Clear The Clutter

Step Three of Joe’s Seven-Step Method: Managing Your Time Begins With Organizing the Space Around You.

The bathroom can be one of the most difficult spaces to keep orderly – and size doesn’t matter as much as you might think. We have a tendency to fill up empty space, so a large room can seem just as cluttered as a small one. Whatever the size of your bathroom, though, I can assure you that my method will fit it.

Let’s talk about all the small stuff that causes clutter and mess. Little items from tubes of lipstick to cans of hairspray seem to appear on surface areas and stay there. The surface next to the sink is likely to be covered with makeup, face creams, shaving cream, razors and razor blades, hair brushes and a blow-dryer, nail and polish remover, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, facial tissue, and cotton balls. It may even be the holding area for replacement bottles of shampoo and conditioner, waiting for their slot on the tub ledge. (Which, by the way, should only hold items that are used on a daily basis. The patchouli oil your cousin gave you three Christmases ago, the expensive facial mask that turned out not to do much except irritate your skin, the collection of tiny bottles from the hotel where you stayed last August, the slightly musty loofah, the rubber ducky your brother gave you as a joke … all of it needs to be swept off the ledge and into the trash bag.)