If your bathroom feels cluttered, start by decluttering before you organize. This lets you decide what you actually need to keep before worrying about where everything should go. It also helps prevent wasted time and energy spent organizing unnecessary items such as bathroom products you don’t use, items that belong elsewhere in the house, or duplicates that have accumulated. That’s why bathroom decluttering is the first step I take in the organization process when I’m feeling overwhelmed in the bathroom. Once you know what you’re keeping, it’s much easier to figure out where everything should go.
QUICK ANSWER
What should you get rid of when decluttering a bathroom?
When decluttering a bathroom, start by removing everything from the area you’re organizing and sorting it into four groups: throw away/recycle, donate, rehome, and keep. Pay particular attention to empty or unusable products, things you no longer use, duplicates, old towels, excess samples and travel-size products, and items in the bathroom that belong somewhere else in the house. Once you’ve narrowed down what you’re keeping, then you can move on to organizing the space.
BATHROOM DECLUTTERING PROCESS
STEP 1 – CLEAR EVERYTHING OUT
Start by removing everything from the cabinet, drawer, shelf, or whatever area you’re working on. If you plan to declutter the entire bathroom, you might want to work through one section at a time rather than emptying the whole room at once so the project doesn’t become overwhelming. The important part is just getting everything out where you can see it all together.
STEP 2 – CLEAN THE AREA
Once everything has been removed, clean the space so you can start fresh when you put things back. Wipe down the shelves and drawers, and vacuum up any dust or other dirt. This is also a good time to check for anything that might need attention. For example, if you’ve emptied the cabinet under the sink, check for signs of water damage before putting things back.
STEP 3 – SORT INTO PILES
Now it’s time to sort through everything you removed from the bathroom. For each item, decide what pile it belongs in among the following four piles: throw away/recycle, donate, rehome, or keep to be organized.
| PILE | WHAT BELONGS THERE |
| Throw away/recycle | Empty, broken, unusable, or otherwise unwanted items |
| Donate | Usable items you don’t want or need |
| Rehome | Items that belong somewhere else in the house |
| Keep-to-be-organized | Items that belong in the bathroom and need to be organized |
THROW AWAY/RECYCLE PILE
The throw away pile is an obvious one. It’s for anything that’s not worth keeping, but you can’t donate. Items like empty containers, broken items, dried-out products, and packaging you no longer need all belong here.
DONATE PILE
The donate pile is for things that are still usable, but you no longer want or need. This might include unopened products or other items in good condition, depending on what they are and whether they’re appropriate to donate.
REHOME PILE
The rehome pile is for all those items that simply ended up in the wrong room and belong elsewhere in the house.
KEEP-TO-BE-ORGANIZED PILE
The last pile is the keep-to-be-organized pile. It contains everything you would like to return to the space you’re organizing but in a much more orderly fashion. This pile will likely be the biggest, and that’s totally fine. The purpose of decluttering isn’t to see how little you can own; it’s to remove the things that don’t need to take up space and leave you with the things you actually use. This pile is what you’ll sort out in the next step.
STEP 4 – SORT THE KEEP PILE INTO CATEGORIES
After your initial sort, the keep-to-be-organized pile will be sorted more thoroughly. This time, sort the items into piles that make sense to you and your bathroom. Pick out a way of categorizing everything, such as by size, type of item, what it’s used for, how often it’s used, etc.
Then place each item into its respective group. The piles and categories chosen during this step are how you will organize everything in the space.
Depending on your household, you might have categories such as:
- Hair products
- Skin-care products
- Makeup
- Dental-care supplies
- Shaving supplies
- Bath and shower products
- Cleaning supplies
- Towels and washcloths
- First-aid supplies
- Toilet paper and other bathroom supplies
- Backup or unopened products
The categories don’t need to be overly specific; this is just a way for you to see what you actually have and how much of each type of item needs a home. This also helps you see any duplicates you might have. If you have several bottles of the same type of product spread throughout the bathroom, bringing them together lets you make a more informed decision about how many you actually want to keep.
STEP 5 – TAKE A SECOND LOOK AT THE THINGS YOU’RE KEEPING
Now that you’ve got your keep items sorted out, take a moment to double-check if you truly want to keep everything you picked, or if there are a few more items that you could let go of. Something being useful doesn’t necessarily mean you need five of them, or maybe you do; this is the time to decide that for yourself. When taking a second look at the items you want to keep, consider the following questions:
- Do I use this?
