Small Bathroom Organizing Ideas

Sharing is caring!

With a family of five, I’ve been amazed over our 20+ moves how we’ve crammed into some very small homes and even smaller bathrooms. I’m fully aware (and am always reminding my children) that much larger families share even smaller spaces and we’re blessed. But the day-to-day reality of living happily with a small bathroom depends on organizing it so it works, really works.  My three teens currently share a small bathroom and I’ve finally called on all my small bathroom organizing ideas and tips to make this bathroom functional. Don’t ever underestimate the role of an organized shared bathroom in happy, stress-free mornings and days. 

I’ve been wanting to tackle organizing my kids’ bathroom for months. It just wasn’t working as well as it could for them and that resulted in conflict and a messy bathroom that was driving me crazy. As a Wayfair Homemaker, I was super excited for the opportunity to make a resolution in decor (and organization) for the new year by making this small bathroom pretty and work for us. 

Keeping a small bathroom organized:

• Keeps your items clean and more sanitary
• Makes it easier to keep the bathroom clean
• Makes it easier to find the items you need
• Makes it easier to get ready in the morning
• Keeps items from getting lost in the back of drawers and cabinets
• Makes it possible for siblings and roommates to share the bathroom harmoniously

Small Bathroom Organizing Ideas

Declutter – Take the time to clear the clutter from every drawer and corner of the cabinet. You’ll be surprised at how many things you find that you don’t need any more, don’t like any more or are expired. You can declutter and purge the bathroom in about 10 minutes, so don’t even try to skip this step. 

Add Shelf Paper – Fresh shelf paper is the foundation for a nicely organized bathroom. Shelf paper makes clean up easier and that’s critical in a bathroom. It brightens up a dark cabinet or drawer. It can also disguise imperfections in drawers, cabinets and even on the inside of cabinet doors. 

Assign Drawers to Each Person – When several people are sharing a bathroom, it’s important to designate individual spaces. Assign a drawer to each person, if possible. At a minimum, assign a container to each person so that they can keep their items separately organized from the other people sharing the bathroom.  

Use Acrylic and Plastic Containers – Acrylic and plastic organizing containers are perfect for organizing a small bathroom. These containers:

• Are Easy to clean – which is important in the bathroom with lots of messy products.
• Are Designed specifically for bathroom spaces and needs.
  • Handled baskets, like the white one above, make it easy to remove and access the items you need. 
  • Divided trays, like the one below, for shallow drawers keep smaller items from getting lost in the back of the drawer. 
  • Deep handled baskets for the cabinet under the sink. 
• Keep lots of small toiletry items neatly organized and easy to find.
• Make it easy to organize by category.
  • Dental Care
  • Skin Care
  • Hair Care
  • Make-up
  • Nail Care
  • Shaving Care
  • Medical Items

Use Containers You Have – While I prefer to use acrylic and plastic containers designed for bathroom organization, sometimes it makes sense to use containers you already have. 

• Try out a new organizing plan with containers you have to make sure it works for you before you invest in new organizing trays and bins.
• You’ll only be using that space for a short time, so you simply use what you already have.
• You have budget restrictions.

But be sure to use use containers to organize the space and make it work for you and your needs. 

Use Removeable Containers for Each Person Under the Cabinet – Choose containers with handles that can be readily removed from drawers and cabinets and placed on the counter for easy use. I like to use washi tape to make the container match our decor. It’s easy to do and easy to change out when ever the mood hits you.

Add an Under-Cabinet Shelf – Taking advantage of every inch of a small bathroom cabinet makes all the difference in organizing. This under-sink shelf with multi drawers is perfect for organizing a small bathroom cabinet. It adds a second shelf and doubles the useable space. 

The two pull-out drawers make even the deepest part of the cabinet usable. 

With these small bathroom organizing ideas, you can make your small bathroom a pleasure to use and share. You can have a beautifully organized bathroom this week. No more excuses.

For more ideas on organizing your kids’ things, see the table below. You can scroll though the table and look for ideas or search for specific ideas with the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner (on desktop). Click on the topic and then click through the specific article.