If you’re like most people, you have several bottles of shampoo/conditioner/body wash/etc lining the wall of your shower.  If you share a bathroom with housemates, you might have a tidy little collection for each occupant. You might even have a drawer somewhere just chock full of little shampoolets “in case guests come by”. 

If you are strapped for cash for the month, or are fitting more people into your house due to budget constraints, you might want to consider this REVOLUTIONARY new way to consume your shampoo:

Use it up. One bottle at a time.

Pick one. It doesn’t matter; you bought them all, right? So pick a shampoo bottle and put the rest in the closet. Use the bottle of shampoo up. The whole thing. Then throw it out. Then go into your cabinet and get another one. Then use that up. You may be surprised at just how long you can last without buying new shampoo. Or, you may be surprised at how clean your bathroom feels without a bajillion bottles of shampoo. 

I know, I know, some hair types require special treatment, etc, and it is absolutely neccessary to have multiple bottles of stuff costing over $25 that you rarely use.  If you have this hair type, this does not apply to you. But for the rest of us, we can think of it not as foregoing a luxury but systematically using all the products that we’ve splurged on over the months.

You can also use this type of thinking for other consumables in your home:

• Sort your cupboard by expiration date and use up all the canned items before buying any new ones
• Put all your teas and coffee packets in a pretty basket or bowl (or corner of your cupboard) and use them all up before buying refills
• Take inventory of your gift wrapping and use up existing wrapping before buying new stuff
• Organize your bookshelves by what you have or haven’t read yet and read all your existing books before buying new ones (ha, yeah right.)
• When you do a project, make alterations to the project to take advantage of the supplies you already have rather than buying new ones. For example, if your project requires glue, do you need to go out and buy glue sticks, or will the white glue work? Will the black thread work as well as the gray thread? It’s up to you.
• If you are the sort who keeps several notecards on hand for occasions of any sort, select one from your existing collection rather than purchasing a special new one every time.

This idea may either seem super obvious (Of course I’d use up the ten Kleenex boxes in the house before buying another one!) or super impossible (Why on earth would I wear one pair of strappy black heels into the ground before buying another pair?) depending on who you are, what you like to keep in reserve, and what you enjoy buying. It’s really all up to you.  

One of the things that makes bathrooms seem exceptionally small (and crowded!) is the endless plethora of small bottles that overtakes every bathroom infested with females.  There are two solutions to this problem. 1) Rid the bathroom of females (this is usually impractical and causes other problems) or 2) Rid the bathroom of plastic bottles.  Suppose there are four females using one bathroom. If every girl were to have the full complement of products, there would be no room for more important items, such as bathers, bathmats, or bathroom appliances. You can keep your busy bathroom functional by encouraging bathers to consolidate their own supplies in a shower caddy, reminiscent of college days.  This keeps all pertinent necessities convenient and allows everyone to be responsible for their own stuff; a must in a crowded household in any economy. 

If you don’t like the idea of tromping from the bathroom to your room in a towel, wear a bathrobe, which offers more privacy. 

I’ve known people who are big fans of the lit match for counteracting the smell of methane in an oft-used bathroom.  According to MythBusters, matches do actually counteract methane effectively, but unfortunately they have their own unpleasant smell.  If lit matches aren’t your thing (or if you’d prefer that your children or roommates not get too near them), it would make everyone’s life easier if there is a discreet room spray available, as well as nice fan.  Your bathroom may have a room fan installed already; if not, you can install one yourself. Otherwise, the room spray will have to suffice.  The added benefit of a fan is that it can offer sound privacy as well, especially if your living quarters are espec

ially tight or if you and your roommates are particularly noisy on the commode.

You might currently use your bathroom space as a staging area for makeup, hair-drying, and other personal preparation. You can move these functions into your own room and gain privacy and time when you live in a busy house. If your bedroom can accommodate it, there are pretty vanities available to organize all your makeup and preparation needs, but a simple wall mirror, decent lighting, a shelf or caddy for accessories, and electricity for any hair dryers will do.  

The remaining functions in the bathroom can be organized to make it easier for multiple users. Everyone can agree on a few simple rules, such as deciding whose job or turn it is to take out the bathroom trash, insistance that everyone clean their own hair out of the tub, and possibly arranging a cleaning schedule.  Even small measures, such as wiping down the seat when finished, can really make the communal bathroom a more hygenic and relaxing room.

Are there more tips to share that haven’t been mentioned here? Stories about sharing with roommates? The comments section is open!