What's In Your Bathroom?



I have a confession to make. My guest bathrooms are spotless, but our main bathroom is almost always a junkyard of pill bottles, Nyquil, mouthwash, makeup, and other bits and bobs for making ourselves presentable.

The pill bottles are on his side of the bathroom, but the Nyquil and makeup are on my side.

We could put this stuff away, but this bathroom is our sacred sanctum. No one goes in here unless invited. And if I invite you, rest assured it will have already been tidied. :)

Guest bathrooms have all the normal accoutrements: soap, towels, shampoo, conditioner, and tissues. If guests are staying overnight, I also add a basket of other necessities like toothpaste, tooth brushes, mouthwash, Bandaids, disposable razors, and a loofa.

I wasn't always this thoughtful, but over time I developed a sense of what I would like if I were staying overnight.

Lynn Viehl had mentioned in a comment once that she only uses bar soap. Me too! I hate the body washes, but I keep a bottle of body wash for overnight guests--along with a loofa, or nylon scrubby. There's something about sharing bar soap with an outsider that makes me feel squirmy. LOL!

The main bathroom houses all our sins and penances, from antihistamines to finger splints. Some stuff is used once and it sits in the drawer until we move. Unfortunately, this time we don't plan on moving any time soon.

I stockpile things like hard soap, toilet paper, facial tissues, and rubbing alcohol. It's a big bathroom with lots of cabinet space so all my goodies have a home. The one thing I have too much of are bath towels. I'm not sure how I ended up with so many towels. It's like they cloned themselves when we weren't looking.

Over the years, we've bought towels for specific bathrooms too, which in hindsight was a mistake. Now I have a little bit of this and a little bit of that. If I had kept to one color I could put them in any bathroom.

I keep a stash of worn towels for things like spills, car washing, and dog baths. I even have a special place for them so no one uses my good towels.

I got to thinking about what we SHOULD have in our bathrooms. What are the really important things? --aside from toilet paper.

Unless you are an alien and never venture outside there's a good bet you'll have:

• Allergy medicine
• Cough medicine
• Antacids
• Anti-itch cream
• Tweezers
• Thermometer
• Over the counter pain killers and fever reducers
• Bandages
• Petroleum jelly
• Triple antibiotic cream
• Alcohol
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Facial tissues
• Scissors

These are the things I don't want to live without. These basics can usually take care of adult, child, and dog children. What are your must-haves? And let's have a tell-all. What do you have too much of in your bathroom?

Bonus question: Do your towels match for every bathroom?

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Comments

Dru Ann said…
I only have one bathroom, so guest sees it all, but I keep it to a minimum what is stored in my bathroom. I have guest towels in a separate location but nothing matches. I keep the usual stuff, soap, face cream, deodorant, hair conditioner, eye glass cleaner, box of tissues, band aids and shaver.
Well here we go the minimal bathroom - you will laugh Maria... my most important thing is my mini medicine and first aid basket and it's mini. When I say medicine it's over the counter advil and asprin. everything else in there is first aide related including my favorite essential oils. Everything else we use is also minimal from personal hi gene and a bit of make up for days I clean up. Basically we just keep the basics and I also prefer bar soap. I think we only have 6 towels too. Basically I narrowed things down to just what we use and then have a drawer in the RV for back up supplies. It's not a huge space but it's perfect for storing our favorites when things run out.
Mike keyton said…
Bar soap, toothbrushs, tooth paste, shampoo and body-wash, that's it - but our towels match
LD Masterson said…
Okay, on the towels thing, I have guest hand towels for the downstairs half bath that match that room but all the bath towels are neutral. What we have too much of...stuff that expired YEARS ago but we needed it (or thought we did) once and never used again. I recently found some anti-biotic ointment dated 1996!
lv2trnscrb said…
Our towels do match between the 2 bathrooms, as well as the floor rug we have in each so we don't slip on the wet floor :) We have 2 bathrooms, so I have one, hubby has the other. Guests use mine because its not connected to the master bedroom. He has more things on the sink counter than I do, shaving cream, etc. Both aren't cluttered. We don't have much storage space in either of them so toilet paper, etc. go in the hall closet.

betty
Lisa Lynn said…
We have 2 small bathrooms. One is downstairs and is used mainly by our son...he's supposed to keep it clean. Ha.

The other is upstairs and everyone has to share. So the countertop has to stay pretty cleaned up or it would be a disaster. Not much storage, so there aren't a lot of extras. I dream of a master bedroom, lol!
Maria Zannini said…
Dru: Minimum is best in single bathrooms because you never know who might go in.

I don't mind if nothing matches as long as there are no bright colors that I have to wash separately.
Maria Zannini said…
Carole: I hurt myself so often I should buy stock in BandAids. I probably go through them more than any other product.

Greg and I keep saying we'd love to see your mini home. I might call you in a few weeks after we know the dog will be okay.
Maria Zannini said…
Mike:
re: but our towels match
Perfectionist! :D
Maria Zannini said…
Linda: Once a year I go through our stash of prescription meds and toss out anything that looks questionable. I keep the Tramadol and Naproxin though since we need it regularly.

You'd think I'd have some antibiotic cream but I must've tossed it long ago. If I need some I'll ask you for some. :D
Maria Zannini said…
Betty:
re: ...as well as the floor rug
I'm not that organized. The rugs in our bathrooms are more utilitarian than fashionable.

Even though Greg and I share the master bathroom, I consider the guest bath closest to the garage to be mine. The other guest bathroom is prettier, but it has a weird toilet lever that goes up instead of down and it's just easier to send people to my bathroom than to explain how to flush a toilet.
Maria Zannini said…
Lisa: We bought this house as our "last" house (our retirement home), so we were kind of picky on what we wanted in it since we'd be here (hopefully) a long time.

It had to have two bathrooms, but this one has three, and the master bathroom is ginormous. The biggest I've ever owned. It has a huge walk in shower, a bath, a separate room for the toilet, and his and hers counters/mirrors.

It was more than I ever expected, and it's made sharing a bathroom so much easier. We're never in each other's way. The toilet is his though. I go to the small guest bathroom which is fine by me.