Bathroom Organization: What to Toss First, Spot by Spot

Don’t buy organizers yet. Bathroom organization starts with taking things out: empty bottles, old makeup, expired medicines, the mini shampoos you’ll never use. Then whatever’s left gets one home. Do one spot per 15‑minute timer, and start with the counter, because you see it every morning.

We split the bathroom into six spots, each with two parts: Toss first is what comes out, and Give the rest a home is where everything else goes. The six spots, the order and the time estimates are ours. The rules are from Dana K. White, Marie Kondo and FlyLady, while the dates and safety notes come from the FDA, the CDC, the EPA, the CPSC, the National Library of Medicine and the American Dental Association. You’ll find each one linked where it appears.

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Before you start: two rules

1. Toss first, then organize. The KonMari site says so in its bathroom tips: “It’s important to eliminate excess before you begin the organization process.” Inside each timer, follow Dana K. White’s 5 steps: trash first, then the easy stuff, then the obvious donations, and the hard decisions last.
2. Put things where you’d look for them. Dana K. White’s question is “If I needed this item, where would I look for it? Take it there now.” If you’d look for the hairbrush in the top drawer, that’s its home.

In a small room, one more idea helps: the drawer or the basket is the limit. Dana K. White says it in four words: “Containers are for containing.” When the basket is full, something comes out before something new goes in.

What you need: a trash bag, a bag for things to give away, and a timer set to 15 minutes.

1. The counter

Start here. It’s what Dana K. White calls “a visible space that I see every day but I might have stopped noticing.” Clear it and you’ll see the difference every time you brush your teeth.

Toss first:

• Empty and almost-empty bottles → finish them or recycle the empties
• Things from other rooms (cups, mail, toys) → take them back now
• Old toothbrushes. The American Dental Association says to “replace your toothbrush every three to four months, or sooner if the bristles are frayed.”

Give the rest a home:

• Leave out only what you use every day: soap, toothbrushes, maybe one product
• One small tray for the daily things, so the rest of the counter stays clear and easy to wipe
• Toothbrushes standing up, not touching each other. The ADA says to “store it upright and allow it to air dry,” and to “not routinely cover toothbrushes or store them in closed containers.”

Time: one timer.

2. Under the sink

Toss first:

• Cleaning products you don’t use → check how your town collects household hazardous waste
• Dried-out sponges and worn-out cloths → trash
• Hotel minis and samples. The KonMari site says “there is no need to hold onto each mini shampoo bottle or conditioner you’ve picked up.” Keep a few for travel, if you travel, and let the rest go.

Give the rest a home:

• Group by job: cleaning, hair, backup toilet paper and soap
• Cleaning products stay in their own bottles. The EPA’s rule: “Never store hazardous products in food containers; keep them in their original containers and never remove labels.” And “Never mix HHW with other products,” so don’t pour two half bottles into one.
• If young children or pets live with you, cleaning products go where they can’t reach
• Hair dryer and flat iron: unplugged, and stored away from water. The CPSC’s hair dryer advice is old (1982) but still holds: “Unplug when not being used,” and “Don’t place or store a hair dryer where it can fall or be pulled into a tub or sink.”

Time: one timer.

3. The drawers

One drawer per timer if they’re packed.

Toss first:

• Old mascara. The FDA says “manufacturers usually recommend discarding mascara two to four months after purchase.”
• Sunscreen with no date on it that you bought more than three years ago. The FDA: “If your sunscreen doesn’t have an expiration date printed on it, throw it out three years after you bought it.”
• Makeup and hair things you haven’t used in a long time, broken hair ties, dried-out nail polish → trash or give away, depending on what your local donation center takes

Give the rest a home:

• One small box per category: makeup, hair, nails, first aid. Phone boxes and shoeboxes make good dividers.
• The things you use every morning in the top drawer, the rest lower down
• Write the month you opened a mascara on it with a marker, so you don’t have to guess later

The FDA also notes that “exposure to moisture, such as in a bathroom, may make it easier for bacteria and fungi to grow.” So keep only what you actually use.

Time: one timer per drawer.

4. The medicine cabinet

For some of what’s in here, the bathroom may not be the right home at all.

Toss first:

• Expired or unused medicines → a drug take-back site. The FDA says “the best way to dispose of most types of expired, unwanted or unused medicines is through a drug take-back program.” If there’s none near you, the same page explains how to throw most medicines in the household trash (mixed with something like used coffee grounds or cat litter, sealed in a bag, with your personal information scratched off the label). Some medicines have their own instructions, so check the FDA page first.
• Old samples and products you tried once → trash

Give the rest a home:

• Medicines: think about moving them out of the bathroom. MedlinePlus, from the National Library of Medicine, says “the heat and moisture from your shower, bath, and sink may damage your medicines” and suggests a dresser drawer or a kitchen cabinet away from the stove, sink and hot appliances.
• Keep them in their original containers. MedlinePlus: “Always keep medicines in their original container.”
• Wherever they go, up high. The CDC: “Keep medicines in a safe location that is too high for young children to reach or see.”
• The cabinet then holds the daily things: skincare, deodorant, contact lens case, at eye level

Time: one timer.

