s your bathroom awash with stacks of personal products, gadgets and other related
personal items? Here's a quick exercise to streamline the clutter and reclaim the bathroom to its former glory.

Start by separating all of the items in your bathroom into two categories: frequently-used items and rarely-used items. Make sure you rifle through all of the vanity drawers, closets and shelving, placing everything into the two groups.

Wipe down all of the newly-cleared surfaces and dry off with a towel. Take the time to put fresh liner in the drawers and on the shelves. Now take only the daily-use items and place them back on the shelves or into a convenient vanity drawer. Consider using decorative dispensers that match the bathroom decoration instead of the commercial containers for shampoo, crèmes and other liquid soaps.

Take other less-frequently used items out of the second pile and store them in lower drawers or toward the back of your bathroom closet, out of view. Use clear-plastic bins to separate items by category, like nails or makeup. Also, consider storing other items that are more decorative, like small perfume or cologne bottles, together in a small basket.

As you go, ask yourself if the items you are hoarding are really necessary or can be either tossed out or combined. Many product samples and last-year's cosmetics or prescriptions often wind up strewn about the bathroom. If you're not daring enough to toss them, combine them in a single storage bin and put it in a laundry room or another closet (it is one step closer to the trash bin.)

Anything left over in the rarely-used pile is undoubtedly trash and can be thrown out altogether. Try this exercise late in the evening or on the weekend when there might be fewer distractions and before you might actually need to use the bathroom to get ready for an outing.

The net result should be a well-polished bathroom presentation that is both admirable and presentable. This will spare you the embarrassment of sending guests into disarray when, inevitably, someone needs to use your personal bathroom when the guest lav is occupied. And you can enjoy your morning rituals in a calm and orderly setting, helping to set the right mood for the hectic day ahead.