
Have you had the chance to revel in the glory of moving to a new home? You might have chuckled after reading that. For some, just the thought of moving brings an overwhelming dread to the pit of their stomach. On the forefront of their mind is the dreadful to-do lists, days of unearthing years of accumulated items, and the long hours of packing it all prior to actually moving those items. However, there does happen to be a handful of people that exist that actually get excited and look forward to the process of moving. Acclaiming that, “New adventures await!” with fresh horizons and wide-open spaces for all of their potential and dreams to have room to grow and be fulfilled! Full disclosure: I have experienced all of the above thought processes and emotions to the extreme. It was more like the globes scariest rollercoaster of every emotion and thought a person could imagine and they were happening within me all at once, 24/7. Why am I talking about moving so much? We. Did. Just. That. To top it off, we also have had the joyous journey of gutting an entire house (completely) to also renovate at the very same time. “Whew!”, is right! ‘Tis not for the faint of heart. True story, and I wouldn’t trade a millisecond of it!
Simplicity boils down to two things: Identify the essential and eliminate the rest. ~Leo Babauta
Even with claiming to be a minimalist, one thing I realized during our recent shenanigans was that we still had way more items than I thought we had. This left me questioning our place in the minimalism lifestyle. We definitely had more than we actually needed. It’s so easy to accumulate items over the years. Those items find hiding spaces in your home that you either didn’t realize were there, or just chose to ignore. Raise your hand if you’ve been guilty of this…me…I’m raising my hand. No judgement here at all. We took this opportunity to purge even more! On the days when I felt very overwhelmed by all that needed to be done, realigning through minimizing helped me to center myself and focus on moving only what we needed to move. Getting back to our lifestyle of minimalism, we sold many things, donated some, and even had to throw certain things out that just needed to go. Poof, gone! It lightened the load a smidge and made my heart so happy! Now that we are in our new home, I am slowly working on getting rid of more as I pack items away. Asking myself, “Is this a need, or a want?”, and asking the infamous question I learned of on the Becoming Minimalist blog, “What would I use instead if I didn’t have this item?”. Makes all the difference to ponder on those questions to keep emotions out of it.

So, moving on to the restrooms now. Here are 4 easy steps to minimize what you hold in them:
1. Remove Non-Restroom Storage Items.
This one is easy since it will be obvious what does not belong in the restroom. These are items that have spilled out of storage space belonging to the rest of the home. Some might disagree here claiming that, “Storage is storage, who cares where it is stored.” This I understand. However, if you truly separate them out and take another look at them to ask yourself if you really need it, chances are you don’t. OR, if you do, then try to relocate them to a space where it makes more sense to store them and is easily accessible, but won’t take up your restroom space. When you are getting ready to start each day, or refreshing midday, you want your space to feel fresh and Zen, not suffocated by clutter.
2. Purge Towels, Linens, & Blankets.
Take a good look at how many bath towels, wash rags, hand towels, sheets, pillow cases, blankets, etc. you have. Ask yourself, “How many of each do we really need?”, then move forward by getting rid of the sets you know you don’t need. Donating them is a fabulous option for these items. For the kid’s restroom, I kept two of each towel for them, and one set of back-up sheets for their beds. For Marcus and myself, I have done the same. This free’s up space and makes laundering them much more pleasant by being able to put ALL of our towels and sheets together. When we had more than we needed, they would all pile up and I would end up with so many loads to wash. Of the blankets we had stored in the restroom, I got rid of the ones we never pulled out then moved the rest into the living room to a designated “blanket basket”. When we are done using a blanket, we simply fold it up and put it into the basket. It’s decorative and functional.

3. Make-up, Hair & Skin Care Products.
This is more for the ladies, but gentlemen, you could have a looksee also to view what products you no longer need and could benefit from by tossing them out. When approaching this, keep in mind that a true lifestyle of minimalism means only housing what you love and what you will actually use. Starting with make-up…ladies, if you have eye shadow, or liner, or foundations, or lipsticks, or anything that is still in your make-up area from the early 2000’s, don’t even blink-just toss it! It must go. I had a box full of make-up that I thought, “Oh, I’ll use this at some point.”, but the reality is that it’s not healthy to use make-up on your face that is that old. It’s actually kind of gross to think on. Same goes for skin care products, body washes and lotions, especially if you use natural products. Don’t hang onto items you no longer use on your body. Just toss it! Use the same approach and have a look at your hair care products to see what has been sitting there for months, maybe even years, untouched. Or, maybe you have different shampoos and conditioners accumulating in the shower that need to go. Some products might have sounded great when you purchased them at first, but they might not have worked out for you the way you thought they would. All good, it happens to all of us. If it didn’t work out, it’s not going to all of a sudden start working differently for you, so...just toss it.
4. Gadgets, Toys, Kids Products, and Miscellaneous.
In our restroom we’ve always had random items get tucked into cabinets, drawers, or corners that don’t have any rhyme or reason to be present. Kids toys and products find their way in and instead of putting them where they should be, sometimes I just pick a spot and think, “That’s good for now.”, only to forget about them until it’s beyond overwhelming and I’m wanting to burn the whole house down to start over. Take an hour to sift through each cabinet, drawer, shelf, and closet and simply remove them all. Then choose to sell, donate, or trash as needed. Take a look at your gadgets also and see what you haven’t touched in eons. Do you really need two hair straighteners? Or, 3 different types of curling irons? Does your hubby need to hang onto electric razors that aren’t being used or maybe not even working anymore? Do you need to hang onto two (or more) different types of shavers, hair dryers, hair brushes, clippies, hair accessories, toothbrushes, tweezers, etc. (insert anything you’d like to here)? Purge…dig it all out and narrow your gadgets and excessive items down. Only keep what you actually currently use. This will be the cherry on top to making your restroom space lighter and more open.

Organizing isn’t about perfection; it’s about efficiency, reducing stress and clutter, saving time and money and improving your overall quality of life. ~Christina Scalise
Everyone has their own style and way of organizing, but these are some simple steps for you to start with to get the ball rolling. A major thought to hold in the forefront of your mind is that the journey to minimalism should be kept simple and stress-free. Take your time. As you move through them you can add your own steps for items that you currently keep in your restroom and want to transplant to another space that is more suitable for them to make your restroom less cluttered. If it is overcrowded with nonsense, it will stress you out, so give yourself the gift of time to declutter and purge to reorganize it. You want this space to be a refreshing start to your day and then a relaxing end to conclude it before going to bed.
Let me know how you go down below in the comments. Would love to learn from your feedback on how you went about it.
Sending you loads of Love & Light,
Cassie
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