It's hard for a bathroom to be a relaxing haven if it's always a mess. And the average bathroom gets cluttered quickly. When you keep all your medications, makeup, grooming materials, shower materials, towels and toilet paper, and first aid items in one small room, you've got to be extra-vigilant to keep things neat and organized.

Keeping your bathroom organized may take a little extra work, but the effort is worth it. Here are a few tips for staying on top of the clutter in your bathroom.

Throw out what you don't use. Before starting to organize your bathroom, go through everything you keep there. Be prepared to throw a lot of things away. Any makeup, soap, shampoo, or medicine that's over a year old should go in the bin. Same with chronically mildewed toys, ripped or threadbare towels, rusty nail clippers, and anything else that isn't necessary and you don't use on a regular basis. Throw out what you don't need first, and you'll have less to organize later.

Have a towel rack for each person. If lots of people use a bathroom in the rush to get out the door in the morning, towels and washcloths can accumulate quickly-especially if there are kids involved. Make it easy for people to hang up towels: install a rack for each person who uses the bathroom. If you have kids, install hooks instead of racks; they're more likely to use them.

Use drawer dividers. Sick of opening your makeup drawer to a jumble of lipsticks, eyeshadows, and other cosmetics? It can be a hassle to rifle through your drawers every morning looking for your favorite shade of lip gloss. Organize your makeup drawer with dividers or even a cutlery organizer from the kitchen. These work great for any drawer full of small grooming implements.

Buy a shower caddy. Showers don't often have a lot of space for shampoos and soaps-but leaving your shampoo along the edge of the tub can make your bathroom look cluttered and messy. Hang a shower caddy from your showerhead with enough room to store everyone's shampoos, bath gels and soaps. This will allow everyone in your household to keep their favorite bath products on hand, without cluttering up your tub or shower.

Maximize your shelf space. Most people need every inch of storage space they can get in the bathroom-it's a small room with a lot of items to store. If you have a small bathroom or one without a lot of built-in storage space, you'll need to get creative. Install shelves in unused walls. Buy a cabinet designed to go over the toilet, or buy corner shelves that can be installed in the corner by the bathroom vanity. This will allow you extra space to keep linens, makeup, jewelry, and other necessities.

Use small containers or baskets. One of the most aggravating things about the bathroom is the amount of shampoos, soaps, hair gels, and shower gels you need to find a home for. You also have first aid materials such as band-aids and antibiotic ointment, which you need to be able to access quickly. In order to keep your bathroom necessities organized, buy containers or baskets and label them for each type of item. Keep first-aid items in one container, hair products in another, nail-care items in a third, and so on. Make sure to label each container clearly.

Color coordinate. If you have a large family sharing a bathroom, you may experience some conflict with sharing this small place. Teens and tweens can be territorial, especially about grooming products. Help them keep their things separate by giving each kid a color-coded container for makeup, hair gel, and other important products. In addition, color-code toothbrushes, towels, washcloths, and even shampoos. This way, you can monitor who makes the biggest messes without blaming all the kids for a cluttered bathroom. This may mean less conflict over messes in the long run.

It's easy for a bathroom to get messy, but it doesn't have to be difficult to keep things organized. Spend a few hours setting up a system, buy some organization products such as drawer dividers and containers, and throw out items you don't use-and you should be able to keep your bathroom clean and clutter-free.