This challenge is not meant to overwhelm you. If your closet yesterday was overflowing with more stuff than you could manage and you didn't finish it, that is ok!!! Take this challenge at your own pace. The important thing is that you just do something everyday and start to clear out the clutter.
Day #2: Linen Closets and Bathroom Cabinets
As I've seen in a lot of people's houses, the linen closet is kind of the catch all for everything. This is often the most unorganized space in someone's house. Today we are going to help cut down on the amount of stuff that you have stored there.
I recognize that different people store different things in their linen closets and it is possible that some of the items I list below are not stored in your linen closet. If you have time after you clean our your linen closet, find the places that store the other things mentioned and clean those out too.
To get started, I want you to take everything out of your linen closet. Yes you read that right.
1.) Group like items together.
As you take everything out of your linen closet, make piles on the floor or counter top with different categories: towels, sheets, cleaning supplies, beauty products, medicines, etc. It is highly possible that you had bottles of shampoo on more than one shelf and grouping everything together will show you if you have an excess of something. Start with one category and determine if you have just the right amount of something or too much. If you have too much, it is time to decide what goes.
2.) Examine your sheets and towels.
Look through all of your sheets and towels. Are there any that you haven't used in the last six months? If so, it is time to get rid of them. You can donate your sheets and towels to a local shelter for a tax write off.
Are there stains or holes on any sheets and towels? If there are large stains or holes and you don't use them anymore, you should throw them out. It is ok to save a couple towels to use as clean up towels for dirty jobs, but they should not live in your linen closet. I store my clean up towels in our garage and our laundry room.
Before moving onto the rest of your linen closet, make sure to fold all of your sheets and towels neatly so they can easily be returned to the linen closet.
3.) Get rid of expired medicines.
I'd be willing to bet that you have some medicines in your house that are past their expiration date. Read the label on every single bottle and get rid of the ones that are expired. Be careful about just throwing medicines away as they can possibly contaminate water. You might want to call a local pharmacy to see if they will accept your expired medications.
When storing my medicines, I store our children's medicines in a separate bin from the adult medicine so nothing gets mixed up.
4.) Sort through your first aid items.
Go through all of your first aid items and determine if anything needs to be thrown away. Do you have six boxes of bandaids, all half full? See if you can consolidate some of those bandaids and get rid of the empty boxes. Do you have more than one tube of neosporin? Consider putting one in your car or purse to have on hand when you are out and about. This is also a great time to take stock of what first aid items you might be missing that you need to purchase.
5.) Do you really need six bottles of shampoo?
I get it, I too like to have backups of some of my favorite beauty products in case I run out. But do you need six bottles of shampoo and five different kinds of hairspray? Sort through everything and keep two of each item as backup. Everything else should go. If you have extra beauty products, look into donating them to a women's shelter.
6.) Clear out your cleaning supplies.
Go through your cleaning supplies and get rid of any products that are leaking. You should also sort through any products you don't use anymore and the ones that aren't any good.
7.) Put everything back. I usually start by deciding which shelves I want to use for my sheets and towels since those take up the most real estate. If you have small children in your house, you need to store your medicines and cleaning products on a shelf that is out of reach. This is the perfect time to utilize plastic bins and containers to house everything. (I'll be sharing my favorite organization bins once the challenge is complete.) As you put everything back, keep like items together so you can always see what you have.
When you are finished with your linen closet, it is time to go through all of the bathroom cabinets and get those organized as well. Use the steps above to help you.
Remember to tag me on social media (@lindsaytolar) and show me your progress. And make sure to use the hashtag #PursuitOfPinkPURGE.
Oh and if you haven't signed up for my email list, be sure to do so by clicking here! I actually have a bonus task on today's email if you have additional time.
See you tomorrow!
I agree with the six bottles of shampoo thing. I try to only buy one back up at a time now
ReplyDeleteRight now I have 2 backup of shampoo. My daughter on the other hand has more. Since most of them came from my baby shower. I need to find a place to donate them too.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amysfashionblog.com/blog-home/