Mark It Off the List!

Yesterday I had the pleasure, the fun, the sense of accomplishment when I crossed "Clean out the bathroom cabinets" off the  master 'to do' list for 2018!

Yes, I have a master to-do list.  I wrote it in my 2018 notebook which contains a conglomeration of things.  Including the 'to do' list.

First thing on it, actually, was 'clean out the bathroom cabinets.' 

Why?  Because things were shoved into them and pushed to the back.

Because when anyone opened the doors, things fell out.

Because when I needed something, like a new thing of deodorant when mine fell apart while using it one day last week, I couldn't find it and I knew there was one in there.

Because the bottles of shampoo that turned out to be conditioner were taking up space.

Because who really needs three curling irons?

Why was I keep the electric shavers that had no use anymore and hadn't been used for many probably 25 years or so?  (and I had forgotten they were even there until Gary pulled them out).

That is why it was a major undertaking.

We started by setting up the long folding table in the dining room.  I pulled out a laundry basket full of stuff and started to sort it out on the table.  A bag for trash.  A bag for Goodwill.  A spot on the table for things I wanted to keep (at least until round 2 of the clean out process).

That was going well.  Then Gary came home.

He took the little stool that was Dad's into the bathroom and started pulling things from the top shelves.  I didn't even remember keeping all of the holiday towels that were rolled and placed so nicely in a basket. And where did all of the kitchen towels come from?  Why were they in the top of the bathroom closet anyway?  Who knows!

Slowly but surely everything came out.  Some things were just naturally tossed in the trash bags.  Old OTC medications.  Old prescriptions.  Those razors which didn't work anymore.  More than half-empty bottles of lotion.  Sample packets of creams and lotions and eye stuff.

Some things went easily into the Goodwill bag.  Some towels that weren't needed anymore for anything, not even rags.  Avon Christmas candles.  Bottles of Brown Sugar Fig lotion and shower gel- a scent that I used to love but that I can't use anymore because of the memories it elicits.   A cute giraffe toothbrush holder for kids.  Candles that were just burned enough to get the wick off but not wanted anymore.

All of the baskets were washed and dried.  All of the remaining items were perused again, thought about, some tossed.  The remaining things were sorted and organized and placed into baskets.  Everything fit too!

Gary found a couple of rolls of shelf paper in the laundry room that he cut and used to line the 6 shelves.  At this point it didn't really matter if it matched or not, even though it was all the same color!  I just didn't want to go somewhere to buy new shelf paper and destroy the momentum we had established.  And who cares anyway?  No one.  Not me even.

After all was said and done, we had all of the baskets, except the long narrow ones, filled and back on the shelves. We even cleaned out the cabinet above the toilet and the shelves behind the mirror and re-organized those items. All of the extra bottles of lotions and creams from upstairs came down to the cabinets.  All of the OTC medications left on the table or on the kitchen counter were back in the cabinets.

But the best thing, other than all of the neatly organized baskets and extra room in the cabinets, was what was leaving the house. 

Three bags of trash.

Two bags of Goodwill donations.

One bag of things to re-distribute to either Hilary, Megan, or Amanda.

And all of that felt SO good.

Plus the huge swish of the pen as I marked off "Clean out the bathroom cabinets" off the list?

No better feeling of accomplishment!!!