Kathi Lipp (00:09) 

Well hey friends, welcome to Clutter Free Academy where our goal is to help you take small doable steps to live every day with less clutter and more life. And speaking of less clutter, we’re gonna dive into the bathroom today guys and we’re gonna dive in with one of my favorite clutter free human beings. It is Tonya Kubo. I was about to say Tonya Lipp. Did you need to be adopted? I mean was that? 

I’m not gonna lie, Christmas for our kids. Yes, Christmas for our kids is not bad. And they’re all in their 30s. just think about it. ? We could make some arrangements. And by the way, Roger and I are not grandparents, so this would have some built-in benefits for us as well. okay. ? 

Tonya Kubo (00:35) 

Hey, it’s good to be a Lipp! 

hahahaha 

You would. 

Kathi Lipp (01:01) 

Can I tell you my favorite room in this entire house is the one that almost nobody else goes into? Almost not even Roger. I’m not gonna lie. It is my bathroom. My bathroom makes me so happy. 

Tonya Kubo (01:15) 

? well, your bathroom should make you happy. It has heated floors. That’s my favorite part of your bathroom. 

Kathi Lipp (01:19) 

It does have heated 

floors. Yep. And that’s not enough for moose. She needs a heating pad in there. But it also has like, it’s a, you guys, it’s the only fancy thing we have. ? it has, it has ? a, a wet floor for half the bathroom. So that’s like a giant open shower, which is crazy. But if you’re going to design your own bathroom, go all in friends, go all in. 

Tonya Kubo (01:31) 

Mm-hmm. 

I agree. 

Kathi Lipp (01:48) 

Yeah, and then it has a beautiful jet tub. And ? yeah, it just makes me so happy. But can I tell you where I went wrong in all my designing and scheming? Here’s where I went wrong. I did not think about storage in there. did not think, you know, here I am, the queen of trying to be clutter free. And ? 

Tonya Kubo (02:01) 

Where did you go wrong? 

Mmm. 

Kathi Lipp (02:15) 

I love storage behind doors so you don’t have to think about it. There’s none. we’ve got five drawers, know, ? two of which are Rogers, three, well, one of them is shared and two are mine. And then we have to put some baskets on the bottom of the vanity that we can pull out. But you know, you’re storing things like toilet paper, hairdryers, things like that. And then we’ve got some other, yeah. 

It’s just not great. gonna, so I have had to figure out how to be as decluttered as possible. Now, I say that, I whine about my lack of storage, but Tonya, would you care to share your bathroom setup? 

Tonya Kubo (02:46) 

Right. 

Mm. 

So 

setup is, you know, sub-optimal, let’s call it that. So of course we’ve got four humans, one bathroom, and you the house was built in the early 50s so well we do have a cabinet and drawers in the bathroom that is one of only two closets in the whole house outside of the bedroom closets so we have to do a lot with that storage space and the worst 

Kathi Lipp (03:08) 

Yes. Yes. 

Right. 

Tonya Kubo (03:31) 

I think what’s the worst is we have a pedestal sinks. We have no under sink storage and no counter either. 

Kathi Lipp (03:37) 

Right, it is that is, that is a problem, especially with that many humans. ? One of them a teenage, one of them solidly a teenager, the other one teenage, adjacent, and it’s a lot. So, ? you know, I, in my bathroom, I want my bathroom to be a place of calm. But Tonya, can we just say your bathroom just needs to be a place of survival? 

Tonya Kubo (03:47) 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (04:06) 

Someday. 

Tonya Kubo (04:07) 

Well, 

exactly. Yeah, no, it’s exactly it’s survival and the cat box is in there, right? So it’s like a whole lot of stuff going on in there. 

Kathi Lipp (04:13) 

? bless you. ? 

bless you. ? my goodness. Okay. Let’s all take a moment of silence for Tonya’s bathroom. Okay. So here’s, here’s what I want to talk about. So this is, this is about decluttering your sink space. Okay. So Tonya you’re done. Cause there is no sink space. Done. Okay. But for the, okay. But for the rest of us, 

Tonya Kubo (04:33) 

Done. A plus plus student over here. 

