TINY BATHROOMS - I MEAN REALLY TINY!

Okay, let’s get back to the idea of trying to get organized.  We have a full bathroom upstairs and and a half bath downstairs.  For those from other places, this means that our bathroom upstairs has a commode, sink, and bathtub/shower, while our downstairs bathroom has only a commode and sink.  They are small.  The downstairs bathroom is just less than 4 feet by 4 feet.  The upstairs one is about 6 feet by 5 feet - the 5 feet being the cross measurement of the bathtub. I am not sure that in some of the new houses being built the “toilet room” in the bathrooms are not larger than our bathrooms themselves.

When we moved in the downstairs bathroom had a decent sink and fairly new small vanity.  At some point the floor had been retiled as it ceramic tile and based on what I know of tile at different points in my life, I would say it had put in within 10 years of when we bought. The walls in both bathrooms have plastic tile - something I have never otherwise seen and I presume is older.  The vanity had a drawer below the door section. 

The upstairs sink and vanity were not that nice - and much older looking.  At some point we decided to replace them.  We then found out that our bathroom sinks are below the smallest standard size.  Back then we had a choice of two, now I am not sure that this size is still made.  We looked and looked and managed to find a duplicate of the downstairs vanity - with a drawer at the bottom.  No other vanities in this size had any drawer and there were maybe 3 of them to choose from.  Understand I don’t mean that we went to a store and the store had 3 of them.  We went to ALL the stores and found 3 total.  We replaced the upstairs sink and vanity, putting in the new setup ourselves.  When we moved in there was no electric outlet in either bathroom - yes, I just said that there was no outlet in either bathroom when we moved in.  We are not sure how the families before us dried their hair and the men must have shaved with blades, not an electric shaver.  We are not sure this would be allowed under the current electric code where we live.

When I read organizing books there is an assumption that there are lots of drawers, a large cabinet and a counter top.  We have no counter in either bathroom.  We also cannot put an “over john” in the upstairs bathroom.  (This is a set of shelves intended to stand around the commode and put shelves over it.) Why?  Well, the window is over the commode and it would be blocked by the over john unit.  What we did end up doing is making a 2 shelved wheeled cart that just squeezes in opposite the sink and next to the bathtub.  It can be wheeled out when one is taking a shower or cleaning the bathroom and then wheeled back in.  The bottom is used for storage and the top for counter space.  Spare towels and related are kept in a small closet in the hall outside of the bathroom.  We also put up a wooden ladder shaped hanging, that we made, on the wall adjacent to the commode - this is for magazines, but they get a bit icky where it is located, so very little is placed there.

The drawer in upstairs bathroom is husband’s.  He has to put his razor and related items somewhere and the drawer is where they are.  Since he gets dizzy when he bends over, it is not the best place, but it is what we have.  In the cabinet I have a plastic shoe box without a lid.  This holds our first aid stuff for upstairs.  It can be pulled out to be taken to where it is needed.  We have spare toilet paper and mouthwash in the cabinet, as well as a spray bottle of shower cleaner.  That fills it.  In the “medicine cabinet” over the sink, husband has his teeth related items on the top shelf in what is sold as drawer divider box.  He can take the entire divider box out, put it on the cart to use it, and then put it back.  Small bathroom related items - including over the counter pain killers - are on the other two shelves.  We do not keep any prescription medication upstairs.  Why?  I have to count it out once a week into boxes (so if one of us says “hey, did I take my pills?” we can easily check if it was taken) and I do this in the kitchen, so the prescription medications are kept in the kitchen.  I keep my teeth related items in the hall closet - it just leads to much less arguing. 

We do have this closet just outside our bathroom and bedroom.  It had shelves so it is used as a linen closet for the bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom.  We put a wire shelving unit on the inside of the door and I try to keep the items there in sections by what they are for to be able to find them - such as all of the “Band aid” type items are on the same door shelf.  Cleaning items for the bathroom are on the bottom door shelf.  A roll of paper towels is also kept in this closet for upstairs use. 

The hand towels in use hang on a towel bar on the door - we went to change this when we moved in, but it is set into a cut into the tile around the tub/shower and could not be changed.  The started shower towels hang on the door of the shower.  I also have 2 “utility” towels in the bathroom. These are towels to wipe up spills and messes. 

I keep the box of tissues on the top of the commode.  Also there and on the window sill are pump hand soap and pump hand sanitizer .  For fun and decoration there are some small “rubber” duckies in a line across the window sill.  There is a holder for small paper cups on the wall between the sink area and the tub.

