Organizing--Linen Closets and Master Bathroom Done!

 Recently I showed you some pics of my linen closet and master bathroom storage.  To refresh your memory, they looked like this:

I know, a little scary.  I never hated our linen closet or what I had in it, it worked fine and held what we needed.  However, after deciding I wanted to rework our master bedroom cupboards and storage, I knew I needed to re-organize the linen closet as well.

In the bottom of our linen closet was a large 3-drawered storage unit.  It worked fine except the top drawer was cracked and due to other things I had stuffed on the side of it between it and the wall, the drawers did not smoothly open, they would get stuck and we ended up yanking and pulling to get drawers open.  In these drawers we stored extra toilet paper, sheets, and pillow cases.

To start organizing, I took everything out of the linen closet.  I went through all of our sheets and sets.  I decided that we needed only one back-up set for each bed, not two or three.  I also had a few mis-matched and lonely flat and fitted sheets that were in good shape, but belonged to sets that were long gone.  I kept only one extra set for each bed, and several extra pillow cases that we have.  This substantially lessened the amount of bedding in our linen closet.    I donated the sheets and pillow cases that were extras and that I didn't want to Goodwill.  Good for me, good for them.  I took the sheets I was keeping and a couple light throws and blankets and put them on the top shelf.  {We have some cupboards in our finished basement that hold more blankets and throws for guests or sleepovers}.

Since the plastic drawer system was partially cracked and not working, I took a cubbie unit out of my daughter's closet that I have been wanting to change to see if it would fit where the plastic storage unit sat.  If I lifted up the bottom shelf in the closet (which thankfully went up easily---I did not want to take screws out and leave huge holes in the wall) the cubbie unit fit perfectly!  Yeah!  I love when a plan comes together.    Her closet will be organized soon and I have a different plan for it that does not include the cubbie unit.

I purchased 3 baskets from Jo Ann's (which I posted about {HERE}) that I put bookplates on and labeled as to their contents.

During cleaning out the mess underneath the bathroom sink in the master bath and in the buffet that we have in there, I realized that many things were out of date.  How often do you check to see if ointments, medications, and lotions are expired?    I bet you'd be surprised how many items you've had for years.  After I threw away all expired and unwanted items, I really was left with WHAT I REALLY USE.  Who needs 5 different kinds of body lotion?  You know as well as I do that we tend to use our favorite 1 or 2 the most and the rest just sits in the cupboard.  I went through and tried to be honest with myself on what I really use, what I really have space for, and what I really need.  It was hard to throw away things that cost good money, but if I am not going to honestly use them, they are going to expire anyway.  Plus, they are taking up good space and cluttering my life, which I don't want.
Now I only have what is in-date, what I use, and what I have space for.  YIPPEE!!!  That feels good.

In the linen closet is the small container that perfectly slides on top of the cubbie unit.  This holds different sizes of bandages, first-aid ointment, and light gauze.  This way the kids can get their own band-aids.  (I do store a couple band-aids in our "junk drawer" in the kitchen to have on hand there, too, you can read about organization of that drawer and the whole pantry in {THIS} post)

The master bathroom cabinets are now partly empty.  I moved so much to the linen closet and got rid of so many unwanted, unneeded, and expired things that there is plenty of space now!!!  Here is what I have stored in these cabinets now:

I kept a small set of cleaning supplies just to use in this bathroom to clean and in the red bin are larger, awkward items such as heating pads, wrist braces, and wraps.

On this side of the cabinet razors are kept in a small container, my curling iron, hair dryer, and straightener are in a basket to keep the cords from being everywhere, and my personal products--I always take them out of the box/package- are stored in the teal basket.

Look at all of the space left in these cabinets!!!

In the buffet that we have in our master bathroom (we also have one of these in our great room and I love it--so much storage), I use the drawer for my everyday toiletries, make-up, hair products and items, and body products.  I love using the drawer organizers (I've had these a while--from Bed, Bath and Beyond) for each type of thing.  My hair products go in one, moisturizers/body products in another, and hair pins, ties, clippers, and tweezers in the one that has small compartments.  I always know where stray pony-tail holders go, and never have to look for my tweezers or nail clippers.   On the top of the buffet, I have my DIY tray (I posted recently about this HERE) with cotton balls and swabs and a glass votive holder that holds my earrings when I take them out at night.

In the large space below, I store our towels in a basket.

I have a small drawered unit with shoe products (polish, spray). aloe for sunburns, and other misc. items. (Before  I had two of these drawered plastic units in my bathroom storage before, but now one is housing Riley's hair ties, bows, and headbands...I will post about that soon!)

There is also this little container holding all of my nail items--polish, files, and remover.  It's really nice just to pull this out and have it all in one place!

I also have room to store a couple boxes of tissues and a ball jar that I keep plastic grocery sacks in to line our bathroom trashcans.

Here again are the before and afters:

Linen Closet Before:

After:

Master Bathroom Cabinets before:

After:

Buffet in Master Bathroom Before:

 After:

WHEW!!!   It didn't take me long nor did I really have to buy many organizational things to help me get these places organized.  I love how they look, but even more, I love how they function!

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