You may remember I started our downstairs guest bathroom makeover last Fall (feels like a million years ago) and with guests arriving this Spring I wanted to take this opportunity to spruce it up a little, and organize it better.

With a limited budget I headed to my favorite store, World Market. Is it just me or do you want to buy everything in there, every time you go? If I had unlimited funds, I would go crazy in that place! The first thing I wanted to do was warm the space up a little. We installed tile floors in the Fall, but now the bathroom is really cold, so I added this soft, Light Gray Emilie Sweater Wool Rug, to warm it up a little and add some texture to the space.

I also splurged a little and bought this silver and gold butler tray that I’ve had my eye on forever! It’s the perfect place to store guest towels, toiletries and other fun things for my guests!

In addition to warming up the bathroom and adding the tray for storage, I needed a place for our guest to hang their towels.

We used to have an array of super ugly, oak towel racks, randomly placed on the wall (that we took down when we started the makeover) but I never replaced them with anything. I’ve been planning on building a towel rack but life has been so busy that when I found this cute towel rack, I had to get it.

I also added a couple little accessories on the countertop, so that my guests would have nice hand soap, and a place to store things like rings, earrings, etc.

The next thing I desperately needed to do was organize under the sink, as you can see it was a bit of a hot mess (thank you teenager daughter).

I bought this Aqua Donna Storage Caddy because it’s super cute and perfect for storing curling irons, hair dryers, etc.

I also bought a white storage bin to hold cleaning supplies and extra toilet paper.

It looks so much better under the sink now and it’s stocked, ready for my guests!

I love that with just a few additions, our guest bathroom is now organized, cute and ready for guests! And while I was in the process of organizing, I also gave it a detailed spring cleaning, so it’s sparkly clean too!

Shop this look –

• Silver and Gold Soiree Butler Tray
• Ceramic Bird Ring Holder
• Ceramic Bird Tray
• Aqua Donna Storage Caddy
• Large White Metal Mia Storage Bin
• “Hot Baths” Vintage Sign with Hooks
• Light Gray Emilie Sweater Wool Rug
• Maison Orange Blossom Hand Soap
• Maison Orange Blossom Lotion
• Retro Soap Co. Bubble Bath
• Retro Soap Co. Body Scrub
• Black Pepper & Ginger Soap
• White Chevron Spa Bath Towels

This post was sponsored by World Market but all opinions are my own. I have also included affiliate links in this post but if you purchase through them you will not pay a cent more than you would otherwise. Thank you for supporting Ask Anna!

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I feel like I can safely say that under the bathroom sink is a place that a lot of us struggle to keep organized. We are in and out of there multiple times a day, grabbing lotion, makeup, face wash, mouth wash, etc. And I’m sure you get frustrated knocking items over each time you reach in to grab something, am I right? That’s why today I’m going to show you my super easy, and affordable way that I keep under my bathroom sink organized.

Let me break it down for you. In the back of the cupboard I used a shelf riser to give me extra space. On top of it I have a basket from the Dollar Tree with all my manicure items – polishes, files, polish remover, etc.

Under that I have a little tin from the $1 bins at Target, that holds all my empty makeup containers from MAC and Lush. I save them and when I take them all in I get free stuff!

The majority of the cupboard is taken up by a clear drawer organizer that I use to organize the rest of my items. Let me break it down for you.

Each row is organized by a category and the front row are the things I use the most often. I do use the denture cleaners daily, to clean my retainer, but I like having them in the back, out of the way. The nice thing about the drawer organizer is that it keeps things from falling over when I reach into grab something.

I bump things all the time when I reach in the back to get something, but nothing ever falls over, which makes me super happy. The organizer also keeps me really organized (good thing, huh?) because I know right where to put something back when I’m done with it. Having everything so organized makes it easy to know when I’m running out of something and it makes it easy for tell my daughter or husband where to find something, if they need it.

The big space on the right is where I keep my makeup bag (which is also very organized and I should right a post about it). It’s easy to get in and out of the cupboard, which gives me no excuse to leave it out on the counter. I dream about having a vanity some day but for now this works well for me.

How do you keep under your bathroom sink organized, or are you constantly knocking things over when you reach in to grab something? I found a few drawer organizers, similar to mine, on Amazon, if you’d like to get under your sink organized – here’s a black one, a silver mesh organizer, and a clear one, like mine, all under $15 and free shipping with Prime! Happy organizing!

Join me next week as I wrap up the series with 3 more great organizing tips for less than $15!!! To start back at the beginning of the series, click HERE.

The post Affordable tips for Organizing Under the Bathroom Sink appeared first on Ask Anna.

So the first thing you need is a messy drawer, then you’ll need a silverware tray. I purchased both of the trays I’m showing you in this post on Zulily.

In my daughter’s bathroom I used this beautiful bamboo tray.