- Do I expect to use this?
- Would I buy it again today?
- Does it make my life easier?
- Am I keeping it because I use it or because I feel guilty getting rid of it?
- Do I already own duplicates?
- Does it belong somewhere else?
You don’t have to apply strict rules to every item. Sometimes multiple duplicates of an item, such as your shampoo or toothpaste, make perfect sense. When deciding what to keep, you want to make reasonable decisions based on how you actually use the bathroom.
STEP 6 – SET ASIDE THE “MAYBE” ITEMS
If you’re having trouble deciding whether you want to keep an item or not, set it aside rather than letting it derail the entire project and finish sorting the things you’re confident about first. Then, once you see what you’re actually keeping and how much storage space is available, it may be easier to decide what to do about the things in your “maybe” pile. Sometimes the answer becomes much more obvious when you’re looking at the finished space.
WHAT BATHROOM ITEMS SHOULD YOU GET RID OF?
Once you’ve worked through the basic sorting process, there are a few categories that are particularly worth examining in a bathroom.
PARTIALLY USED PRODUCTS
Partially used products that you’re going to finish are obviously useful and not clutter. But if a bottle has sat untouched for months because you don’t like the product, don’t use that type of product anymore, or have already replaced it with something else, then it should be removed from the bathroom. You don’t have to finish every bottle just because you paid for it.
DUPLICATES AND BACKUPS
Duplicates aren’t automatically a problem. Having backups of something you use regularly can be convenient. The problem comes when backups start becoming a significant portion of the bathroom storage. If you go through a particular product quickly, keeping extras makes sense, but if you have enough backups to last for years, it’s worth reconsidering how much storage space you’re dedicating to them.
SAMPLE-SIZE AND TRAVEL PRODUCTS
Small bottles have a way of accumulating. If you regularly travel and actually use travel-size products, keep the ones that are useful to you. But if you have a drawer full of small bottles you’ve been saving for a future trip that never seems to happen, it’s worth taking another look. The same goes for hotel toiletries and sample products. A few may be handy, but dozens of tiny bottles can take up more space than you’d expect. Keep them because you have a realistic use for them, not just because they’re small.
OLD TOWELS
When decluttering towels, take a look at how many towels you own overall, and compare that to how many towels you tend to use. If you own more towels than you tend to use, then it’s time to get rid of some. You want to have a reasonable supply of towels for the household, without allowing the storage closet to become overrun with every towel you’ve ever owned. If you have towels that are stained or badly worn, those are the candidates to go. Depending on their condition, old towels can sometimes be repurposed as cleaning rags or shop towels.
MAKEUP AND SKIN-CARE PRODUCTS
Makeup and skin-care products are easy to accumulate, but sometimes you’ll buy these items with the intention to use them, and then they never get incorporated into your routine. When decluttering, start by getting rid of things that are empty, unusable, or no longer appropriate to keep. Then look at the products you rarely use. If you bought something for a particular occasion and haven’t touched it since, ask yourself whether you’re realistically going to use it again. If the answer is no, it no longer needs to be in the bathroom. You just want the products you’re keeping to have a reason for being there.
HAIR PRODUCTS
Hair products can also take up a lot of space, especially if you like trying different products. When decluttering hair products, consider what purpose the product serves. You may have multiple products that do the same thing, but you only like to use some of them. If that’s the case, then that’s an easy spot to declutter from. This is also a good category for considering frequency of use, especially when it comes to organizing these products after you’ve finished decluttering. A product that you use every day deserves easier access than something you only use a couple of times per year. That being said, you don’t necessarily need to get rid of the occasional-use item; if you do actually use it, you just don’t need to store it in a prominent location.
DON’T FORGET THE MEDICINE CABINET
The medicine cabinet almost always deserves a little extra attention during a bathroom decluttering project. Check medications and other health-related products for expiration dates and dispose of them properly. This is also a good time to remove empty packaging and other things that have accumulated around the medicine cabinet.
WHAT ABOUT THINGS YOU MIGHT USE SOMEDAY?
Things you might use someday is the category that always makes bathroom decluttering difficult. There are probably plenty of things in your bathroom that you may use someday, so the question is whether that “someday” will ever come. These products require the most judgment and thought. Some of them are worth keeping, but it’s important to ask yourself the following questions when trying to decide:
- When would I realistically use this?
- How often would I expect to use it?
- Would I replace it if I didn’t already own it?
