Dignity in the Bathroom

WARNING: Heavily girl-oriented post.

Phase 2 of the kids bathroom makeover was ruthless purging and organization. Phase 3 is hang artwork, but I haven't gotten that far yet. I think I'm getting better and better at this whole "be gone from my house useless items!" thing. I'm slowly making my way through my house one room at a time. With a trash can and a Goodwill box behind me.

Now, on to the ruthless organization. I am finding that the key to ruthless and contained (but pretty) organization is containers, containers, containers.

As a girl, there is one thing that I find particularly important to bathroom organization.

When mother nature drops in for her monthly visit, I don't want to be caught unawares with my pants around my ankles. Dignity, after all, must be preserved... even in the bathroom. No one wants to hop to the bathroom closet just because they weren't prepared with a tampon in hand when mother nature struck. That wouldn't be very dignified. So... simple solution. Keep the necessities very close to the toilet. Within arms reach.

And just in case that wasn't enough, look! I have more!

The drawers (from left to right) contain massive quantities of q-tips, bars of soap for my husband (so he doesn't get smelly :P ), and massive quantities of pads.

In the cabinets below are the shampoo... which you are lucky to have a glimpse of since Mr. Helpful was opening and closing the cabinet door as I was trying to get a picture. We'll just pretend he's the male version of Vanna White.

And then there is the conditioner in the other cabinet...

"Shampoo is better. I go on first and clean the hair. Conditioner is better. I leave the hair silky and smooth. Oh, really, fool? Really. Stop looking at me SWAN!" (Name that movie!)

On top of the vanity, in the lovely 1980 Hershey's tin from the Goodwill Outlet...

We have even MORE tampons! Be prepared, people! Dignity! It's all about dignity! I don't know what it says about me that I keep tampons in a tin that says "A kiss for you!" on it. I reason that chocolate and periods are typically linked, so it makes sense to me. Besides,  the tin was the perfect height for tampons.

The only jewelry box that survived the great jewelry purge is now home to hair ties, bobby pins, and barrettes.

I decided to keep lots of toilet paper located right in front of the toilet. In plain view for my poor guests. Again... no one wants to waddle over to the under the sink cabinet with their pants around their legs while hunting for TP. It's just not dignified.

It's also one less thing for my mother-in-law to yell at us about from the potty. ;)

I really wish that I had taken a before picture of this closet. Let's just say that it looked like a giant goat had consumed everything in CVS and then vomited it all into my closet. It was really bad But no more!

All of the first aid and medicine items are now neatly organized into bins and high up where little children can't easily reach them. The extra towels and face cloths are now hidden away in the closet instead of sitting out in an overflowing laundry basket in the middle of the floor. I can't tell you how proud I am to have towels in the bathroom closet. Sad. I know.

At the bottom, we have extra deodorant, razors, and body wash. To the right of those drawers, we have, that's right, EVEN MORE tampons and pads... Did I mention that my mother-in-law gets all of these things for free and has her very own drug store. It's great for pillaging. We never buy toiletries. NEVER, EVER.

Under the sink, we have extra TP in case someone gets the urge to waddle, nail care items, manicure materials, toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwash, and hand soap.

There you have it. Everything in the bathroom has a logical home strategically placed close to where it is most needed. Strategically located to preserve the dignity of anyone who ever wants to use my only white porcelain throne. Yes. Dignity and toilets can coexist with one another.

By the way, the tour of the newly organized bathroom is mostly for my husband's sake... so that he can find things without directly asking me where they are ;). It can't hurt future guests either.