When it is time to clean the bathroom, I wheel the cart out of it.  I do have to lie across the (closed) commode seat to be able to reach behind it to clean it and the floor.  To clean the tiny space between the sink/cabinet and the tub, I have to kneel in the tub to be able to reach the floor there to clean it.  

The day after we moved in we had an electrician in to put in an electric outlet.  The choices were limited.  It could be on the wall that is behind one, when one is standing at the sink - not convenient. or we could move the lighting fixture and put the outlet where the light had been.  The light was moved to the eave angle of the ceiling and an outlet put in.  I can sort of reach the outlet, but not really.

The upstairs does have ceramic tile on the wall and on the tub surround so they must have been replaced as they are not plastic, although they look older than the ones in the downstairs bathroom.                     

Ah yes - I wanted to mention that we always seem to manage to drip some water off the back corner of the sink onto the floor (on the commode side) and I have started folding a paper towel in quarters and putting it this corner of the floor to absorb any water that drips. 

The downstairs sink has a bit more flat surface around it and I have the pump soap and pump hand sanitizer on the back corners of the sink.  I cut a paper towel in half and then cut it to match the curve of the sink and keep the pieces under the two pumps to keep the sink top clean - I change them when I clean the bathroom.

I also have to lie down on the commode to clean behind it.  There is a perhaps 1 inch to 1.5 inch space between the vanity and the side wall - it is next to impossible to clean.  A damp paper towel folded and shoved in and moved with a yard stick is about the best that can be done.  The cleaners are kept in the vanity.  The drawer here holds some magazines (BBC History magazine to be specific.)  The hand towels and some utility towels (no other towels needed for here) are also kept in the vanity.  I hang a set of hand towels on a towel bar.  The owner before us also had 2 large rings for towels and I hang a utility towel in one of them for wiping up. There is a cup holder attached to the wall with a metal cup in it.  We use this bathroom when cleaning up from doing crafts and the cup holds paint brushes that need to dry.

For an electric outlet in this bathroom we installed (ourselves) a combination piece which has one outlet and the light switch in what would be the second outlet area.  It has not been working right lately (only when I am using it of course) and we have bought a new matching unit to replace the old one. 

The medicine cabinet has more of the same over the counter medicines.  (We keep older bottles of them when we buy new and split the new between the upstairs and downstairs bottles, putting the new expiration dates on the older bottles as we never use them up before they go bad and do not want to buy 2 bottles.)  We get our prescription medications in 90 day supplies and I keep the bottles in this cabinet.  Since it is not a shower bathroom, it does not get steamy so we can do this.  I count the pills into smaller bottles (again ones from earlier prescriptions that match what is in them) of a month’s worth when I use up the month’s worth in them.  These smaller bottles are kept in the kitchen cabinet. There is first aid stuff in this cabinet also - not as much as upstairs, just so we don’t have to always run upstairs for stuff. 

Again the tissue box is kept on the back of the commode.  A basket with “for show”guest soaps is also on the back of the commode.  Over the commode (which is a wall here, not a window) we have a shelving piece with odd shape small shelves for husband’s small glass animals collection.

This room seems to have originally had a window.  Above the plastic tile is wood paneling and there is a ceiling exhaust fan that does not seem to be original.  There was a room added to the back of the house that sits behind this room and we assume that there was a window and was covered by the paneling when it was blocked off by the addition of the back room and the exhaust fan was installed at that time. 

So that is our bathrooms.  Each of them is probably smaller than a closet in the world of organizing books.  Do you have a bathroom like our ours or do you have a nice big one.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

If you have small room you have to figure out how to make them work for you.  When we started we were not sure what to do.  Over the years we have managed to make them work for us.  They are far from perfect or convenient, but they work.  (And, as small as they are, they are bigger and more convenient than our RV bathroom - if you can call it that.)

I would love to hear from you about your bathroom and what you do to organize it.

Both bathrooms are at the back of the house.

Making up the bed in a very small space - our RV

I have mentioned in the past that we have a “second home” - a very small RV.  I have to first explain what I mean by small as when people hear “RV” they think of the huge bus size and shape RV (called a Class A) that they see on TV and in the movies or one of the ones which have a section (which has a bed in it) that sticks out over the driver and passenger seats (called a Class C).  NO, ours is SMALL.  It is called a Class B and is a conversion of a van.  What I am talking about is the vans used by tradesmen.  The Class Bs are made in a variety of these vans - in our case it is a Chevy Express 3500 van.  Next time you are driving down the road and a Chevy van passes you (or you pass one) look at it for size.  The entire inside is less than 120 sq ft.  My sister in law has a closet bigger than that.  (I don’t have a closet even close to that, but she has one bigger.)  Life in this Rv is very close and there is little room for stuff. 

