What exactly is in your bathroom? I know there is a toilet and shower and sink. Lets go deeper. Tell me what is in your drawers (your bathroom ones, not your pants). Whisper to me what is in your medicine cabinet.
If I was at your house and was suddenly hit with a major headache (you bought cheap wine again!) and you grabbed the Tylenol out of the bathroom cabinet would I dare to ask the expiration date?
If we decided to have a spa night - totally impromptu - and we decided to paint our nails hot pink.....would your nail polishes look like oil and water?
How old exactly is that wandering tampon that is straggling along life with the toothpaste?
Let us tackle the bathroom cabinets together.
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Before I begin I must let you know in our home we have two bathrooms. My daughter refers to the one on the back of the house as the "boys" and the one next to her room as the "girls" - fitting!
The girl's bathroom has a traditional medicine cabinet above the vanity. This has long been my area. If something needed a home - whether it be tampon, wax, nail polish, vitamin, gum, pens, scissors, etc it found one there.
I think it is safe to say the bathroom drawers and cabinet are easy targets to be catch alls.
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For this cleaning experience you need:
Trash can
Recycle bin
Grocery bag
Pull out all the medications you have stored. This includes cough drops, vitamins, prescriptions, over the counters. Now check the date. Everything should have an expiration date on it. If it doesn't have one that is easy to find and you cannot remember when exactly you purchased it - you don't need it.
For medications DO NOT throw them in the trash, DO NOT flush them down the toilet. Put them in a bag and deliver them to your local pharmacy of choice. The pharmacist should be more than happy to properly dispose of them for you....for free!
(Even though the idea sounds luscious, you really don't want Xanax in your drinking water!)
Next up - make up. Is it time to break up with your make up?
Make up that is out of date is bad news. If you have a drawer, bag, cabinet, box, suitcase, anything of make up you really need to do yourself a favor and trash that war paint! Make up that is over six months old needs to go in the garbage (that is garbage NOT garage). The eye make up is hosting a family of bacteria (hello eye infected Brownie). The powder is breaking up with you. The foundations are separating - trash it now!
While we're looking at make up let us also look at the nail polish. If it is seperating you need to trash it - it is past dead and no - you cannot resurrect it. If you have ten bottles of acetone could you possibly pour those 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16th bottles down to one?
Stray maxi pads and tampons and panty liners decoratng your shelves? Pull them out and put them together. Now think to yourself - how long have these stray feminine horror items been hanging out - has Always changed their packaging since I bought this in 1988? Are those the pads the nurse gave you after you birthed your child? Do you no longer even need these items? Based on your responses you should know what to do.
Razors, shavers oh my! It is ok to throw them away after you have used them. I try to get two good uses out of mine and then they are gone with the wind. DO not keep them! And this goes for men and women. If you have an electric razor it probably came with a case - that case is for you to use for strorage! Use it, I dare you. If it didn't try using a larger make up bag to keep it safely stored and all the parts in one organized location.
How many chapsticks do you really need? They aren't shelf stable. Put that bad boy in your pocket book.
How many lotions does one person use in a year? If your cabinet/drawers resemble a Bath and Body Work's supply room ---- it is time to downsize. (Or you can wear a red checked apron and put a grand opening sign in your front yard....)
Then you have the other fun items like......
Shampoos! You used half the bottle and then you stuffed it under your sink until you decided to use it again. This is popular for people who swim - they have a chlorine remover shampoo, Head & Shoulders shampoo, and then a crazy expensive one purchased at the salon in January....2011. Just like your make up and pills your hair products have expiration dates. Read them! If it is old - dump the stuff and recycle the bottle. If it isn't ever used - there is no point in jamming up space with it!
Hair dryers - how many do you have? I hope you just say one. Unless you have two heads you only need one.
Curling irons, flat irons, hot rollers, crimpers (yeah I know you do shut it) need your evaluation on use. If you use them regularly then by all means let us find them a home but if you haven't used it since you went to see Absolute 80's in 2005 it is time to donate that bad boy to the girl with the mullet and banana clip down the street.
Who has some cleaners in your bathroom cabinet? Are they being used? If not it may be time to relocate them to a place like.....the recycle bin.
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Throwing away, recycling, donating are all very liberating things to do. You will feel this as you tackle those bathrooms today.
After you have moved your garbage out to the can, recycle out to the street, and put the donation bag in the trunk you can get to organizing what you need to.
I decided the girl's bathroom would house all medications, lotions, make up suppies, and hair supplies.
Guess what I utilized to help me organize? Who said it?!!?! Yes, JARS!
I also repurposed some plastic bins to hold the electrical supplies like my blow dryer and my flat iron. This was cool - I repurposed a towel rack to hold my make up bags which conveniently house my nail products, make up, and lady napkins (love that term it is hilarious).
In the boys bathroom I used some little sea grass baskets in a drawer - one is mine and one is my husband's. Yes, I do take over in both bathrooms.....I am the Queen of this palace you know.
Since the medicine cabinet in the girl's room is for medicines (mainly) I made the one in the boy's room to be for toilet paper and soaps. Here's a sneaky tip - I put the Pepto with the toilet paper, isn't that brilliant?
First aid - and you thought I forgot - also is in the boys bathroom. I have a drawer with bandaids and Neosporin (fixes everything right?), and the hand dandy thermometer.
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Give yourself fifteen minutes to donate to the potty room(s). Clean it out, organize it and then go shopping.....it is nearly spring and you need make up! Which reminds me to mention my friend Crystal. She is a very talented make up artist and does beautiful work for photo shoots, weddings, special events, etc. Want to check her out? Here's a link to her page. Kiss & Make-up By Crystal
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Ready for a recipe? How about some Butter Steak?
I was playing around with some Angus Mini Medallion Steaks I purchased at my local Harris Teeter - very cheap $2.98 for three appropriate sized portions (look at your palm ladies....yep that's appropriate). What to do???
I decided to make up a good butter based marinade. I melted 1/3 cup of unsalted butter and placed it in a ziplock baggie. I put in a 1/4 tsp of garlic powder and a 1/4 tsp of onion powder and a dash of black pepper. Threw the mini steaks in and placed it in some cold water for a couple hours of marinating.
Next up I wrapped each steak in foil and put them in the oven at 400 for twenty minutes.
Served with corn and black eyed peas.
Delish.
I failed to picture it all up because....I was stuffing my face. My very infected eye face.
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I wanted to share this quote with you all today before I wrap up this post-
Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour -Ovid
Keeping this in mind as the temperatures are still wintry - spring is coming in gradually an will arrive when its supposed to! Glad to know our homes will be all tidy so we can get out and devour the soon to come warmer and longer days!
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Until we meet again -
Brownie
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Hey!
ReplyDeleteBanana clips are fine when you're at home, and it's hot, and you have pool hair. I wear banana clips at those times, and that is just fine.
Love,
mama