Challenge #1 - Toiletries Part 1

I have promised a theory in action type post, so here's the first one. I've decided to tackle the toiletries in our home. To purge them and reorganize them. I thought I'd share my step-by-step thought process as I go through these items and determine what to keep, and what to toss.

*For the record, this is not my first time through these drawers, and I have tossed many things in the past, they are not nearly as full and cluttered as they have been... but extra stuff creeps in all the time, and purging is an ongoing process.

Before - Step 1 - The Gathering

 This is the set of drawers I use to store the toiletries... or at least, that has been the idea.

These are all the toiletry type items I found throughout the house that were NOT in the drawers shown above, and not where they could be found easily. Included here are extra shampoos, toilet paper, pantiliners, maxi pads, diaper creams, baby powder, a bath mat and anti-slip tub mat I had forgotten we had, a few baby washcloths, a bottle of lotion, some leg wax, a collection of nail polish, and my make-up tin, which also included random hair accessories, deodorant, small tins of q-tips, tweezers, etc.

Here's the four basket drawers laid out so you can get a better idea of things I was storing.
Drawer 1 (on top): random loofahs, toothpaste, deodorants, two pairs of size 4T Sunday pants, and some lotions.

Drawer 2: my black jewelry box, and two baby wipe containers that held an assortment of make-up, blades for razors, and several random cleansers.

Drawer 3: extra bar soap, q-tips, cotton pads for make-up removal, an old towel caddy we used to use several homes ago, a pair of disposable, mesh underwear for post-partum, and a scented candle.

Drawer 4: an assortment of bath salts, body washes, lotions, and manicure & pedicure implements.

The white plastic drawer that was on the top only contained several boxes of panti-liners, and I would like to save it for a different purpose, so I'm not including it in this just yet.

Step 2 - Sorting

One of the first things I did was pull out all the toiletries we use and go through on a regular basis. These are the things I typically buy in bulk because we go through them so quickly. This includes toothpaste, toothbrushes, panti-liners, maxi-pads, bar soap, q-tips, shampoo, deodorant, toilet paper, diaper creams, hand soap refill, and two large bottles of hydrogen peroxide. We actually don't go through the peroxide super fast, but it sure comes in handy in a homebirth!

I also pulled out as much garbage as I could see at first. I actually emptied this garbage can before I started, and quickly filled it with a broken shower head, random packaging, empty bottles, expired creams & such, other broken items, and lots of cheap nail files & toe separators... the kind you get when you get a professional pedicure and they hand you the bag of extra stuff they can only use for you due to sterility concerns. 

As I continued to sort, I found several things that were not even supposed to be with the toiletries, or at least not in these drawers. The baby washcloths are actually stored with our cloth diapers along with a disposable changing pad. The extra Sunday pants that are too big for our boys now should be in the box of "too big" boys clothing. There was a whole pile of kids hair accessories that belongs in the kids bathroom. A jar of papaya enzymes for heartburn is supposed to be with the vitamins in the kitchen, and a zippered pouch of essential oils and one other bottle of essential oils are both supposed to be with the first aid.

The pile at the top of the picture are donations. Since I didn't even remember that we had an extra bath mat or anti-slip tub mat, and we haven't used them since we bought the house over a year ago... it's safe to let them go. There's also the towel caddy we haven't used in several years, a bath mitt I was given as a baby gift when my first was born... that has NEVER been used, a sponge/pumice, and a battery-operated foot pumice thing. Also to the left is a bottle of perfume my mother gave me when I got married (nearly 10 years ago!). I'm not a perfume person, and the fragrance doesn't really fit me anyway... so I've barely used it at all.

Some of these items were gifts, some were things that I made (like the towel caddy), and some were things I spent money on and didn't use (like the bath mat). It's time to let these things go. I know I will not use them, and keeping them simply reminds me that I have not used the gifts. I refuse to keep things out of guilt these days, so it's time for someone else to benefit from these items.

Step 3 - Organizing What's Left
The remaining items on the bed and floor I have chosen to keep for now, but they still need to find a home.

This first drawer now contains extras of the items we use on a very regular basis. We have bar soap, liquid hand soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, and an extra tooth-brush (and it's apparently time to buy more toothbrushes).

The second drawer contains the hydrogen peroxide, an ovulation predictor kit (which won't be used for quite a while), the mesh post-partum underwear (which I will be using soon), a couple bottles of conditioner, q-tips, and two baby wipes tubs... but this time, I know what's inside them. :)

The green tub holds my extra make-up, brushes, razor blades, and cotton pads. These are all things I use, I just don't go through them as quickly as the soap and shampoo.

I intended the red tub to hold similar items for my husband. The only thing that seemed to fit in this category for him was extra razor blades...  apparently I need to add those to my shopping list also. :)

Drawer 3 here now holds my "pamper me" items. I occasionally like to take a soak in the tub and get some use out of my awesome smelling lotions. This drawer now has my leg-wax, bath salts, body lotion, the scented candle, and all manicure & pedicure items.

If I'm being completely honest, even after discarding several items, we still have too many nail polishes & mani/pedi tools. But my girls LOVE nail polish, and we have begun to make painting nails a weekly Sunday tradition, so these things are actually getting used. We also have two sets of "Satin Hands" from MaryKay, because we like how soft our hands feel with them. :)

The fourth drawer now holds my jewelry box, and a small red jar of jewelry cleaner. I totally forgot I had the jewelry cleaner, and had been thinking that my wedding ring was looking a little dingy. 30 seconds in the cleaner solved that!

I also put our hair clippers in this drawer. They had been in a different drawer in our bathroom vanity, but I needed that drawer for other things.

Finally, the last white plastic drawer was left empty so I could use it for my gift-wrapping supplies! These supplies had been stuffed off to the side in the closet, and were a pain to access. Now I have room for them where I can actually reach them!

Step 4 - Putting it All Back

The final part of any project is always the clean-up, putting everything back where it belongs. I've been told that these blog posts are incredibly helpful with more pictures, especially pictures of the inside of things. I took a bunch of pictures of pretty much every cabinet and drawer in both of our bathrooms, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to post them. Otherwise this post would just be too long. 

For now, here's an after picture of my make-up bucket. These are all the make-up, cleansers, and hygiene products I use regularly (though not every day). 

Stay tuned for part 2...