Under the Sink

That title was meant to get this song stuck in your head, in case it wasn't clear :)

I'm back to share another organizing mission I recently embarked upon. We're fortunate enough to have a very spacious vanity for storage in our bathroom. However, because there was so much room, it became crazy disorganized and packed to the gills with stuff, which led to many issues: buying an unnecessary bottle of shampoo when I already had some stashed down there, or causing a cascade of deoderant when I reached in to grab something.

See Exhibit A:

And Exhibit B:

And a full-on shot of the chaos:

Yikes. I had clearly tried to implement some organizing, but the containers weren't exactly doing a good job, and it was annoying to move things out of the way every time I needed to get something out of the drawers.

Enter some awesome baskets from TJ Maxx! I picked these guys up because they're durable and they have lids, so I can easily stack them. I got 4 small ones for $7.99 each and 2 medium ones for $9.99 each.

Next a picture to show that before any space gets better, it has to get worse. Much worse. This was the room after I pulled everything out of the cabinets and settled in to sort and purge. I watched some TV while I did this, hence the laptop. I also had some cat assistance (as in they kept jumping in baskets and climbing under the sink).

After better categorizing my bathroom products, donating the plastic bins to the preschool, and pulling in a few unused organizers I already had, I ended up with this:

Ahhhh, much better! Let's talk details. On the left side, I stacked two of the smaller baskets. One's filled with hair products, my curling iron, and headbands, and the other is full of skincare products (sunscreen, extra lotions, etc.) The basket in front holds some vitamins and supplements.

I grabbed some stackable plastic bins that I had previously used in our fridge and stashed travel-sized toiletries in the lower bin, then more-used items (body sprays, extra deoderant, mouthwash) in the upper bin so they'd be more readily accessible.

I also added an over-door basket to wrangle my hair dryer, straightener, brushes, and styling products I use when blow-drying.

On the other side, I stashed our extra shampoos, conditioners, body washes, Q-Tips, and my lady supplies. We buy most of our body stuff at Costco, so we have a lot of overflow items. Keeping them in the baskets keeps things contained, but still easy to get to when needed. I put my curlers on top of one basket stack, too. That black and metal contraption is my hair dryer stand. You just attach the dryer to the top and then you can sit and comb your hair without having to hoist your dryer up. (Yes, I am very lazy! Haha!)

Anyway, that's what's working for our current sink situation! Our future home has an even more spacious vanity, plus 2 more drawers, an upper cabinet, AND an awesome closet, so I am sure I will be back with an update of how we utilize that organizing space once we're there!