Breegan Jane reveals 3 bathroom organization hacks for people who hate tidying
'If you’re putting something in a nice wicker basket and then putting something on top of it, trust me, in two years you’ll never know what was in there'
If you can't stand organizing, you are in good company. Interior designer Breegan Jane has some simple bathroom organization tips guaranteed to inspire a decluttering session, even if it's the last thing you feel like doing.
Whether organizing a small bathroom overflowing with products or a larger space in need of streamlining, these three simple steps will help get you started so you can create a calm and functional space to get ready and unwind in.
The HGTV host and entrepreneur suggests practical solutions to keeping on top of your hair products, makeup, and skincare as well as reminders about being kind to yourself about the things you keep.
Breegan Jane's 3 bathroom organization tips
Here are Breegan Jane's bathroom organization tips to banish clutter.
Breegan Jane is a TV host, designer, entrepreneur & philanthropist in Los Angeles. Breegan’s signature style meshes the artistic and elegant with livable comfort. She achieves a stunning, modern aesthetic with decor that maximizes elegance and fosters simplicity, serenity, and supreme comfort.
1. Throw it all on the floor
Breegan Jane's first bathroom organization tip involves creating a mess that forces you to touch every single item and decide whether it is earning its place. 'I hate organizing,' admits Breegan, 'so where I start is I basically get everything and throw it on the floor.'
Whether it’s a small corner or every cabinet in your kitchen, if you make a mess first, she says you've already made the first step. Skincare and makeup lying around is just something to trip over, so the pile of mess is a good motivation to get organized.
'One of the places I often do this but hate doing it is in my bathroom storage drawers where all my makeup is. Nine times out of ten, there’s a lipstick in there that, if you didn’t actually take it out, it might just get re-organized, and it is adding to the clutter of the unnecessary,' Breegan insists.
'You're like, "Oh, this is a horrible mauve purple my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas and I’ve never worn it in five years, I’m not putting this back in the drawer."'
So, Breegan says, part of organizing and decluttering is really eliminating things out of your space, not getting the perfect bathroom organizers, although they do help once you have properly decluttered.
2. Give yourself some grace
Don't beat yourself up if you have a lot of products, just keep the things you use (unless they've expired).
'Give yourself grace,' Breegan says. 'I have a tonne of hair products, and I use them all, and my hair changes constantly. So it’s also about being realistic about the things you need and not me looking at my hair stuff and thinking "oh my gosh, I’ve got too much hair stuff, I don’t need any of it."
'No, if you use it, then storage space should be allocated to it.' We might think we are supposed to have less, but when it comes to the things that are part of who we are, we should be more forgiving of ourselves.
3. Use clear storage in closed spaces
'For behind closed spaces, clear storage, please, always,' says Breegan. 'Out of sight, out of mind – that’s how it becomes the lipstick we never touch, so I very much like anything see-through that you can put in cabinets so you actually know what’s in there.
Many bathroom cabinets are deep enough to hold two or three rows of bathroom items before you get to the back to the bottom of your bathroom vanity. This is ideal for storage but can easily descend into chaos. 'If you’re putting something in a nice wicker basket and then putting something on top of it, trust me, in two years you’ll never know what was in there,' she adds.
As a mom, Breegan says she has rebought daily nasal flushes and cold treatments so many times because they are the kind of thing she only needs in the winter when her children are sick, and they're prone to being hidden at the back of the sink.
'Put things in clear vanity organizers so you at least have some visuals on it especially when it’s closed storage. So hopefully, the cabinet door closes but you can see everything else when you open it.'
This set of 25 clear plastic drawer organizers comes well-reviewed on Amazon, with a variety of sizes making it versatile and able to fit your drawers.
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Millie Hurst is a freelance lifestyle writer with over six years of experience in digital journalism. Having previously worked as Solved Section Editor at Homes & Gardens and Senior SEO Editor at News UK in London and New York, Millie has written for an array of homes brands including Livingetc and Real Homes and was formerly Senior Content Editor at Ideal Home. She has written and edited countless features on home organization, decluttering and interior design and always hopes to inspire readers with new ways to enjoy their homes. She lives in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and loves to weave nature-inspired decor and nods to time spent in Italy into her own home.
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