you are cleaning things. So I know that I'm probably not going to go from one side of the week to the other to clean the bathroom. So therefore I don't need the cleaning products to hand. I can go down in my kitchen when I need them and come upstairs. It's the kind of is the same psychology and things on the whole table going out to kind of remind you to do things because you think oh actually, I put the cleaning products net next to the toilet and more likely to actually clean the toilet when you're not because you get so used to seeing them every day, that it's not that visual reminder that you need and So I think, you know, if you have got clean cleaning products, but of course, you know, everyone's got a little toilet duck or something. But so many people have got five or six things and cloths and sponges and different things. And actually, you probably don't need that it's all looking a little bit messy, and it's not what you want in that kind of bathroom sanctuary. So, you know, be honest with yourself, whether having the cleaning products next to the toilet, or in the bathroom on the bathroom window, so is actually going to make you clean any more than you otherwise would. And for some people, it absolutely will be and some people are definitely cleaning the bathroom every day. And so it depends on what you do in your house. Really.

Ingrid  20:34  
Yeah, point very well made. Well, I think that's it for this episode. Lesley if there's anything else that you want to add, but otherwise, I think we are ready to finish this episode. So we have listeners, we hope you've all enjoyed listening and are inspired to take action and sort out that bathroom for smoother starting today. And save some time when cleaning and lastly, save some money by not buying the things you will not use. Thanks for taking the time to listen today. If you'd like to get more tips and advice, please follow us on social media. And if you don't want to miss the next episode, don't forget to subscribe to the declutter podcast on iTunes and Stitcher. See you next time.

Outro  21:18  
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the declutter hub podcast. Check out declutter hub.com For more inspiration, don't forget to tune in next week.
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