Ha ha! 

Kathi Lipp (04:42) 

who have normal bathrooms, who have some storage, that kind of thing. I wanna talk about a few ideas, ticks, ticks, ticks, my, guys, I’m still recovering from COVID, so if I’m stupid, just roll with it, friends, just roll with it. Tricks and tips that we can do. So if you’re under the sink, storage is a mess. 

Tonya Kubo (04:46) 

Mm-hmm. 

Okay. 

Kathi Lipp (05:08) 

This is gonna sound very anti Kathi and very anti clutter free, but here’s what I’m going to ask you to do I’m gonna ask you to take everything out and we normally rail against taking everything out at one time because that can be very overwhelming to our ADHD ADD adjacent brains ? because if you’re a cluttery person 

Tonya Kubo (05:32) 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (05:36) 

that may not be your diagnosis, but you understand the territory that that is. And that can be really, really overwhelming because all of us have had that project where we’ve everything out and we’ve lived like that for two months. And I don’t want you to do that, but fortunately the under sink area is small enough that it probably shouldn’t be too much. 

And then I’m gonna ask you to just lay everything out. Put everything on the floor, put everything on the table. And ? Tonya, what would be your advice if when you’re going through that stuff, obviously we’re gonna throw away trash, we’re gonna recycle what we can. But say like you have duplicates there and you don’t have a ton of space. What would be your advice to people? 

Tonya Kubo (06:26) 

Yeah, well, this is such a great topic because I’ve been working with some of our Clear Free for Life members on their bathrooms, right? Because when you’re overwhelmed, I think the bathroom is a great place to start. You’re the one who taught me that, Kathi, because it’s a small space and the bathroom sink in and of itself is such a win because that’s where you get ready, right? You’re washing your hands when you get, I mean, it’s the highest traffic area really in a bathroom. And so, 

Kathi Lipp (06:34) 

Mmm. 

Yes. 

Tonya Kubo (06:54) 

One of the things that I suggest is when you’re going through everything, when you have a bunch of duplicates, I think the first thing is get real with yourself and decide, these things, like, do I really want duplicates of this? Okay. If it is like your favorite pumpkin spice hand soap and you’ve got five of them and you love pumpkin spice hand soap by all means, make your hand smell like pumpkin spice all year long. But if you’ve got duplicates of something you don’t like, I think those go in the giveaway pile. 

Kathi Lipp (06:56) 

Yes. 

Yes. 

Yes, or you know, take that lid off, smell it. Now, if you just don’t like the scent, I’ll just tell you, Plumeria from Bath and Body Works grosses me out in deep, deep ways. Because to me, it smells like, well, it doesn’t gross me out. It just reminds me of feminine hygiene products. And that’s not what I want to smell like. I’m just going to be honest with you. So. 

Tonya Kubo (07:32) 

Mm-hmm. 

Mm-hmm. 

Okay. 

Mmm. 

Kathi Lipp (07:53) 

Smell it if you just don’t like the smell because that’s not your scent then give it away If it’s off in any way shape or form that gets pitched nobody wants your off smelling stuff ? so yes lay everything out and then ? Go if you have duplicates if you have the room you can store them there in the bathroom where you use them if you don’t find someplace else but just 

Tonya Kubo (08:00) 

Mm-hmm. 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (08:22) 

Remember where you store things. That’s the important thing. So I have backup storage in my closet. I’ve got very high shelves in there and I have drawers and I’ve got one drawer that’s like for hair and I’ve got one drawer that’s for skin and makeup and it’s the backups. And so instead of going to the store, I’m going to go into my drawer to get those things. 

Yeah, throw away any expired products or empty containers. I think that’s really important. Why do you think we hang on to those things, Tonya? 

