Lifestyle Hacks, Simple Systems

7 Bathroom Hacks To Keep Your Bathroom Clean on a Budget

Elisha and I know how to make a bathroom filthy.

I don’t know how two grown adults smear toothpaste all over the counter, or make the mirror look like we just blasted it with a garden hose, but every single night, we’d leave that place a war zone. It didn’t help that my mascara is water, chemical, and acid proof . . . in the morning it would be stuck like cement in the sink, right where I rinsed it off. 

I started watching “how-to” YouTube videos like mad, looking for solutions.

I wanted a clean house, but I needed it to be easy.

(You know by now, if it’s not simple, I’m not doing it.)

The result are these ridiculously simple systems. I show you all of them in this short video, (which has three bonus hacks) but if you’re a blog scanner . . . 

Wash Your Sink and Mirror Every Night (or Morning)

It sounds simple. It is.

But you have to have a system! For instance, I’m not going to run downstairs every night and grab a rag, and it’s no fun to pick up a wet, stinky rag right before you go to bed, or right after you wake up in the morning. And then there’s the issue about what to do with it when you’re done.

Hack #1: Use Command Hooks to hang Norwex rags inside your bathroom cupboard. They have “bac-loc” (which fights bacteria) so I only replace and wash them once a month during my DEEP CLEAN. They also dry fast enough to be ready in 24 hours. If that isn’t enough, you don’t need to use chemicals with them. Super simple, super easy.

With this one hack, my bathroom is always clean, and I only intentionally “clean” it once a month.

Goodbye spots on the mirror and mascara in the sink.

Declutter Your Counter

If you’re going to wash down your sink and mirror every night, you can’t be spending 5 minutes taking everything off the counter.

Hack #2: This is more advice than a hack: declutter peeps. You don’t need that baggage in your life.

Hang Your Hot Tools

Don’t you love pulling out your hair dryer, and dragging out bottles of nail polish, earrings, and your dog’s chew toy with it?

I didn’t.

I also didn’t like having to leave my curling iron out on the counter for it to dry. There are lots of hangers and storage suggestions for putting away hot tools, but none of them were cheap, or simple.

Until I found command hooks.

Hack #3: Stick some command hooks on the inside of your cupboard and hang your hot tools!

It’s easy to keep up, and a life-changer for the organization of your entire bathroom.

“X” Marks the Spot

I grew up as the eldest of 11 children, and boy, were we always running out of toilet paper. Even since being married, the nightmare of getting stuck on the pot with guests in the house, but without the bare necessities and calling, “Elisha!! Umm . . . can you come here real quick?” has embarrassed me.

Worse still, we’ve run out in our entire house. No stealing from the downstairs bathroom today. I’m left with the option of breaking the budget to buy in bulk, or making a special trip to our local Whole Paycheck Foods for a fair-trade organic rice paper linen roll.

This was an idea that hit me at 3am and it works like magic.

Hack #4: Write a big, fat, X, on the roll you want to be your “signal” roll. When that X get’s pulled, the puller notifies me, and toilet paper gets restocked, or goes on the shopping list.

I always write the X on a roll that gives me plenty of time to buy more.

Embrace the Lazy

Suzan kinda had it figured out, and lazy suzans work awesome for keeping under the sink organized.

Hack #5: Stash your sprays and cleaning supplies on a lazy susan to save space, and create easy access.

Have a Drop Spot

Most of us don’t take off our clothes to shower until we’re in the bathroom. Then what? They go in a pile on the floor.

Tidying up the bathroom floor just isn’t on my list of things to do when I’m clean and headed to bed. And after Leon’s baths, I’m so loaded with towels, a baby that cries like a cat in water, and toys, I usually keep his clothes there until morning.

Instead of telling myself I just need to be more disciplined (which I do, but that is beside the point) I worked with our habits. (The key to all my Simple Systems.) 

Hack #6: A cute bin now catches all our dirty clothes, and decoratively camouflages my laziness until I get around to dealing with it. Sometimes clothes stay here for a day or two, but you could come over to my house and still think I’m the queen of clean.

Sneaky, and simple. 

Hang Your Towels, Don’t Fold Them

If you are a low-maintence kind of gal, or your husband is a chronic hand-towel wadder, don’t fret!

Hack #7: Find creative ways to hang your hand towels. You can buy some made, or get scrap fabric and hot-glue gun your own towel holder like I did.

Side note: I do plan on sewing a snap on one day, but for now, safety pins are doing the job. 80/20, baby.

Store Your Stud-Earrings

If you have limited space or budget, don’t spend any more time chasing stud earrings around your drawer.

Hack #8: Use a vitamin container to store your studs.

Best part . . . it’s easy to grab and go when you pack a make-up bag.

There you have it! The seven hacks that created my bathroom “Simple System.” Today, it’s easier to keep my bathroom clean than dirty, and I don’t even have to try. Like everything you organize, make sure you’re systematizing as well. Don’t just tidy it in a way that looks beautiful, but try to beautify your habits. 

Your habits stay the same, but the results drastically improve.

Bathroom blessings,

 

 

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1 thought on “7 Bathroom Hacks To Keep Your Bathroom Clean on a Budget

  1. This is great, Kathryn! For years now. I have wiped my bathroom mirror and counters as you suggest (and the sink almost every time I use it~I even wipe public bathroom counters sometimes!) It is so quick and easy and makes a big difference in comparison to the amount of time it takes.

    I love that you are working with your habits!

    I am not certain how the cute ribbon towel holder works. It looks to me as if it would be easier to quickly fold the towel over the towel bar?

    Another great tip is to empty the wastebasket daily; it does not take long and an empty wastebasket can make the entire bathroom look better (I have been known to push down the paper in public bathroom waste baskets~the leave it better than you found it project). 🙂

    These are fun videos! Thank you.

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