5. The shower and tub

Toss first:

• Empty bottles and the shampoo nobody likes → recycle or trash
• Old razors and bath toys that stay wet and grimy → trash
• Three open bottles of the same thing → keep one in the shower, the rest go under the sink as backups

Give the rest a home:

• One shelf or caddy, and only what fits there. Everything else is a backup.
• The floor stays clear. The KonMari rule: “Nothing should be kept on the bathroom floor aside from a trash can and toilet brush.”

Time: one timer, often less.

6. Towels, toilet paper and the back of the door

Toss first:

• Towels with holes or frayed edges → cut them into cleaning rags, or ask your town about textile recycling
• More towels than your household uses between laundry days → give the extras away

Give the rest a home:

• Toilet paper: the KonMari site says it “is happiest placed in a basket or box or on a shelf.” One basket, and when it’s full, that’s the stock.
• Hooks on the back of the door for the towels in use and a robe
• Spare towels in the linen closet or a shelf, rolled or folded, whichever fits

Time: one timer.

Bathroom organization ideas for small spaces

• Clear before you buy. Once the minis, empties and expired things are gone, you may not need the extra shelf.
• Let the space set the limit. Makeup gets one drawer and toilet paper one basket. In the shower, one caddy.
• Move what doesn’t need to be there. Medicines (see spot 4) and backup stock can live in another room.
• Use the door. Hooks on the back of the door hold towels without taking floor space.

Bathroom organization hacks with what you already have

Nothing to buy. These are our own suggestions:

• Phone boxes and small gift boxes as drawer dividers
• A mug or jar for toothbrushes, or for makeup brushes
• Masking tape and a marker as labels for baskets and the backups shelf
• A shoebox lid as a tray on the counter

How to keep it organized

• One in, one out. A new bottle comes in, the empty one goes out the same day.
• Backups in one place. Before you buy more shampoo or toothpaste, check the backups basket.
• The bathroom week. In FlyLady’s zones, zone 3 is “the main bathroom and one other room in the house.” If you follow her zones, that’s your week to spend 15 minutes a day on the bathroom.

Where to go next

For the whole house, our home organization ideas cover 10 spots, and the decluttering checklist goes room by room. Doing the bedroom next? Try the declutter bedroom checklist. Short on time? See the 15-minute declutter. If it all feels like too much, start with how to declutter when overwhelmed.

Quick recap

1. Toss first, then organize. Don’t buy bins before you know what’s staying.
2. Start with the counter: leave out only what you use every day.
3. Under the sink: cleaning products in their own bottles, hair tools away from water.
4. Drawers: old mascara and undated sunscreen out, one box per category.
5. Medicines: out of the bathroom if you can, up high, in their original containers.
6. Shower and door: one caddy, clear floor, hooks for towels.

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Sources

• Dana K. White, 5 Steps for Working Through an Overwhelming Mess (PDF), A Slob Comes Clean: https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/DASL-5-Steps-to-Working-Through-Mess.pdf
• Dana K. White, “Ooooooh. Container. Now I Get It.” A Slob Comes Clean (2010): https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/2010/05/ooooooh-container-now-i-get-it/
• Dana K. White, “The Visibility Rule,” A Slob Comes Clean: https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/2018/01/visibility-rule-important-decluttering/
• KonMari, “7 Easy (and Joyful) Bathroom Storage Solutions”: https://konmari.com/7-easy-and-joyful-bathroom-storage-solutions/
• FlyLady, “Please Explain the Zones”: https://www.flylady.net/ask-flylady/please-explain-the-zones
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Shelf Life and Expiration Dating of Cosmetics”: https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-labeling/shelf-life-and-expiration-dating-cosmetics
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Tips to Stay Safe in the Sun: From Sunscreen to Sunglasses”: https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/tips-stay-safe-sun-sunscreen-sunglasses
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Where and How to Dispose of Unused Medicines”: https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/where-and-how-dispose-unused-medicines
• MedlinePlus (National Library of Medicine), “Storing your medicines”: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000534.htm
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Up and Away campaign: https://www.cdc.gov/medication-safety/php/toolkit/index.html
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)”: https://www.epa.gov/hw/household-hazardous-waste-hhw
• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, “CPSC Cautions Hair Dryer Owners” (1982): https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/1982/CPSC-Cautions-Hair-Dryer-Owners
• American Dental Association, MouthHealthy, “Toothbrushes”: https://www.mouthhealthy.org/all-topics-a-z/toothbrushes