Tonya Kubo (08:57) 

Mm-hmm. 

my gosh, Kathi, for so many reasons. So I do think a lot of times empty containers end up underneath the bathroom sink because we don’t know what else to do with them. And we think, we’ll put it here for now and then we’ll figure out what to do with it later. Or we think that there’s gonna be a future state where we’re gonna have an idea of how to use it. 

Kathi Lipp (09:11) 

Mmm, yeah. 

Mm-hmm. I love it. Okay. The next thing is if you haven’t used it in six months Do you really need it now here is what I would suggest, you know, just don’t throw it away I would now if I was the mom of a teenager and teenager adjacent I I think it could be fun to go through and say hey guys. Do you want to try these masks? 

Tonya Kubo (09:43) 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (09:50) 

you know, let’s see if either of you like these things. And so I know my daughters, ? well, I should say my daughter loves to come into my bathroom when she comes to visit and see what I still have that doesn’t look like it’s in use. And sometimes I have to say, no, I just spent all my money on that eye cream, hands off. But there is sometimes things I’ve been given that just aren’t my jam, but they’re really, I mean, they would be cool. ? 

Tonya Kubo (10:07) 

Mm-hmm. 

Right. 

Kathi Lipp (10:19) 

You know, just recently, my daughter was going through stuff and she’s like, Ooh, why do you have this lightning grease from, ? what’s the name of that? You’ll know what I’m talking about. It looks like, lush, lush. You know, yeah. Lush is very big, ? with her and her friends. And I’m like, Roger and I were at the mall and I was bit by something while I was standing outside. 

Tonya Kubo (10:34) 

? yes, I like Lush. 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (10:48) 

and it was the itchiest I’ve ever been. And I went into Lush, I’m like, do you have anything for this? And they said, yes, this greased lightning, it’s a spray bottle. I sprayed it on there, instant relief. It was wonderful. But Kimberly uses it for other things. So I gave it to her. she’s going to appreciate it more, right? 

Tonya Kubo (11:07) 

Nice. 

Kathi Lipp (11:10) 

So ditch what you don’t use, but you know, maybe give it another try see if it’s something if you were given something and you kind of stuck it in the back there give it a try it may become your next favorite product. So I do have duplicates of stuff, but I’ve really since I’ve started living the clutter free life. I have said, okay, I’m only buying a backup when I only have a couple weeks left. Like I’ve got a hair. 

Tonya Kubo (11:37) 

Mm. 

Kathi Lipp (11:39) 

thing that I use and I was tempted to buy three of them because it’s just easy to buy all of them. Like, why am I paying to store all this stuff? That’s ridiculous. And so I’m trying to do that. Now, are you a stocker upper or are you a replace as needed? 

Tonya Kubo (11:55) 

No, you know, this is back to like privilege of living in town Most things we replace as needed every there are certain things like for instance shampoo and conditioner When we open one then we buy the next one Because I know that we need shampoo and conditioner every month, right? That just makes sense there but like the hand soaps body wash I find that you know a scent we love now sometimes by the time you get to the end of the bottle you’re tired of it 

Kathi Lipp (11:59) 

Yeah. 

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Right. 

Tonya Kubo (12:24) 

So that I just replace as needed. 

Kathi Lipp (12:25) 

It’s so true. 

It’s so true. Yes, I am using one right now and I’m very much looking forward to buying my next scent. 

Tonya Kubo (12:35) 

I hear you, Kathi, I hear you on that one. 

Kathi Lipp (12:37) 

Yep, 

yep. Okay, so ? The other thing yeah, we’ve talked about this another podcast, but don’t be using old makeup Especially on your eyes and if anything smells off pitch it I don’t care that it’s Lancome or anything like that pitch it go for it 

Tonya Kubo (12:56) 

Also, don’t give your old crusty makeup to your kids. I know like when I was growing up, that’s what my mom and her friends did. I have friends who do it, but like, okay, you don’t want to get an eye infection in yourself. You don’t want to give one to your kids. Just trash, trash, trash. 

Kathi Lipp (13:10) 

No. 