Last week (in case you were wondering) we ended up just going to the dealer and having the work done - and not all of it, as part of it they suggested waiting for as it involved too much time.  We had dinner afterwards at a restaurant we like in the general area and then drove home - good thing, as there were big storms over the weekend and we would not have been able to go where we planned - plus we would have been dealing with the RV.

Husband always feels bad that we have the RV (and are making payments on it) and are not constantly using it so he planned a trip for this week instead.  We were to drive to Lancaster, PA on Wednesday, and then on Thursday drive to Delaware for the day to a museum since it is having an exhibition we were interested in and then back to Lancaster and spend Thursday and Friday there. 

The trip was delayed to Thursday and it was not certain that we would go at all (and we are not going as this weekend not only will there be rain, but also hail), but yesterday (Tuesday) I decided to deal with making the bed up anyway.  We will make a trip by the end of the month as we have reservations for July 4th, so I figured I would get it over with now whether we go on a trip this week or not.

It takes at least 45 minutes to make up the bed due to the small space.  The bed makes up into a short king size bed - shorter by 3 inches on one side than the other in addition to being shorter than a king in general.  There are 2 bench seats facing each other (like a restaurant booth) with the end (the back of the RV & the head of the bed when it is made up) filled in between.  To make it into a bed one fills in the space between the seats with pieces of plywood and then slides the cushions of the seats to the middle and then lays the cushion seat backs between the seat cushions and the sidewalls of the RV to fill it all in.  When this is done the bed goes from the wall on one side of the RV to the wall on the other.  At the back of the RV (head of the bed) the bed is touching the headboard.  At the foot of the bed there is the kitchen area counter touching the bed on one side of the aisle and the toilet closet touching it on the other (with a cabinet overhanging the foot of the bed on that side).  This leaves just 2 and half  feet of aisle at the center of the foot of the  bed to make it up from.  So, basically one has to be in the bed to make it up. 

What I have found to do is to use (flat) twin bed bedding and make each side up separately.  I first make up husband’s side.  I do his first for 2 reasons - first, it it’s the better made up side (less wrinkly sheets, etc) and second, it is the longer side.  To make up the second side I put the main mattress piece (seat cushion) from the other side on the already made up bed for part of the time and it would not work with my side first as his mattress piece is too long to go on my side.

Since the reason we are in this tiny home is the bed bugs we had, I don’t want to go on the bed in my street clothes, so I change into fresh jeans and tee shirt before making up the bed - when we travel this outfit will be my pjs.  I won’t go through all the details (unless there are requests to do so) but I make up his bed as one would a regular bed.  I then make up on my side the seat back (now lying against the wall on the bed platform) as if it was an entire bed with the excess of the bedding lying across the platform, then stack it all on the seat back, slide in the pieces of wood to hold up the center of the bed, slide my mattress piece (seat cushion) into place and then - while lying on husband’s previously made up side of the bed - pull the various layers of my side into place and tuck them in.

The bed is now one bed, but each side has its own bedding.  Rather than entering the bed from the sides as one does with a normal bed, I have not tucked in the top sheets and blankets along the center where the 2 “beds” join together into a king bed.  This allows us to get in and out of the bed in line with the aisle at the foot of the bed.  If we got out of the bedding on the sides, we would have to crawl on the bed to the middle to get up, this way we just have to crawl to the foot of the bed to get up.         

It was in at least the upper 70's today and hot in the RV.  I opened a window, but did not want to turn on the battery to run the fan.  I was glad when I was done.  Since we were not using the RV for at least 2 days and probably longer, I covered the head of the bed with a plastic shower curtain.  We have this to cover same when it is raining out so that when we open the back door of the RV - less than a foot from the head of the bed - the bed does not get wet. 

Oh, I should mention that once the bed is made up there is only the aisle which is 2 and half feet wide by maybe 5 feet long to walk around.

Now when we are ready to travel we “only” have to fill the water tanks, add clothing, spare shoes, snacks and related items and we are ready. 

Now think about this - if you have less than 120 square feet of space - what would you decide you need to have with you? 

There are people who live in these full time and some have large dogs.  They have to decide very carefully what they will own and have with them.  Two weeks is about as long as we have we have been able to stay in it - sans dogs (as we have none).

