Organizing Bathroom Drawers

January is one of my go-to organizing months. With a New Year’s resolution to tackle the master bathroom, I am starting with cleaning, sorting and organizing the drawers to my bathroom vanity. So now you get to see the embarrassing photos of my drawers BEFORE.

The first 3 drawers probably took me an hour, so this isn’t a time-consuming or difficult project. I am a bit horrified that my drawers look this cluttered and unorganized.

The Top Drawer

The main purpose of the top drawer is to provide handy supplies for getting ready in the morning and before bed at night. Dental products, contact lenses, nail clippers and emery boards and as you can tell, a lot of store samples, almost empty tubes and other nonsense fill the drawer.

After I empty all the contents out of the drawer, I thoroughly clean it with disinfectant wipes. So gross.

Next, I line the drawers with a shelf paper/liner. There are SO many different kinds and I prefer the non-stick ones. From polka-dots to plain gray or white, you can actually make the inside of your drawers pretty, while protecting the surface. See some ideas here. Since I had some leftover from re-doing the shelves in the butler’s pantry, I didn’t need to purchase any. To see that post, click here.

Once the shelf liner is in, the drawer is already looking much better. After sorting and tossing out those nearly empty tubes and old products, I clean out the existing plastic drawer organizers/dividers, which are rather dirty. I find that in drawers where there are multiple items of different sizes, using these plastic drawer organizers is so helpful.

You can measure your drawers and then design a personal system based on the items you have. Amazon has a great selection of these organizers and you can find them here.

The drawer is organized according to activity: teeth care, eyes (disposable contact lenses), nails, etc. What a huge improvement in a very short period of time.

Make-Up

The second drawer holds most of the make-up. I don’t wear much make-up on a daily basis, especially since I don’t go out as much. But it looks like a lot, right?

I’m not sure why I find it difficult to throw out items that are nearly empty. Or the blush containers that I drop and the contents turn to dust.

After I tossed all the containers that look like this, then I start cleaning and sorting. Have you ever noticed that most make-up does not have any expiration dates on the packaging? I would imagine some of my eye shadows are several years old. So I did some research and here is what is recommended on the shelf life of make-up (or when you should throw it away:

• Liquid Foundation: after 6 months to 1 year
• Cream Make-up: after 6 months to 1 year
• Lipstick: after 1 year
• Powder Make-up: after 2 years
• Eyeliner: after 3 months (liquid); after 2 years (pencil)
• Mascara: after 3 months
• Face Moisturizer: after 6 months (tub); after 1 year (pump)

If I were to follow this, my make-up drawer would be empty. Perhaps that should be another goal soon~to replace all my make-up!

For every day quick make-up application, I keep a small supply of products right by my sink. Vintage French glasses rest on a small cake pedestal stand for easy access to brushes, mascara, lipstick.

Third Drawer

My third drawer is where I house all the hair stuff. I know, it looks like I have way too many hairbrushes. However, the hairbrush style/shape is often dependent on my haircut at the time.

As the hairbrushes are full of hair, and according to the internet, you should remove the hair from your hairbrush once a week. And you should wash your hairbrush thoroughly at least once a month. If it is a delicate or natural bristle brush, you can wash it every other month. Hmmm…I am guilty of not doing that.

I found this great article on how to wash your hair brush, depending on the type of brush. You can see it here. There are some great tips about getting the hairbrush clean….like using an old toothbrush to get in between the bristles.

I organize my hairbrush drawer with the brushes I use the most in front, along with my hair products. Hairspray and other body products (lotion, sunscreen, perfume, etc.) are housed in a brass tray next to my sink.

Every day, I hope to clean out and organize something. And the biggest challenge is keeping it tidy.

Happy Wednesday! Tomorrow is my youngest’s birthday~the big 21! It seems like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. Where does the time go? Anyway, have a wonderful day and stay healthy!

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