Yeah, yeah. And I think what that causes us to do is to use up what we have that is good. And that’s yes. And we want to teach our kids to be responsible with their makeup. And by the way, I don’t wear Lancome. My expensive stuff is Mac. But let’s be honest, most of the stuff I’m wearing I get when I’m at Wal-Mart. ? You know, hey, I love tubing mascara and you can get that at Wal-Mart. OK. ? 

Tonya Kubo (13:18) 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (13:40) 

Okay, so the first thing was to take everything out. Second thing purge, three, reduce and simplify. You don’t need seven different mascaras. Pitch all of them except for the recent one because mascara can go bad. It can go off. ? If you find, consolidate stuff. That’s what I’m doing right now with some of my ? hair products. I’ve got, I don’t know why, but I’ve got bottles that have a third or 

Tonya Kubo (13:51) 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (14:09) 

I am combining all of those things and there’s a little funnel that I got it on ? on Amazon and all I’ll put it here in the show note 

But it’s a little funnel for doing just that, putting little bits of things like your cosmetics, your lotion, that kind of thing. so ? combine, combine, combine. number three is reduce and simplify. Only keep what you actually use. ? If you have a lot of, say, mini shampoos, mini conditioners, 

First of all, stop grabbing those at the hotel. You don’t need them. And most hotels have turned to just one big pump in the hotel anyway. So that’s going to help us cluttery people a lot. ? And if you get beauty samples, try them. See if you actually like them. And then you can reinvest. It’s not worth it to save it for a rainy day. ? 

Tonya Kubo (14:53) 

Mm-hmm. ? 

Yeah. 

Kathi Lipp (15:13) 

We’ve all lived through the pandemic. We have lived through the rainy days. Don’t save that kind of stuff. Okay, so now we’re going to clean. So, you know, wipe the inside of the cabinets, the drawers. ? One thing that I am now doing, Tonya, because it’s just fun. I don’t have wallpaper in my house. That’s just not something I do, but I love the look of wallpaper. And I have been ordering some samples because we need to wallpaper the inside of our RV. 

Tonya Kubo (15:35) 

Right. 

Kathi Lipp (15:43) 

because we just went to check on our RV and the wallpaper was halfway down the wall. So yeah, heat, moisture, yeah, we did all the right things and still did that. So I’m going to be re-wallpapering, but I’m getting some samples now. So one of the things I’m doing, and it’s silly and ridiculous, but can I tell you how happy it makes me? I’m putting, yeah, so. 

Tonya Kubo (15:44) 

? 

I was gonna say, I don’t care. wanna know more now. Tell me the silly ridiculousness you 

have. 

Kathi Lipp (16:09) 

You 

can buy wallpaper samples for a dollar. And so I am taking those to the RV and seeing which ones will all match with what we’re doing. But I also got some samples of some wild ones for just a strip of that we could do. And the rejects, I am lining the inside of my drawers and I open up those drawers. Can I tell you how happy it makes me? It makes me so stinkin happy. 

Tonya Kubo (16:39) 

What is it, Kathi, that you feel like makes you happy about it? Is it just the colors? Is it the print? Or is it the fact that it just looks more put together to you? 

Kathi Lipp (16:48) 

It looks more put together and it is something I’m doing entirely to take care of myself. It’s like a secret, yes, this is just for me and it makes me so happy I can’t even stand it. I am going to, one of the things I’m doing, we have two other bathrooms in this house. So you can get waterproof mats. 

Tonya Kubo (16:54) 

? I like that. 

Kathi Lipp (17:15) 

to put on the bottom of those ? that will keep it so if something spills or leaks or something like that, it’s not going to ruin that. And this is a really good time to check for leaks. If you’ve got, you know, if you’ve got especially an older house, it’s great to get a leak detector. We have paid for our leak detector and we have a nephew who ? is in 

in the business and he gave us the leak detector that especially if you live in a high water area, you can check for leaks around your house. it might be worth or borrow one from somebody you know who’s in construction or something. Just check every once in a while. It’s good to check. And if you’ve got a leak under that bathroom sink, take care of it because 

Tonya Kubo (17:46) 

Mm-hmm. 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (18:10) 

It was ounce of prevention is worth a dollar of cure or something like that. You know what I mean Pound of cure. That’s it. Yes. So that’s probably British right an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure No ounce. No, I don’t know. No, it’s weights. It’s weights. You’re right. Okay, so ? Now I want to talk about organizing under the sink so tonya have you done anything in your kitchen? 