Believe it or not when we first looked at this RV and then bought it we thought that there was a major lack of storage space and wondered how we would fit everything in.  We are now at a point that when we make some of our short trips we have - TOO MUCH STORAGE SPACE - in it.  Why too much?  If a space is only partially filled the stuff in it will move around while driving and if the items are hard they will add to the noise that is already occurring.  I have learned that depending on the trip we need stuff to be stored in different places than it is on other trips and that the spare plastic shopping bags are great at filling in the space around hard stuff to keep it in place and deaden any noise it might make shifting about - also good for garbage bags.  In later posts I will talk more about what we originally brought, what we have found out we need,  and the odd places items are stored.
        

GET YOUR MEDICATIONS ORGANIZED TO SAVE YOUR (OR SOMEONE ELSE'S) LIFE

Now a serious subject in organizing.  Prescription and over the counter medications.  They can be dangerous if not organized and taken care of.  Note that I have no medical training and that nothing is to be taken as medical information - just how I deal with and make sure our medications are organized and safely stored.

We have no children and none come in the house, so we do not have to worry about children getting their hands on medications in our house, but if you have children who live or come into your house make sure that all medications including over the counter ones are in a location that children absolutely cannot reach.  This includes any “day of the week” boxes and children considerably older than you might think.  Don’t forget to make sure that pets also cannot take your medications.  In medications all things are better safe than sorry.

My husband and I each have several conditions which we take medications for, on an ongoing basis.  When husband was diagnosed and given his first pill - he was to take it daily - I went out and bought a day of the week box.  I told him that I would put his pills for the week in the box on Saturday nights for him.  He insisted that he did not need one.  I pointed out to him that sooner or later he would be unsure if he had taken his medication and we would be able to tell by looking in the box - otherwise we would have to know when he started the bottle of pills and then count the remaining pills and figure out if there was an extra pill.  This was much simpler - and it works.

Over the years we have progressed to a day of the week box for each of us in our bedroom for morning pills, a day of the week box for each of us in the kitchen for our lunch and dinner pills, and a day of the week box in the kitchen for husband’s bed time pills.  That’s 5 separate boxes all together.  They are generally filled Saturday night for the coming week - sometimes on Friday if we know we will be home extremely late on Saturday night.  I also note any pills which need to be refilled at that time.  (If you don’t renew your pills, you can’t take them.)  Your doctor and the pill bottle should tell you when to take the pills and if they are all taken at once or spread over the day.  It is urgent to take them as you are suppose to so that you have the correct amount of the medication in your bloodstream.  Too much could have serious problems.  Too little may be of no value.  Generally pills which are taken over the day are taken when you are awake.  For example, “take every 4 hours” does not usually mean that you need to wake during the night to take a dose - but check with your doctor if you are not sure. I have found that generally pills such as this are intended to be taken over 12 hours - such as every 4 hours,4 times a day or every 6 hours, 3 times a day.

Most of our prescriptions these days come in a 90 day supply - a big bottle for some of the larger pills to deal with, especially if one of us takes multiples of the pill during the day.  So I have kept a 30 days supply bottle for each pill and count out a 30 day supply from the 90 day bottle and keep it in the matching 30 day bottle.  NEVER HAVE AN UNMARKED OR MISMARKED BOTTLE OF PILLS OF ANY TYPE.  One time we had a problem in which what we knew should be full 90 bottles of pills only had 60 days worth.  Since then I make a line on the lid of the 90 day bottle each time I take out 30 days worth of pills, so if I run short I know that something was wrong.

Always know what pills you and any one else in your house whose pills you are responsible for are taking and what dosage they are.  (One time instead of blood pressure pills I was given an asthma inhaler, major problems would have resulted if I had not immediately known it was wrong.) Know what the pills look like.  When you get the pills from the pharmacy - by mail or in person - make sure the name and dosage of the pills are correct, as well as the count on the bottle.  Also know and check if your medication is “ER” - extended release as same is different than the regular version of the same medication.  (Never cut an ER pill - or any other for that matter - unless you check with your doctor or pharmacist.  ER pills are generally in a outer shell which dissolves over time dispensing the medication into your system a certain amount at a time.)  Then open the bottle and make sure the pills look like they should.  If they don’t bring them to the pharmacy or call the mail order pharmacy and check that the pills are correct.  We check our pills before we leave the pharmacy section of the store.  If you are taking generic medication the brand can change and the pill can be different in appearance.  (One of husband’s pills changed from orange to green with a change in brand.)  NEVER ASSUME THAT PILLS THAT LOOK DIFFERENT THAN LAST TIME YOU TOOK THEM ARE THE SAME - ASK.

