Simplify Sundays

Every Sunday, we're going to take steps to simplify our lives and we'll share the experience with you all.

Today I tackled the bathroom cabinets.


I love old medicine packaging. I found this while cleaning out the medicine cabinet and can't bear to toss it even though we'll probably never use it. If I was just a little more eccentric I would have my medicine cabinet full of vintage medicine bottles, toiletries and perfumes and nothing else.

Before:

I had organized this bathroom cabinet shortly after we moved in but it was easy to let it get junked out over time.

After:

Deep down this closet was already pretty organized. Just by going through everything I was able to throw away an entire bag of empty cleaning supplies, old makeup and expired medicine.

One tip is to take everything out of the plastic or cardboard packaging (i.e. toilet paper, cotton balls, makeup sponges, tampons, etc.) and put them in permanent packaging like bowls, clear glass containers, or storage boxes.

I went through all my makeup and tossed anything that has expired (mascara has a shelf life of only 4 months, lipstick up to 4 years, creams should be thrown away after 12 months).

My sister taught me to put all my makeup on a tray - it's great for seeing everything you have at once - and it's nice and portable.

I also cleaned out the medicine cabinet but the before/after isn't quite as impressive.

While I was working on all of this Jeremy was putting together the guest bedroom. More on that tomorrow!