9 Shares

We’ve never had more than 1 ½ bathrooms in any place we’ve lived. Our current home has a half bathroom with just a toilet and sink in the basement (the kindest word to describe it would be “rustic” 🙂 ) that only gets used when absolutely necessary.

Since Austin’s sister lives with us, there are always at least three adults in the house. Plus, my family stays with us for a few weeks out of the year when they come to visit.

Without even realizing it, we’ve created some solutions to the problems that come up when you share a bathroom.

6 Tips for Sharing a Bathroom Without Going Crazy!

1. Only use the bathroom for actually “using the bathroom” and showers

When a lot of people need to use the same bathroom, it helps if everyone does as little as possible in there.

Obviously, it’s necessary for showering and using the toilet, but most other activities can be done elsewhere. The less you do in the bathroom, the more it is available for other people to do the necessary activities in.

2. Don’t store everything in the bathroom

To make tip #1 possible, it helps to not store everything in the bathroom.

We have a closet outside of the bathroom that we use to store most of the usual bathroom stuff. That’s where you’ll find toothbrushes, hair styling products, medicine, cotton balls, q-tips… Pretty much everything we might need.

If those things are in the bathroom and someone else is in the bathroom, then I can’t get ready.

By keeping most of our stuff outside of the bathroom, I can brush my teeth in the kitchen, do my hair in my bedroom, or put on makeup in the living room.

3. Have mirrors in other parts of the house

It also helps us all get ready in the morning to have mirrors in other parts of the house.

The dresser in our bedroom has a mirror attached. We also have a full-length mirror in the living room.

This means I can do my hair or makeup without needing the bathroom at all, which frees it up for other people who need it.

4. Decide where each person keeps their towel

We don’t have enough room in our bathroom for all three of us to hang a towel. So that we’re not going through 20 towels per week, we each have a special place to keep ours.

Austin and I have a blanket rack in our room that we use for our towels (see it on the left in the pic below). It’s helpful to have a hook in your guest room for guests to hang their towels on so that they know which one belongs to them.

You could also put a hook on the back of every bedroom door so that everyone has a place to hang their towel.

5. Check what time others are getting up the next morning

Even with all of these tips, it can still be a bit of a crunch in the morning if everyone needs to be awake and out of the house at the same time.

If you know what time other people need to be awake, you can stagger the times enough so that each person has a chance to use the bathroom. They shouldn’t need much time if they’re doing most of their getting ready in other parts of the house.

6. Evening showers

Since mornings are more rushed than evenings, don’t underestimate the helpfulness of evening showers.

I take my showers at night when I have more time. This means that I only need the bathroom for a minute in the morning. I do the rest of my getting ready in my bedroom – clothes, hair, makeup (well, usually I don’t bother with makeup 🙂 ).

If you have a ton of people at your house, a few people showering in the evening can break up the morning madness.

It can definitely be inconvenient to have to share a bathroom with multiple people.

Sometimes there’s no way around it but these tips have helped our house function efficiently with only one full bathroom. There’s never a line-up outside the door and we all manage to be ready on time each morning, which I consider to be signs of success!

How to Create a Year-Round Decluttering Routine

The 3 Best Places to Find Cheap Organization Products

How Many Clothes Should I Have? The Real Answer.