I have discovered if things have a place, I am far less frustrated. If I find a stray pair of shoes, I take them out and put them on the garage shoe rack, with very little thought and no annoyance. This realization/coping mechanism has made a huge, positive difference in my life.
I wipe the bathroom counter and sinks most mornings, just before I hop in the shower. There is always a little something on the counter on my husband’s side. I put it away, no problem, because it is usually just one little thing.
If I went weeks without wiping the counter, lots of things would collect on his side and my side. So the wiping serves two purposes - decluttering and actual scrub/cleaning.
Last month, cleaning out the computer room, I found about a half dozen containers of dental floss. I put it all in my husband’s medicine cabinet. But then in subsequent days, putting things from the counter to the cupboard, floss kept falling on my head.
I have learned, to truly organize a space, I must pull everything out and start fresh.
Note: in the above picture, I had already put all the floss in a long/skinny basket. There was a lot of floss. Those baskets work GREAT in medicine cabinets, I have one in mine too (below). All the moisturizer bottles in mine, tip out on my head easily. That basket works wonders at keeping them steady.
While his cabinet was empty, I scrubbed it and actually reduced the number of shelves. I had done the same thing in mine previously. Less shelves made for better storage in both cabinets.
I was going to have my husband go thru his medicine cabinet pile on the counter, but decided to look at expiration dates and pitch the old stuff first. Much of it dated back to 2014-16, by the time I pulled the expired stuff, the rest was very simple, and I reorganized it in his cabinet.
What is very interesting about this process, was the week before we started on on the computer room, my husband had me add dental floss to the grocery order.
Once it was all together in one spot, so much dental floss. I have found this with many other areas of the house, like rubber bands. Once they have ONE designated spot, it is startling how much there is.
