Declutter Your Linen Closet

My house is not short on storage but with all the storage closets and cabinets I have they tend to get cluttered and ignored. I decided I needed to do something about this closet in my bathroom after one day looking for some headache medicine I swear we had bottles of that I just bought but could not find...The adult medicine was mixed up with the kid medicine, the shampoo was blocking my bottles of conditioner, my towels were falling off the shelf when you opened the door, and for some reason we had enough sunscreen to lather everyone at the public pool for a whole summer! Enough was enough!

I am a clean freak and sometimes I get on organization kicks where I go hog wild on clearing out closets and drawers that I end up getting rid of too much stuff. But I had to get this closet under control up so I knew what I had, what I needed to stock up on, and make it so I could find what I was looking for easy.

I went to the dollar store and stocked up on all sorts of sizes of bins and buckets. The hardest thing was finding the same color in all the different sizes. I wanted it all to look uniform but looking back it probably is smart to have your bins color coordinated (red for medicine, blue for toothcare, etc) maybe on my next closet cleanout!

I didn't show pictures of the process because who wants to see my bathroom floor with products strung all over the place?! I will just tell you...there was A LOT of crap! I cleared out the shelves one by one. Placed like items in piles on the floor. I went through all the expired medicine and chucked it. I organized all the "adult" medicine in one big bin. Separated the "kids" medicine in the other big bin and put them side by side on the same shelf so I know to look in the right for kid's stuff or on the left if its something I need.

I put all the shampoo lined up in one column. Lined up all the conditioner next to the shampoo and then lined up other haircare products next to that (hairspray, dye, dry shampoo).

I lined up all my body wash and men's wash in another line. I put all toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste in one bin. All feminine hygiene products in a bin, and all travel size in one bin. I put our gazillion bottles of sunscreen in a big bucket and all the body wash poufs in another bucket (do you replace yours every 30 days?) I try to keep those stocked up.

Medicine and hygiene products can really add up so it is best to have it organized so you don't have to buy an extra bottle of cold medicine you think you don't have but really have hidden behind your toilet paper! If you coupon, which I do, you can also get a lot of hygiene products for cheap and you will want to stock up because you always use them.

I found if you roll your towels you can fit more than folding them. I also put my washcloths in a little bin and put the hand towels behind them.

For maybe $6 worth of bins at the dollar store it really maximized my shelves and made it more convenient to find what I need. It is still spring and hope this might motivate you to get to that closet you have been avoiding!