Tonya Kubo (18:14) 

Pound of cure, pound of cure. 

No, no, it’s a US thing. 

Kathi Lipp (18:40) 

organization-wise that could transfer to a bathroom sink. I’ll tell you one of the things that we’ve, oh, go for it, yes, if you have an idea. 

Tonya Kubo (18:43) 

? Go ahead. No, I was going to 

say my best idea came from you. So you start and let’s see if it’s the best idea that I agree with here. 

Kathi Lipp (18:51) 

Okay, 

so I don’t know maybe six months ago we bought these stacking ? Okay, so tell tell us Tonya because you’ve got more brain power than I do right now 

Tonya Kubo (19:05) 

So you had, I don’t even remember when we were talking about, I think it was another episode, but these stacking shelves or stacking organizers, whatever you want to call them, that go underneath the sink because for years, I’m just so functional with certain things, but also it’s one of those things that like, this is how my mom did it. And even though I knew it didn’t work, I didn’t know another way to do it. But you have all this lost vertical space in an under the sink cabinet. 

Kathi Lipp (19:21) 

Mm-hmm. 

Right. 

Exactly. 

Tonya Kubo (19:33) 

And you know, it’s like, well, if I have like a really tall jug of something, I can put it down there. But how often do we have really tall jugs of something? So that’s stackable organizer. In fact, that’s what I’ve been sharing with some of our members who have very small bathrooms, but they do have a bathroom sink with a cabinet underneath is just going out and getting a stackable system. You can put twice as much stuff down there. 

Kathi Lipp (19:41) 

Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

Tonya Kubo (19:59) 

And the other thing, and I think it was you that talked about it, but having a removable caddy for the things that, you know, like your shower stuff, for instance, you don’t want to keep it all in the shower because that makes the shower hard to clean. So you just carry it in and out, but it’s out of the way, out of view when you don’t need it. 

Kathi Lipp (20:05) 

Yes. 

Mm-hmm. 

I love it so much. Yes, you have mentioned everything. And I know some people have like pull out drawers under there and that’s great if it can fit. So those are some great ideas. I love it. ? The other thing is ? if you have the room installing a tension rod down there that you can use to ? hang your spray bottles off of and that’s been a game changer for us as well. 

Tonya Kubo (20:25) 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (20:47) 

Okay, let’s talk about counter space in the bathroom. I know I keep talking about things that Tonya does not have. ? 

Tonya Kubo (20:53) 

It’s 

okay because our listeners do, Kathi, and we are here to serve our listeners. 

Kathi Lipp (20:57) 

Yes. I’ll tell you one thing that I’ve done that has made a big difference is just having a pretty tray. Because there are things I want to keep on the counter. I’ve got a couple of hair products, that kind of thing. that has, it just makes it look more pulled together. And it’s easy to clean by just taking, you know, moving that, wiping it down, putting it back if you need to every once in a while cleaning the tray off. 

Tonya Kubo (21:06) 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (21:22) 

But can I tell you something that has been a game changer in my bathroom that people might not think about? It’s having a medicine cabinet in a weird place. Now, okay. Okay, so we have ? a mirror over our sink, right? And I didn’t want a medicine cabinet there, but I do have a medicine cabinet on the opposite wall behind. 

