Keeping Your Bathroom Organized, Kids and All
By Dawn West
dawn.west@homeimprovementideas.net
Home Improvement Ideas Columnist
When I was a kid, my four siblings and I had a recurring problem. "Hey," I'd say to my brother, "Why are you using my toothbrush?" "Your toothbrush?" he'd reply, "I thought the blue one was mine." Confusion over the blue toothbrush wasn't our only bathroom-organization problem. There were the piles of dirty clothes on the floor, towels gone missing, and supplies piled up on the vanity. Over time, though, my mom developed a few tricks to tame the bathroom disarray. If you've got kids, here are a few tried and true organizational tips.
With kids, keeping a tidy bathroom can be tough. Here are some bathroom organization and design pointers to help you out.
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Color Code
One of the reasons we were always mixing up our toothbrushes was that we were always changing colors. I was pink for a while, then green. Who could really keep it straight? Don't play that way. Each kid gets a color, and it never changes, even if pink is most definitely not her favorite color anymore.
Name That Towel
Color coding your kids' towels works, but the colors may not go with your bathroom design. Monograms are just as good at keeping your kids from using towels once and throwing them on the floor. Plus, when you're a kid, monogramming seems pretty cool and taking a bath seems just a little more inviting.
Hook it Up
Face it. Kids don't fold towels, or anything really. Stop fighting and put up hooks instead of bars. The same thing goes for inside the shower. Hooks for washcloths, sponges, loofahs, etc., will keep things nice and tidy.
Manipulate your bathroom design a little, and you won't have to manipulate your kids! Make it just as easy to be tidy as it is to be messy, and you'll be surprised at how your kids come around.
About the author
Dawn West teaches writing at Oregon State University. Her previous experience includes working for the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance, a not-for-profit in New York City, and serving as the director for an educational program for at-risk youth in Boston. Dawn holds a B.A. in English from Harvard University.
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