Friday, March 18, 2011

Day #7 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Transform Your Bathroom


Wow--- seven days in already!  Our Day #7 mission is:

Today, clear your bathroom counter of everything.  Then add no more than three items.  Good choices are a water glass, a soap dish, and a scented candle.  Next, declutter your bathroom cabinets and drawers.  Toss any product in a jar, tube, or bottle that you have not used for six months.  Include prescription and over-the-counter drugs, dried up hand cream, and perfume bottles that are so old the insides are dark brown.  Bathrooms need not be a haven for half-used, nearly empty, never-to-be-opened containers.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 45)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Think of the freedom you have when you travel with a makeup kit and a few toiletries.  With that image in mind, remove everything from your bathroom counter, cabinets, and drawers.  (Go for one brand of each item---you don't need three kinds of cold medicine.)  After that, put back your essentials.  Finally, hang plain-colored towels and eliminate excess wall art.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 49)

I just have one thing to say about this mission and I wish they had said it in the book (maybe they weren't worried about it in 1997 when the book was published)--- if you have expired medications, please don't flush them down the toilet or wash them down the sink.  Here's a link about what to do with expired meds.  I don't think we have any expired medications to get rid of, but I do need to go through my make up for sure.

Here are my day #6 results.  Like I said yesterday, I didn't really have any "strays" to deal with but I have the hall closet to tackle.  There is a bunch of crap in there---clothes, Halloween costumes, books, CDs, luggage. I decided to just focus on the clothes.  Anything else would have been too overwhelming for me.  You may recall this hall closet before photo:

This is what I came up with to donate---
You know you want the Hawaiian shirt.  We actually bought a slew of those shirts for a golf outing in my former corporate life (believe it or not they were expensive and it's made of silk---oy!).  The two dresses I loved when I got them, but they're just not me anymore.  And seriously---when am I wearing them??? 
Then, I have 4 suits, 4 blouses and 2 jackets waiting to go to Dress for Success.  Two of their guidelines are they must be clean (and these are dusty!  Who knew a closet could get so dusty?!?  Good thing I have some Dryel still) and on hangers.  Can you believe I don't have any hangers to donate them on!??!  I thought I was so cool just having the wood hangers.  Any of my local peeps have some wire hangers for me --- Carri?  Sock Monkey Mommy?

And yes, the prom dress stayed...along with my confirmation dress.  Those dresses and my wedding dress will probably still be in there when they're carrying out my cold dead body.  I just love them too much.  And I actually did wear the prom dress for Halloween last year.  I was a "princess in distress" (Red said I had to be a princess for Tom Thumb---who was a dragon--- to chase) and Red was Rapunzel.  See---I've worn it in the last year.  I can keep it!  Ha ha!

We get the weekend off --- yay!  Watch for your day #8 post on Monday.  
Hint: We're moving into the kitchen!


3 comments:

nunya said...

If you can fit your prom dress, you deserve to keep it even if you haven't worn it in a year!

I'm really enjoying reading about your journey. I plan on coming back and doing this myself after I get my garden up and running and my chicks in the henhouse.

Faithe said...

I agree about keeping the prom dress. You do look like a fairytale princess.

I am really enjoying these challenges. My results are on my blog.

Enjoy your weekend. Thanks again...
Faithe

Harvest Moon by Hand said...

Sounds like a good organization to which you're donating your suits, jackets, and blouses. I enjoyed doing this challenge of clearing off the bathroom counter. Having only 3 items on top is so much more peaceful than what was there before! Here's the link:

http://harvestmoonbyhand.blogspot.com/2011/03/30-days-to-simpler-life-week-1.html