Untangling Under-Sink Chaos

In this episode of The Pulling Curls Podcast, Hilary Erickson shares five essential tips for organizing under your sink. From utilizing the space effectively to decluttering and leaving room for essential items, these tips will help simplify your daily routine. Tune in for practical advice on maximizing bathroom storage space and making your morning routine a breeze.

Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts

Big thanks to our sponsor my 5 Word Organization Challenge << Come join me to get some EASY organizing tips to get started >> https://www.pullingcurls.com/five-words-organized/

Links for you:

Episode #204 on my favorite places to shop for organization supplies >> https://www.pullingcurls.com/podcast-204-org-supplies/

Episode #59 on decluttering your bathroom >> https://www.pullingcurls.com/podcast-059-declutter-beauty/

Post on organizing your sink.

Timestamps:

00:00 Maximize space in bathroom cabinet with drawers.
03:50 Keeping unnecessary items, reaching for essentials.
07:03 Find narrow storage items for bathroom space.

Keypoints:

1. Under the sink cabinets are often deep, requiring organizing strategies for the back of the cabinet.
2. Use drawers or mini shelves to make the most of the tall space in under-sink cabinets.
3. Declutter and determine what beauty products are actually needed and used frequently.
4. Leave room for non-beauty necessities such as towels and toilet paper.
5. Regularly cull and discard items that aren’t being used.
6. Organizing under the sink can simplify daily routines and reduce overwhelm.
7. Consider narrow storage solutions like carts that can fit in limited spaces between bathroom fixtures.
8. Join the online prenatal course for additional tips on organizing bathroom spaces.
9. Next week’s episode will cover postpartum planning after having a baby.
10. Like, review, share, and subscribe to the podcast to support its growth.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

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[00:00:00.340] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on episode 219, we are talking about organizing under your sink. So let’s untangle it.

[00:00:10.370] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the pregnancy nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop over complicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with pregnancy and parenting untangled, the Pulling Curls podcast.

[00:00:38.780] – Hilary Erickson

This episode of The Pulling Curls Podcast is sponsored by my five-word organization challenge. It is going to help you de-clutter areas and make them easier to organize. So come join me. You can find the link in the show notes.

[00:00:50.180] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, I’ve got five tips for organizing under your sink. So let’s get started.

[00:00:54.390] – Hilary Erickson

First off, under your sink is deep. It is a large cabinet because you’re putting your sink in that area. And so a lot of times it’s super deep. And I think it’s really important to decide how you’re going to use the back of the cabinet. Are you going to use drawers? That is my preferred method so that I can have things that reach to the back of the cabinet. I can pull them forward and can grab the things at the back of the drawer.

[00:01:15.770] – Hilary Erickson

Or another thing you can do is if you have drawers and they’re easy to take out, you can stack your Overstock behind those drawers and then just use those as needed. So I think it’s really important to decide how you’re going to use the back of the cabinet because it would be really easy place for stuff to get shoved that you don’t use very often and maybe should throw away versus making sure that you’re using the front of your cabinet for the most important thing. So your bathroom cabinet is super deep. Make sure that you’re using it the way that you want to.

[00:01:44.810] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, the second thing is that usually it is quite tall for a cabinet. And there usually isn’t like a second shelf because you’ve got the plumbing for your sink under the cabinet. So I like to use either drawers, you can find drawers a lot of times. Definitely go check out my places that I love to shop for home organization podcast, because I talk about where I found the stuff to help my daughter organize under her sink.

[00:02:10.690] – Hilary Erickson

But using drawers can be really helpful. But sometimes what I do is I’ll use the little shelves. So they’ll have like a mini shelf. So you can put something underneath it. You can put a container underneath it. You pull that out just like it’s a drawer. And then you can put a taller container on top of that that you can pull out and grab the things at the back so that you can use all of that space. Now those mini shelves come in a variety of sizes. I found them at Homegoods, Costco, online. So check for something that would work for you.

[00:02:38.190] – Hilary Erickson

They in general don’t have to be super sturdy because we’re not putting super heavy things on there. But make sure that you’re buying one that will work for what you need, because there are ones at The Dollar Tree and they work great for snacks in my pantry. But they probably wouldn’t be great for my under cabinet beauty items because I think all of my gel would probably collapse those.

[00:02:57.950] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, number three is something that we’ve talked about in a podcast before. I have a whole podcast on decluttering your beauty items, but you need to figure out what you actually need. And this can be difficult. So I have a little section for Halloween makeup. I obviously don’t use that very frequently, but when my daughter wants to have bright red cheeks, it’s nice to have around.

[00:03:18.280] – Hilary Erickson

Although I am probably not the best as far as throwing that makeup away when it’s ready to be thrown away. And I could get a new palette at Walmart for five bucks. So would my space be better used to just buying those when we need it? Maybe so, but decide what you actually need. And I think that’s going to vary person to person. But stop saving things that you wish work when you know that they don’t work. You’ve tried them out in a couple of seasons. You tried them out a couple of times.

