Cary Farrell
919-630-7909

Using Prime Real Estate in your Bathroom

by Cary Farrell
July 22, 2019

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None of us has all the time in the world to get dressed and ready every morning.  However it is something we all do everyday and understanding how to utilize the prime real estate in your bathroom can make your morning easier and get you out the door a little quicker.  It also makes bathroom cleaning less of a chore.

 

Remember that prime real estate is all about location, location, location for a realtor selling a home or business.  For an organizer, prime real estate refers to the shelves, cabinets or drawers in each space that should hold the items you use on a daily or weekly basis within arms reach of where you use them.  

 

Realize that your home is for function first and storage second unless you like living in a storage unit!  To protect your prime real estate in each room you need to see each space for the function and not the storage that it  provides.  Instead of asking yourself where can I stick this item, ask yourself where do I use and need this item.   

 

When I work with clients to organize a bathroom, this is the process that we go through to find the items that need to be in their prime real estate locations.  

 

In the Bathroom -

  • Stand at the sink and put all the items you use on a DAILY BASIS in a basket or bag.  

  • Put the items you use WEEKLY in another basket or bag.

  • Put the items you use only OCCASIONALLY in another basket or bag.

  • Throw away anything that didn’t make it into one of the baskets because you obviously don’t use it!

  • The items that are in the daily basket should get space in a basket on the sink or in the first two drawers or the closest cabinet or shelves nearest to the sink.  Those locations are your Prime Real Estate for the bathroom.  

  • The items in the second basket should get the next most convenient spaces in the bathroom.

  • The third basket of stuff should go in a linen closet or the least accessible location near the bathroom since you will only access these items occasionally.

 

If you have lots of makeup but you only use some of it on a daily basis, then pull out those daily items and separate them from the weekly and occasional pieces.  It will take you less time to put your face on each day if you are not having to sort through all you own on a daily basis.  

 

Do the same thing with hair products and tools.  If you have to dig through a large supply to find the daily items you use, you increase the time it takes you to get ready.

 

The other benefit of giving drawers, cabinets and shelves assigned prime real estate is that it keeps you from dumping “stuff” in those spaces and turning them into junk drawers or shelves.  When you have junk drawers and shelves, you will start leaving “out” all those daily items so you can find them.  Evict the junk from prime real estate and you will have the space to put away all those important items that get you ready every day!

 

If at all possible, keep a small supply of toilet paper and bath towels in the bathroom.  Having to go outside the bathroom for either one of these items is not always convenient!  If your cabinet space is small you can always use baskets, add a high shelf, install shelves above the toilet or if you have extra floor space you can add a small decorative cabinet for extra storage.  

 

You don’t however need to keep all the towels you own, beach towels, cleaning towels, or the lifetime supply of toilet paper in the bathroom.  Find other storage for those items and make sure that the prime real estate in your  bathroom functions as a place to get ready for the day instead of a five by ten storage unit!