Using this tray made it easy for my daughter to be able to access everything she needs to be able to get ready in the morning. To protect the wood tray from toothpaste and water, I cut out a piece of drawer liner and placed it in the section for the toothbrush and toothpaste. This makes it easy to wipe the toothpaste off and it keeps the bamboo looking new.

In our bathroom we have 2 unused drawers in a (super ugly, impractical) vanity, that we put random things in when we moved in. Until recently this has been “catch all” drawer.

The drawer where we keep our toothbrushes has also gotten cluttered because of the lack of space.

Enter the silverware tray.

I put this silverware tray in one of the vanity drawers and used it to organize my headbands, extra makeup, hair clips, lipsticks and more!

Now this drawer is organized, the other vanity drawer is empty and my other drawers aren’t cluttered with extra stuff!

Using a silverware tray is a simple and totally affordable way to organize bathroom drawers, kitchen drawers, craft drawers and more! The possibilities are endless! Which drawer will you organize first?

The post Simple Organization Tips using a Silverware Tray appeared first on Ask Anna.

The first thing I did was take everything out of the drawers. While they were empty I vacuumed them and wiped them out.

Once they were clean I added shelf liner to make them easier to clean in the future, and to make them look pretty.

I actually love this Smooth Top Easy Liner® from Duck Brand because it’s so cute and it’s super easy to clean. Most liners have small holes, so hair and other gross stuff gets stuck in them, but the smooth top of this liner makes it really easy to wipe clean.

They also have so many cute colors and styles but I chose this one because it matches our shower curtain, almost perfectly!

Once the drawers were clean, and the shelf liner was in, it was time to organize. Because my daughter is 5, she’s at the age where she has so many clips, hair ties, headbands, etc. I bought this small silverware organizer at Target and it works perfectly for organizing her clips, hair ties, flossers, and more.

For one of her other drawers I used these tins from an antique store, to organize her chapstick, nail polish, “makeup”, etc. They were only 65 cents each which is even cheaper than the Dollar Store!

Because this is our guest bathroom I also have baskets in the bottom drawer, filled with small shampoos, lotions, etc. for when we have guests staying with us.

To contain the clutter in the cabinets I also used baskets to hold my daughter’s lotion, spray bottle, etc. I got these baskets from the Dollar Bins at Target and I love them.

With the larger items are stored in baskets, instead of just being set in the cabinet, they are less likely to fall over, spill, or get lost. With these items being stored in baskets they each have their place and they’re always returned where they are found. Because everything in her bathroom has a place I could probably get her ready in the morning with my eyes closed I could, but I won’t, for her sake.

Now that her drawers have been cleaned, lined and organized I feel so much better being in this bathroom. I love a pretty bathroom but I also love an organized bathroom because organization is a beautiful thing to me!

The post How to Organize Bathroom Drawers appeared first on Ask Anna.

Wendy here, from Pretty Well Organized, with a quick and easy project for you today. Spring cleaning is the perfect time to declutter and organize a space that is easily overlooked: your makeup drawer!  It’s an easy location to ignore but today I’m going to give you some tips for how to organize a makeup drawer.

One of the biggest misconceptions about the makeup drawer is that we usually use up the makeup before it expires. You might be good about it but I know I am not! I started with a  quick Google search of “when does makeup expire” and found this great article on Allure.com.  You can read it here.

Quick rundown from the article:

• Foundation 6-12 months
• Concealer 2 years
• Powder 2 years
• Blush 2 years {liquid 1 year}
• Eyeshadow 3 months {eek! This was my biggest offender item–I’ve had some in my drawer since college…and that wasn’t yesterday :)}
• Eyeliner 3 months
• Lipstick/gloss 1 year, or after you’ve been sick

Reading it was enough for me to open up my {messy} drawer and start pitching all the “questionable” makeup. Here’s my {ugly!} before picture.

To declutter this mess, and organize my makeup drawer, I started by grabbing the nearest trash can, and tossing out everything that fell outside the guidelines above. Anything I wasn’t sure of, also went in the trash.  These products go on your face, so why risk it?

After I purged all the questionable items, which really amounted to nearly 60-70% of the contents, I laid the remaining items out on the counter while I wiped out the drawer.

I used a simple organizer I had purchased at Target for less than $5. I slipped the organizer into my drawer and quickly inserted the remaining items into the organizer.  The drawer is dramatically more organized and it actually helped me to simplify my morning routine.  Here’s the result:

Organizing my makeup drawer was a quick and easy project, during spring cleaning, that really made me feel like quick and simple projects CAN make a big impact.  I challenge you to take the challenge of cleaning out just 1 drawer a week during the next month and I guarantee you will be shocked with what a big impact small tasks can make in your routine.  Pick high traffic locations for maximum impact.  Happy spring cleaning, what will you clean and organize first?

Wendy

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