Bathroom Basics

Tips For Stocking Up Your Bathroom With the Basics Needed For All Different Types Of Visitors

Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

Advice Seeker: Dear April Masini,

I'm renovating the bathroom in my house and I want it to be comfortable for everyone. I live alone but my boyfriend stays over a lot. Also, my sister likes to visit with her toddler and they sometimes stay overnight. My elderly parents visit a couple times a year and stay over. How can I make sure my new bathroom is well-stocked and comfortable for everyone?

Sincerely,

Needing Bathroom Basics

April Masini's advice:

Dear Needing Bathroom Basics,

Stocking your bathroom correctly depends on who’s going to be in there — or who you want to be in there! Since you seem to have a steady stream of all types of people, you're going to want a little bit of everything.

What You'll Need In Your New Bathroom:

A bathroom in a house where there’s a newborn will have some bulb suction devices to stuffy baby noses, some Bactrim or other antiseptic and some non-talc powder and diaper rash cream. At least.

A bathroom where there are older children should have at least a good stock of band aids in different sizes, a few extra pull ups or diapers for accidents, non-mercury thermometers for all orifices including ears, and some menstrual pads in case girls get their periods (and this can start as early as nine years of age these days).

A bathroom for singles hoping to make a love connection will have condoms, lots of soaps and some candles. At least. However, if a lot of other people will be using this bathroom as well, it's best to keep these accessories hidden away!

And anyone who’s got elderly people living in their homes or just visiting will want a raised potty seat with handles, some extra Depends or other such products and good lighting as well as no-trip, no-slip floors.

So, you see it all depends on who’s visiting — or staying.

There are other reasons to stock up and glam up a bathroom:

One of the main reasons a glammed out bathroom is important is not just that it ups the resale value of your home — it infuses your relationship! Yep. You heard right. One of the best marital aids, is a terrific bathroom.

Think about it …

For couples that have been together forever, or just five years or more, the bathroom is one of the first places men and women find to complain about each other in the house. The toilet seat is up, the toothpaste isn’t squeezed right, the dirty towels are on the floor, etc. When the bathroom is killer — all of this other detail takes a back seat.

And…for couples who are new, a great bathroom can be a chick magnet or man magnet. If men think it’s their cars that lure women in — they’re wrong. It’s their bathrooms. (Wink!)

In my dating books, Think & Date Like A Man (for women) and Date Out Of Your League (for men), I advise readers to have…

An impeccable bathroom — Have plenty of toilet paper, stash all feminine hygiene products, and put the toilet seat d-o-w-n, and a medicine cabinet with nothing to make her squirm over (just assume she’ll be taking a snoop while she’s “powdering her nose”).

Trust me — a terrific bathroom is just as important as a good suit, a fabulous haircut and even more important than a good line.

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Dating Advice for Women, Dating Tips for Guys, Ideas for a Fun Date, Romantic Date Ideas, Better Sex, Kissing Tips

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.