Start Small

In my attempt to clean the house this weekend, I began to get frustrated. I'd pick up some things off the kitchen counter, walk into the other room to put them away, and end up picking up something in there to put away. The result was that things were getting done, but it didn't look like a dent had been made. That's when I decided to start small. I'd tackle the one room I knew I could have clean in a short time, and that accomplishment would give me some motivation as I moved on to the next room.

So I started in the upstairs bathroom. First was the counter top. I have too many haircare products, all of which I use, and all of which were sitting out on the counter. I had a nice wire basket to try to arrange things in, but it's slats on the bottom meant things would fall through and get caught up. Then there were the toothbrushes. There isn't enough room in the medicine cabinet for them, and so they end up poking out of the basket or just all over the place.

First thing I did, was get a tote bag. I remembered a friend of mine kept all of her hair stuff in a tote. So when it was time to do her hair, she just got the bag out. I rounded up the straightening iron, curling iron, blow dryer, rubber bands, smoothing serum, hair spray... I could go on, but you get the picture. I put them in a cute green tote bag (the zipper is broken, so it isn't a very good tote anymore) and stashed them under the counter.


Next, I evaluated the wire basket. I thought maybe if I put a cute towel or washcloth in the bottom it would work. That's when I remembered that I had a turquoise washcloth from Christmas 2007. I had purchased a few packages of them to wrap my homemade soap in. It would be just the thing. When I went to grab it, I looked at the great turquoise tote it was in (it had held a tea set I received for Christmas that year). I decided to ditch the basket, and put the soaps, dental floss, and other small things in it, with the washcloth in the bottom. I unwrapped the soap first and put it out for hand washing. Why not enjoy some of the soap ourselves? Also notice the nice faucet. My parents gave us their old faucet when their bathroom was remodeled. It is so much prettier than the old one we had.


Last was the pesky toothbrushes. I was thinking that a toothbrush holder would be nice, but they rarely hold kids toothbrushes, and I didn't want to buy one. So I thought maybe if I had a nice cup. That's when I remembered that after my grandma died, I received 3 of her coffee mugs. They held many memories, as she always had a cup of coffee with her. Unfortunately, within a few months at my house, 2 of the mugs handles had been broken off. (I'm guessing this was due to age, as all of our other mugs are fine.) And my favorite of those mugs just happened to be turquoise and green.


I'm happy to report that the bathroom has stayed clean for over 3 days, which is a record in this house. I love that it looks pretty, and was redone with things already in our home, so the only expense to the new look was the glass cleaner I bought to scrub the mirrors.