Living in a tiny house is all about managing clutter. It’s like a never ending battle to keep the place tidy. Mike and I have been having to renegotiate how we store everything because so many things are not working out the way that we had planned and anticipated now that we’re actually using them.
A prime example is our bathroom storage. Which is almost nonexistent. It stayed in a permanent state of clutter because there wasn’t a home for everything.
Stuff was stacked on top of each other, I had to dig different products out to use them. It was a hassle and it looked terrible. This doesn’t even include the stuff that was floating around outside of this area, I had another large makeup bag filled with cotton balls, extra toothbrushes and razors, tampons, that kind of bathroom stuff.
Before we moved into the bus, I drastically reduced the amount of face and body products I had. I used to have this gorgeous vintage vanity and it was filled. I don’t frequently go all out on my makeup but I really like it. So I had cut down to just what I could actually, realistically see myself using. And I had it to where everything would fit in the tool case. It was a tight fit but it all fit. It worked great until I bought a new product. Ran out of lotion? New bottle didn’t have the exact dimensions? Didn’t fit in the tool box. Decided to try anything new to replace something that had run out? It didn’t fit. Mike wanted to put a bottle of mousse in the case? Ha, nope. It just started piling up. And quickly.
Meanwhile, we had a bunch of available real estate on the side of the linen closet (the white wall in the first picture) and I saw someone on r/makeupaddiction that had turned a magnetic chalkboard/mail organizing thing into makeup storage and I thought it was brilliant. I brought it up to Mike who thought that magnets might not be the way to go in the bus but suggested that a spice rack could really work. Genius.
So, apparently, the spice racks that I think of are old fashioned. I was thinking of a wooden 2 or 3 tiered rack that mounted on the wall to hold spices. Most of what I was able to find were little spinning racks with individual little cups to hold your containers of spices. They just sit on a counter top or in a cabinet. I mean, they look convenient and all that but not for my purposes. The closest I was able to find (without ordering online, I am very much a creature that wants the immediate satisfaction of using what I have just purchased) were individual wooden crates, basically, at Target.
I got 3. They were $15 each which, to be honest, I feel is a rip off. On the plus side they are very wide for spice racks and since they have walls they are better for the bus when we’re moving. I won’t have to pack as much away. I also got some of the super strong Command Strips that can hold up to 16 lbs to attach it to the linen closet wall. The wall is fairly thin and since we store clothes and linens in there I didn’t want screws poking through to the other side. Plus, tape is way easier and quicker.
I popped them up, gave the tape an hour to fully set and adhere and put all of my face stuff and makeup in there. The tool case now has hair products, foot stuff (nail polish, clippers, etc), and my brushes. The outside pockets work great for them and I couldn’t fit them in my spice racks. The train case below now houses all of the miscellaneous bathroom stuff like the cotton balls, razors, toothbrushes, chargers, etc. My shower bag stays on top of the train case and Mike’s sits in front of it. I’d like to add hooks somewhere around there for the shower bags (we don’t have a water heater yet so we shower at the campground hence the need for shower bags).
It works a whole lot better now. In hindsight, I should have spaced my little racks a bit better. I thought I would need more space between one and two but really I needed equal space between all three, I think. And eventually I’d like to get another one. But at least now, everything has a home and there is still space to shift things around if we get any new products, buy a different sized lotion, or whatever.