[00:03:45.280] – Hilary Erickson

I am the worst at keeping gel conditioner that I don’t think works. Sometimes even in really good spots where I could be keeping things that I love in that spot instead or having some overstock of the things that I love. I’m keeping this conditioner that always makes my hair super frizzy, but I paid money for it, so I want to use it. Am I the only one? Tell me over on Instagram if you’re the one that would keep things that you don’t actually need because you spent money on it and you’re a little bit embarrassed. Maybe just me, that’s fine.

[00:04:14.730] – Hilary Erickson

Along those same lines, what do you reach for frequently? So for me, I have to have an extra bottle of contact lens solution close by because I like to go to the very nubbons of contacts lens solution. I want to have my hairdryer easy to grab. I want to have the gel that I love close by. So putting the things that you use most frequently really easily accessible is important. And then pulling the things we’re going to talk more about that don’t you worry.

[00:04:38.830] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, number four is to leave spots for things that you need. We organized my daughter’s under the sink cabinet and we left no room for toilet paper. Now she does have a linen closet right outside that we were able to keep toilet paper in, but it was a good reminder to me that sometimes we’re so focused on beauty and lady products, we aren’t thinking, Oh, we need to stash toilet paper in here in case we need an extra roll.

[00:05:00.470] – Hilary Erickson

So make sure that you’re leaving rooms for things like towels, toilet paper. Don’t just turn all of it into beauty. If that is a place that you would like to store your towels, try and make that happen for you. A lot of times online I see under the sink cabinets that are all shelves, containers, bins, those things, and no room for towels. Now maybe those people have towels close by in a linen closet, but I don’t know. It seems like towels are a big thing that you use in your bathroom. I would like to have them close by, but maybe that’s just me.

[00:05:30.880] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, the last thing is pull frequently. Oftentimes I’ll think this system just isn’t working anymore, when in reality it doesn’t work anymore because I’m holding on to things that didn’t work. See, option number three. Hilary is still holding onto that gel. She’s holding on to that makeup that just lasts like three seconds, and then you can’t even tell she put anything on, but I’m holding on to it. You guys know what I’m talking about.

[00:05:54.550] – Hilary Erickson

Pull frequently. Don’t be afraid to say that’s a sunk cost. That’s a reminder that I shouldn’t buy from that brand or that type of product anymore, or to remember that you have favorites and return back to those favorites instead of thinking there’s going to be a better product out there. This is advice for Hilary more than it is for advice for anyone else.

[00:06:13.970] – Hilary Erickson

I have to tell you guys that cleaning up under your sink can make a huge difference. My daughter just had… Like it was like teenage girl exploded in her bathroom. But now that we have spots for the things, she’s easily able to put them away. And it is still like the makeup cart came and exploded every once in a while, but it’s easy to clean up, easy to put away, and she doesn’t feel overwhelmed because everything has a spot.

[00:06:36.260] – Hilary Erickson

And in fact, we also left extra room to put other things as her supply grows because she’s in the beginning stages of growing her beauty supply versus Hilary, who should definitely pair down her beauty supply as she goes. Those are my five best tips.

[00:06:50.810] – Hilary Erickson

One other bonus tip is there are cool carts that can actually go like between the toilet and the sink. I have a super narrow cart that goes between my sink and my bathtub. They left me five inches there. I don’t know why, but I found a cart that would just slide in and out of there. And now I can keep all these bottles and things in that cart because a narrow space really works well for the bathroom. It’s not like I’m trying to hold gallon jugs of vinegar or something like that.

[00:07:16.290] – Hilary Erickson

Look for storage items that can fit in areas that you have in your bathroom when you’re thinking, I just don’t have any place to store stuff. There are drawers, carts that you can use in open spots in your bathroom that can increase your storage without making it look cluttered or scary. I found good ones at Homegoods, and I’m sure there’s a lot of good ones online.

[00:07:36.570] – Hilary Erickson

Just make sure that you measure the space really well so that you’re finding something that actually fits in the area and can open, because a lot of times we’ll buy drawers, but it can’t pull out because the toilet paper roll is in that spot and that’s not going to help you out. So be mindful of those different things.

[00:07:51.980] – Hilary Erickson

Hopefully this will give you guys some ideas on how to tackle under your bathroom sink because it really makes getting ready in the morning so much easier. You can feel more positive and excited about the day when you’re using products that you know work well and it wasn’t a pain to get them out.

[00:08:05.450] – Hilary Erickson

And of course, join me in the online prenatal class for couples, we have a whole chapter on organizing your bathroom, including the bathroom sink, where I show you mine and I show you an updated version of mine. And I’m even showing you my linen closet. So come join me in there.

[00:08:18.400] – Hilary Erickson

Stay tuned. Next week we are talking about your postpartum plan when you have a baby. So do not miss that episode.

[00:08:24.140] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls Podcast today. If you liked today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

IPT HERE:

Keywords:

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