I know you have heard this before - take your medications as you are told to and take the full amount you are suppose to.  If you are told to take a medication for a certain period take it for that period.  If you are told to take all the pills in the prescription - take all the pills according to the instructions.  If you are told to take the pills and renew the prescription - do so.  Stopping some pills just because you feel better can result in your condition getting worse and with others stopping pills all at once can be a problem if you have to taper off the pill.  Never give your medication to anyone else, even if they have the same symptoms.

If you are taking pills “as needed” watch the expiration date and dispose of the pills after the expiration date.  The current recommended method of disposing of your past due or unneeded pills is to crush them and add them to something someone would not eat - the garbage in general, kitty litty, coffee grounds.  It is no longer recommended that you flush the pills down the toilet as water supplies are being contaminated by same.

I keep our 30 day supply bottles of pills in one of my kitchen cabinets - the bottom shelf of the already mentioned cabinet left of the sink.  I keep our 90 day bottles in the medicine cabinet of our downstairs bathroom which has no shower or tub.  It is recommended that medications not be kept in a bathroom with shower or tub as the room gets steamy and it is not good for the pills.  If you have children - remember - make sure the pills are locked in someway to keep them out - small children might think it is candy (never tell a child that your medicine or the child’s medicine is candy) and an older child might be looking to take your medication to get high. Check medications to see if there are any special conditions that they must be kept under - say a certain temperature range.

Over the counter medications are real medications and have side effects.  Always check the side effects before buying OTC medications and make sure that they do not interfere with your prescriptions medications - call your pharmacist or doctor if you are not sure.  OTC medications should be disposed of, as above, when they go past their expirations date.

Now, we want to have the same OTC medications upstairs and down.  I keep the old bottle when the contents are used up or disposed of and redate it with the date of the new bottle.  I only do this with the EXACT same medication.  I then put half of the new bottle in the old bottle.  I put, for example, aspirin in the aspirin bottle and write on the new expiration date.  I would never put Advil in an aspirin bottle.  Be very careful if you do this.  Don’t buy more than you can use before the expiration date, unless it is the smallest amount.

It is urgent that medications be stored and taken properly and kept safely away from children and pets and anyone else who cannot be trusted not to take them - on purpose or by accident.  If your medications are not organized and properly stored the wrong pills might be taken, the pills might be taken at the wrong time or in the wrong number, the pills might be taken by the wrong person, you might run out of a vital medication, you might stop taking pills too early or take them too long or too much.  Check your prescriptions now and make sure they are correct and set up to take correctly.  Dispose of any prescriptions or OTC medications which are no longer needed, used, or past their expiration date.  Medications used properly improve or save our lives.  Medications used incorrectly can have the opposite effects and can be catastrophic.





                   

Organizing books don't work for me.

How about a bit on organizing books and how I have found they don’t relate to me?  Do you find this to be true?

I have read my way through all sorts of books on organizing, decluttering, etc.  I have found that none of them really seem to apply to me and my situation.  I am guessing this is true for many people.                         

My house must be the smallest one there is.  For example, my bathroom is, according to several organizing books, smaller than the average closet.  It has no counter, one small drawer at the bottom of the cabinet, no room for permanent storage to be added to the bathroom.  It has a cabinet and sink so small, that when we went to replace them to the current ones we have, we had a choice of almost no sinks or vanities.  The ones on display in various stores did not fit into our bathroom.  And this is our larger bathroom!  This is far from the extensive bathrooms described in books. 

Front entrance hall? Another example.  Just about every organizing book I have read has an extensive section on the front entrance hall of the house.  The latest book I have read talked about what needs to be in the front entrance hall.  Maybe it would all fit in Downton Abbey’s entrance hall, but not in my front entrance hall.  There is a small closet.  There is a small mirror on one side of the front door and the door bell mechanism on the other side.  There is no room for a shelf or piece of furniture. With either one will not be able to walk through this tiny space.  Even more unlike the description of this room in books, we do not come into the house through it.  Our kitchen door is immediately adjacent to our driveway and much more convenient so that is what is used.  There is no mud room or other room when one enters through the kitchen.  When one walks in, one is between the stove and the counter.  No place for items waiting to go out (unless they are hung on the door knob), keys, shelves, storage etc. 

Alternate ideas had to be found and they were found more by logic than by suggestions from books - this is an important idea one must use logic in organizing.

Next week, I will tell you how I got started trying to get organized and my early efforts.