- Is there another place where it could be stored?
- Is the amount I’m keeping reasonable for how often I use it?
If you find yourself moving the same unused product around from one storage area to another, that probably means it should go.
HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU KEEP?
How many towels or toiletries you should keep in your bathroom varies widely for each individual bathroom. Factors such as how many people use the bathroom, how often you shop, how much storage you have, and what you actually use are all relevant to how many items you should keep. Basically, there’s no magic number of items. Instead, look at whether the things you’re keeping reasonably fit into the space you have. If everything fits comfortably and you can find what you need, you’ve probably reached a good point in your bathroom decluttering. If your storage is still overflowing even after you’ve gotten rid of the things you don’t use, that’s a different problem. At that point, it may be time to look at how you’re using the available storage and look for creative solutions that will allow you more storage space.
WHAT TO DO AFTER DECLUTTERING YOUR BATHROOM
Once you’ve finished decluttering, this is where the organization process begins. From here, you can start looking at the individual storage areas in your bathroom and figuring out what should be stored where. Take a look at our guide on How to Organize Almost Anything for more detailed information on the next steps.
After you’ve organized things and know how much space is available in the bathroom, make sure to return to your maybe pile (if you have one) and sort out what you want to keep.
BATHROOM DECLUTTERING CHECKLIST
Use this checklist as you declutter your bathroom to help work through the process.
☐ Choose one bathroom storage area to start with
☐ Remove everything from the area
☐ Clean the empty space
☐ Sort everything into throw away/recycle, donate, rehome, and keep piles
☐ Group the items you’re keeping by category
☐ Set aside anything you’re unsure about
☐ Rehome things that belong somewhere else
☐ Move on to the organization phase
☐ Come back to the maybe pile when you know how much space is available
ITEMS TO PAY ATTENTION TO
☐ Check partially used products you haven’t touched in a while
☐ Look for duplicates and unnecessary backups
☐ Go through samples and travel-size products
☐ Evaluate old towels
☐ Check makeup and skin-care products
☐ Evaluate hair products
☐ Check the medicine cabinet
Remember, you don’t have to complete the entire bathroom in one afternoon. If one drawer is all you have time for, organize one drawer. Little steps and small completed projects is still progress.
COMMON BATHROOM DECLUTTERING MISTAKES
1 – ORGANIZING BEFORE DECLUTTERING
If you’re trying to organize too many things in too little space, it’s going to be difficult to get everything organized. Even if you do get everything to fit, it will not be easy to access and use things. The best way to get organized is to start with decluttering. That way you’re only organizing things that should actually stay.
2 – THROWING AWAY THINGS JUST BECAUSE YOU DON’T USE THEM EVERY DAY
Not everything needs to be used daily to earn a place in your bathroom. Some items can legitimately be occasional-use products. The question is whether you have a realistic reason to keep them or not.
3 – KEEPING EVERYTHING BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE USEFUL
The opposite problem is keeping things simply because they could be useful someday. If you have an entire cabinet filled with things you might use eventually, but never really do. Then you should get rid of them while decluttering.
4 – TRYING TO FINISH THE WHOLE BATHROOM AT ONCE
If the decluttering the bathroom feels overwhelming, break it up into smaller projects. Work through one drawer or cabinet at a time. After you complete one space, you can continue on to the next. By tackling the bathroom in smaller sections, it will feel more manageable.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Yes. Decluttering first lets you see what you actually need to store and prevents you from spending time and money organizing things you don’t really want or need.
Start with empty, broken, unusable, or unwanted items. Then look at products you no longer use, unnecessary duplicates, excess samples, worn-out towels, and things that belong elsewhere in the house.
Consider whether you actually use the product, whether you’d buy it again, whether you need a backup, and whether it has a realistic purpose in your bathroom.
No. In fact, working on one cabinet or drawer at a time can make the process much less overwhelming. Finish one small area before moving on to another.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Bathroom decluttering doesn’t have to mean getting rid of everything you don’t use every day. The goal is simply to make sure the things taking up space in your bathroom are things you actually use, need, or have a realistic reason to keep. By clearing out one area at a time, sorting items into simple categories, and taking a second look at the things you’re unsure about, you can make the bathroom much easier to manage without making the process overwhelming. Once you’ve finished decluttering, you’ll have a much better idea of what needs to be stored and how much space you actually need. From there, organizing becomes much simpler because you’re only finding homes for the things that truly belong in your bathroom.
