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I’m back with another organization post. So far, you’ve seen our organized pantry, new charging drawer, and Rory’s organized nursery dresser over the past few weeks. There’s just something about January that really gets me excited to purge and create functional systems for the items we want to keep. I’ve done a lot of cleaning and organizing posts over the past eight years and they are some of my favorites. (This blog post has a great round-up or just type “organize” into the search bar and you’ll find tons of tutorials.)
Today, I’m sharing two closets that I spruced up over my winter break – our linen closet in the hallway and the closet in our guest bathroom. These two spaces see a lot of action and our old organizational systems weren’t working. Let’s take a look…
The Bathroom Closet – Problem Areas
Here’s a look at the closet in the guest bathroom. It has shallow shelves that were there when we moved in and it’s a great spot to store our medicine, first aid supplies, extra toiletries, Rory’s bath supplies, and more. 
We use this closet at least every other day when we give Rory a bath and it hasn’t been the most organized spot in the house. I think we kinda just threw all of the medicine in random containers when we moved in and haven’t really touched it since. Needless to say, it’s turning into a problem.
The Linen Closet – Problem Areas
Here’s our linen closet, which has actually turned into our “baby closet.” Are you sensing a theme here? We’ve accumulated lots of baby stuff and we’ve just shoved it into closets with our old stuff without coming up with a proper system. 
We used to spread out our towels and extra sheets over a few shelves, but once we started accumulating diapers, wipes, and other baby stuff, we just started stacking them on that top shelf. It’s terrifying trying to get something down. Everything has topped down on us a couple of times.
The Bathroom Gameplan
So let’s start with the refresh of the bathroom closet. My main goal was to find a way to organize medicine, along with Rory’s bath supplies.
Discard Expired Medicine and Sunscreen
I started just as I do any organization project – I took alllll the things out and started purging. Holy smokes, I don’t think we’ve ever actually thrown away medicine. Instead, it’s slowly been accumulating since we started living together 11 years ago. I took my time and looked at the expiration date of each product, tossing anything that was expired. We had cough syrup from 2015, sunscreen from 2013, and so many other expired goodies. As I tossed things, I made a note of the replacement items I wanted to pick up at the grocery store (Ibuprofen, Pepto Bismol, etc.). I then created loose categories to organize the medicine.
- COLD
- HEAD
- TUMMY
- ALLERGY
- BABY
Create Cute Labels to Organize Medicine
I’m usually not one to label all.the.things. but in this case, I thought it would be really helpful to create labels to organize medicine. I use the free program, Canva, to create all of my mood boards and graphics for the blog. I made these little labels on there and even added cute little icons next to the words. 
I downloaded them, printed them on cardstock, and then used some self-laminating paper to laminate them. I took those little pieces of paper and clipped them to the top of our baskets. They actually turned out super cute even though it only took ten minutes for me to create them. You can download them for free right here if you want to use them to organize medicine in your house!
The Bathroom Closet – After
I didn’t buy any new baskets or anything, so for a free makeover I think it is so much better! 
Up top, I used large baskets to corral our heating pad, Finn’s vitamins, and extra toiletries. 
On the second shelf, I have four black bins with all of our medicine. It feels good knowing that all of our medicine is up-to-date and we have everything we need right on hand in case of an emergency. 
Rory’s bath towels, the knee pad we use for baths (it’s seriously the best), and her medicine are all on their own shelves away from the adult supplies. We can easily grab whatever we need for bathtime!
On the floor, I have two clear bins. One has all of our first aid supplies – we are stocked – and the other holds sunscreen and bug spray. I love that I can easily see everything and grab what I need in a hurry. 
Overall, I’m really happy with our new functional bathroom closet.
The Linen Closet Gameplan
Okay, now onto the second closet on my to-do list. My main goals were to go through all of the baby items, purge where necessary, and separate our linens and towels from all of the baby stuff.
I emptied the entire closet and went through everything to figure out what should stay and what should go. I ended up taking all of the diapers out of the boxes. It can sometimes be tough if I need a diaper in a hurry and I have to open a whole box just to get one.
The Linen Closet – After
Again, another free little makeover. I just did a lot of purging, rearranging, and utilized the space a lot better. 
I ended up putting all of the “adult” stuff on the top two shelves and Rory’s baby gear on the bottom ones. 
I also organized the linens a bit better. I like keeping an entire sheet set all together. I fold the fitted sheet, top sheet, and one pillowcase and place it inside the second pillowcase. It’s nice because you can then just grab the entire little bundle to change the sheets. 
I used the wicker baskets, which are super old, btw, to hold extra diapers and Rory’s linens – her changing pad covers, crib sheets, etc. It’s nice that her stuff isn’t mixed up with the “big” sheets and we can easily grab her stuff when we want to change the crib. 
Then, the bottom shelf holds extra formula, wipes, and Rory’s back-up toiletries. We keep them in these cream fabric bins that we also use in Rory’s closet.
Overall, I’m feeling great about our new organized spaces. It’s crazy how much you can improve a space in about an hour and for f-r-e-e! I highly recommend that you give your closets a little TLC this month. I promise, you’ll end up with a wonderful feeling!
Casey
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