5 Overlooked Spots You’re Forgetting to Declutter in Your Bathroom, Home Experts Say

Your bathroom can often be a major source of clutter within your home since bathroom cabinets, cupboards, and closets can easily accumulate tons of unwanted items if you’re not careful. To help you get the tidiest space possible, we turned to two home experts to find out, and they shared with us the most overlooked spots to declutter in the bathroom.

Bathroom Countertops

While a beautiful and well-curated bathroom countertop is lovely in theory, this area is usually one of the biggest problem zones. 

“People love keeping their most-used items easily accessible, but it often turns into a cluttered collection of toiletries, makeup, and even decor,” says Isfira Jensen, an interior designer at Jensen & Co. Interior.

Jensen notes that this happens more frequently in luxury bathrooms where there’s plenty of space to fill. Understandably, people want all of their favorite things out on display.

Rather than panic-purging your countertops, Jensen recommends a storage system to help you maintain a clean space.

“Group similar items together in trays or bins, and avoid overcrowding visible spaces,” she says.

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The Back of Any Shelf or Cabinet

If your medicine cabinet or linen closet has any depth to it, you probably have some accumulated clutter you need to clear out.

It’s far too easy to surface scan what you have, or keep only your most-used items at the front and shove the rest to the back. This usually results in things getting lost or shoved into the far corners.

Barbara Brock, professional organizer and founder of Barbara Brock Inc., says the best approach here is to remove everything and take stock of what you have. Only return what you use (in the past six months is a good filter) and put everything else in bins to toss or donate.

Vanity Drawers

Not every bathroom has a vanity with drawers, but these can be major problem zones if not properly maintained. This is especially true for anyone who uses drawers to store smaller bathroom items like hair ties, bobby pins, and travel-sized products.

“These can quickly turn into junk drawers without regular maintenance,” Jensen says.

Luckily, this is also a great area for smaller bins, baskets, or pouches, and can help you better keep track of your things.

The Cabinet Under the Sink

Under-sink storage is a great place for stashing bathroom cleaning supplies and backup toiletries, but it’s also a major problem zone in terms of clutter. This is because it’s a large space, can hold a lot, and people don’t tend to declutter this area often.

“Over time, this space becomes a mess of things you can’t find or use, making it hard to access what is needed,” Jensen says.

Along with routinely sorting through your cleaning supplies and tossing anything empty or expired, it’s also a good idea to give this area a regular maintenance check for leaks or moisture.

Wherever You Store Perishable Items

Whether it’s a vanity drawer, the medicine cabinet, or your linen closet, Brock says far too often, she finds a stockpile of old products, lotions, and potions in her clients’ bathrooms. 

“[These] need an edit at least once a year,” Brock says. “The shelves get grimy also and a thorough cleaning would help.”

Jensen agrees, noting some expired items can cause problems. It’s important to really take a look at your expired medications, skincare products, and makeup to be sure you’re not hanging onto anything that can become contaminated.