Bathroom

The bathroom is the easiest room to declutter. Not a lot of people store a lot of their sentimental belongings. It’s also easier to throw away items since these items such as medicine and make up have expiry dates and health risks if kept longer than they should be kept.

I began by removing everything that doesn’t belong in the bathroom. Throw away expired medicine and makeup (if you store your makeup there, to me, I prefer to keep that in my room).

I believe that the only things that should be your bathroom is…

Shower supplies –> Shampoo, conditioner, body wash (either a bar of soap or a shower gel), shaving cream and a razor
Hand towel and hand soap
Toilet paper on a toilet roller
Extra toilet paper
Plunger and toilet brush
Bathroom cleaning supplies
Towel rack
Garbage can
Curtain and or blind if there’s any window(s) in the room
Bath mats (one in front of the shower, in front of the toilet and by the sink)
Shower curtain, rod and rings

Under the sink, I only like to store my bathroom cleaning products. The kitchen cleaning products are kept in the kitchen. I like to keep extra toilet paper under the sink as well. The rest of the supply is kept in the linen closet next to the bathroom.

In my opinion, it is so much easier to clean the tub when there isn’t any shower supplies in the tub, so that’s why I prefer to keep them under the sink. Before we had our container, I would have to lug out all of our products which is a lot between three people. All three of us have our own container where we place our shower supplies. This way the bottles don’t get covered in slim. I clean them off after every shower.

In my container, I make sure I only keep one of every thing I need (one shampoo, one conditioner, one shower gel, etc.) I keep my extras in my closet. I stocked up on my supplies when I went to school so I wouldn’t have to worry about that when I was studying so that’s why I have extras. I keep my extras I leave my towels in the linen closet.

Behind the mirror is where we store our bandaids and medicine.

After I had decluttered and got rid of everything that doesn’t belong, I begin to give the room a nice deep clean, by cleaning everything so it is nice and fresh.

Where to Begin…

These stories are about my journey, and I know that everyone is going to have a different experience, and that’s okay.

To me, the bathroom is the easiest place to start since this isn’t a common room to store your sentimental items. And another advantage of beginning in the bathroom is that it would provide you with a room of relaxation and an area where you can pamper yourself.

I will explain step by step how I clean each room and what to do.

Although, looking back at it now, the approach I should have done this project in is as follows… Although I know that not everyone will have all of these rooms.

Bathroom
Kitchen
Foyer (hallway closet and other closets, excluding the bedroom closet, that’s for later)
Living Room
Laundry Room
Bedroom(s) (and office)
Attic
Garage

After reflecting in my journey with my boyfriend and his mom, I realized I had approached her in a wrong manner. In my defense we were pressed for time so sadly, we needed to prioritize what was important. If I can do it all over, I would have done it this way. That being said, I really do recommend doing it in order from the above.

This list makes sense because the easier rooms are the bathroom and kitchen. I left the bedroom near the end since that is where we store our sentimental items, and that is something that we must not start with. If we start with the hardest rooms, this mission wouldn’t be able for lift off. The bedroom is almost last so you can build confidence and know that you are ready to finish this project.

Mind you, my method probably isn’t going to work for everyone and that’s okay. You just got to find something that works for you. Use my experience as a guide line.

The Beginning

I have helped out a lot of my family members and friends to live with less. I love the idea of living with less stuff. To me, living with less, helps eliminate stress in my every day life. Just so you know, when I am talking about my journey, I speak without any judgement to the people I live with, the ones I’ve helped and with the people reading this. I will never judge people based on their way of living. I offer people going through this journey support and positive vibes.

When it comes to things that people decide on donating, I know that it has to be the person’s decision to donate these items. I would never make that decision without the person’s consent. I only suggest ideas and offer support to them. I also never throw out anyone’s belongings without their permission, because if I did that, then they aren’t learning anything in the process. It has to be their decision to let go of things. It’s part of their journey.

The way I look it at is, if you throw out a person’s things, they would just find something else to collect. And this action will not really change their behaviour of collecting things. That’s what this journey is about, they learn a lot about themselves, like their reasoning to hold on to things. It is usually is caused from something that happened in their life, that has shaped them into the way they are today.

From the people I have helped, their reasoning to hold on to things is because of money and they already have lost so much beforehand. This explains why others often find this process to be overwhelming for them. And that’s okay. Any signs of discomfort means you are going out of your comfort zone. You just to start small and keep on working towards your goals. No one has ever regretted donating their things to other people.

In order to overcome this and be comfortable with less, they need to learn what lead them to this behaviour. This is where I come in and help.

Hop on board, you’re on the journey of a lifetime.