Quick and Dirty: Simplify Your Bathroom in Five Minutes
photo credit: frandango24
Bathrooms have an aura all their own. While pretending to be mini-spas, household bathrooms actually hide everyone’s dirty secrets. If anyone should want to know what perfume you wear, what kind of deoderant you need, or even what meds you’re on, the bathroom’s ready to spill its guts.
As much as the trend toward spa-like retreat bathrooms has taken hold, most people can’t keep this level of zen cleanliness up on a daily basis. So, what happens? Bottles and tubs, jars and tubes of all types proliferate on the bathroom counters. After all, these items are used at least once a day. Why wouldn’t easy access be the simplest route possible?
Keeping necessary items within arms reach isn’t a bad thing. But it does leave a tiny problem: dozens of labels, all in different colors, all screaming for attention. People get paid lots of money to design these labels to get you to buy them. In other words, you’re inviting ugly advertising into your sanctuary.
Label Liberation: Peel Away
It’s time to liberate yourself from labels! Find every label you can peel off and go for it! (Safely, of course; prescription labels are on there for a reason…) For items that can’t be peeled, consider looking for label-less bottles to put them into. (Thrift stores and discount stores should have lots of cheap glass and plastic pump bottles for things like lotion and face wash.) In just five minutes, you might find that your counter looks less cluttered and more organized. It’s an easy solution that doesn’t require any change in your habits. Try it and let me know how it goes!
This post has 4 comments
May 31st, 2008
great idea, and so simple
June 2nd, 2008
Interesting idea. I forget how much visual noise I have around me at times. I’ll have to go and get some simple squeeze bottles for the shower and such!
June 12th, 2008
I love this idea! I work in advertising, so I get the power of those messages. You do learn to ignore them (or learn from them) but I never considered that all those colors and fonts create visual noise that you just don’t want in your bathroom! I’m taking your advice and switching over this weekend — don’t tell my boss!
June 21st, 2008
I started doing this a few years ago because I was sick to death of having so many ads intruding on my life.
To help me do this, I keep a supply of sticker-less and aesthetically pleasing bottles so that when there’s a bottle I think is ugly or whose sticker won’t come off, I can transfer the product to a better bottle (I transfer new products into bottles that held like products as a safety precaution).
I also use a Sharpie to write the contents of the bottle on the bottom, in case I forget what’s in it or what was in the backup bottle.
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