Bathroom drawer makeover: What to keep and what to nix

Take inventory

You need to get organized so that you can find what you need in the morning and save time when getting ready. Remove everything from your drawers and cabinets to assess what you have. Any products you haven't used in more than three years can be tossed right away. For the rest, determine their shelf life and decide which ones to keep.

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Toss expired cosmetics

Make-up and skin care products that are expired can cause blemishes, break-outs and even skin infections. For products that don't have an expiration date printed on them, use this general guideline for their shelf life.

Hair sprays, serums and other products generally last a year or two. For sunscreen and self-tanner, you should see an expiration date stamped on the bottom. If you don't, get rid of the product if it smells weird, feels clumpy or looks an odd color. When you buy new make-up and skin care products, mark the date on the bottom of the container with a permanent marker so that you know when you bought it.

While you are at it, check the expiration dates of any vitamins and medications in your medicine cabinet, too. Expired medications are ineffective and can be dangerous.

Prioritize and organize

You probably don't need eight black eyeliners in your only bathroom drawer or three different flat irons on the vanity. Create a basket of essential items that you use every single day and place it on your bathroom counter.

The things you use less often (weekly or so) can go in the drawers and those that you use rarely can be stored in baskets or bins in your linen closet or clear shoe boxes in the cabinet under the sink. If you find blow dryers, curling irons and other beauty tools that you don't use at all, recycle or donate them. Hang hooks on the wall where your hairstyling tools can hang without taking up valuable space.

Organize your bathroom drawers with dividers to create sections for make-up, hair care items, shaving supplies and other necessities. For small bathrooms with little or no counter space, install a convenient shelf on the wall for your beauty basket or bin, leaving room for soap, a candle and small decorative items on the actual counter.

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Don't be a packrat

To avoid a messy bathroom in the future, don't be a packrat. Often the bathroom drawers and cabinets get cluttered with trinkets that we don't know what else to do with. The storage space in your bathroom should only be reserved for essentials. Also, when shopping for beauty products, ask yourself if you really need something new. If you are happy with your shampoo, you don't need to be conned into buying the next greatest thing from the salon. You don't want 10 hairbrushes or a bottle of yellow nail polish that you'll never use either. Clutter-free bathroom drawers can make your life a whole lot easier when you are getting ready in the morning, so get rid of expired cosmetics and other useless items at the start of every season.

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