Tonya Kubo (21:35) 

Okay, I need explanations please. 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (21:52) 

over my toilet. And so it’s just another mirror in there, which is nice because I can get, I can look at myself from behind once I’m dressed and I can say, okay, is this working? But also it has just great storage. It’s not for like my toothbrush or anything like that. keep, ? first of all, I keep our toilet cleanser in there. ? I keep… 

Tonya Kubo (22:03) 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (22:18) 

our spray bottle in there because remember I don’t have any under the ? sink storage. I keep backups of a couple of things that we run out of pretty frequently. ? So some of the smaller shower gels and things like that. ? it just blends in, it’s not a big deal, but it’s great storage in a weird place and I love it. Yeah. 

Tonya Kubo (22:44) 

Yeah, it’s so 

creative. that’s part of what you need, especially when you have small spaces or when you’re working through your clutter journey, ? you need creative solutions. And I think that’s a kind of lesson to take away from this particular episode is the most important thing is figure out how do you make the space work for you. 

Kathi Lipp (22:59) 

Yes. 

Yes, it’s so true. Okay, I’ve got another weird thing that I’ve done. Okay, so six is streamline counter space and then seven, I should go back to this seven designated drawer. So I have one drawer that is for makeup and I have one drawer that’s for hair. And it just, I don’t know why it took me so long to get to that designation, but it just did. And then finally, ? 

Tonya Kubo (23:15) 

Mmm. 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (23:36) 

I have, it’s a ceramic container that’s round and a little tall, and I keep it on our counter, and I keep ? Clorox wipes in there. So it’s not a Clorox wipe container on my counter. It doesn’t look like that. It’s just a cute container, but I can grab a Clorox wipe and every day I can just wipe down the sink and the countertop. 

Tonya Kubo (23:40) 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (24:04) 

and it keeps it looking nice, it totally blends in, nobody knows that it’s a cleaner, not that you have to keep that a big secret, but it just looks nice. And instead of having a Clorox container on top of your sink. So here is my question, Tonya, have we missed anything? Anything that we should talk about? 

Tonya Kubo (24:12) 

Mm-hmm. 

Well, I think that the, I’m gonna say two things. I think number one is sometimes it’s an experiment, Kathi. And I think that’s one of the challenges that we run into is we think whatever solution we come up with today has to be the solution for the next 20 years. But to your point, like designating a drawer, I think this is perfect. For a long time, we had, 

Kathi Lipp (24:39) 

It totally is. 

Right. 

Tonya Kubo (24:57) 

Because we do have three drawers that are within easy reach of the toilet. And so we had like the top drawers where we kept the toilet paper. ? Because that made perfect sense for Brian, it made perfect sense for me. You know what though, it didn’t make sense for Abby because Abby wasn’t tall enough to access that. And so the toilet paper went to the bottom drawer. Well, now, you know we have two cats. Guess what? We found. 

Kathi Lipp (25:01) 

Mm-hmm. Mm. 

Yeah. 

Mm-hmm. 

Tonya Kubo (25:25) 

that the bathroom drawer is actually the perfect place to stock the backup food and treats for the cat. I would have never thought to do that otherwise, but as I was going through rearranging what went in the first, second, third drawer, it was like, ? this actually makes perfect sense for cat stuff. Maybe not forever, but for now. 

Kathi Lipp (25:31) 

Nice. Right. No, of course not. 

I love that. Yeah, maybe that that’s the perfect sentiment to end this on. Maybe not forever, but for now. We had to do different things to survive when we had six people living in a house with two bathrooms that, you know, shower, shampoo and shine. And now, you know, we can make different choices, but do something for the stage of life you’re in and 

Tonya Kubo (25:52) 

Mm-hmm. 

Mm-hmm. 

Kathi Lipp (26:11) 

Guys, we will put all of the links to everything that we’ve talked about here in our notes. And so if you if there’s something that you feel like could make and we’ll also put some pictures of what it looks like in my house to do some of these things. Tonya, this has been so great and you’ve inspired me with a couple of ideas that I’m going to go try. I love this so much. And friends, thank you for being here. I hope you are also inspired. You’ve been listening to Clutterfree Academy. I’m Kathi Lipp. 

Go create the clutter free life you’ve always wanted to live.