How to Organize Your Drawers: Everything You Need to Know
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We keep our lives in our desk drawers, bedroom drawers, and kitchens. Discover shortcuts that will keep your drawers organized so you can always find exactly what you need. Organize your drawers once and for all.
They are some of the easiest things to get completely messy because, well, out of sight out of mind. But when you organize your drawers, you just feel more in control and at peace.
Wondering where to begin? Get our FREE guide, The 30-Minute Organizing Secret, and discover easy ways to overcome the chaos of clutter – even with kids at home!
Organize Your Drawers For Good
How many drawers do you own all over your house? Chances are you have more than you can count.
It’s so easy to just throw things in a drawer, shut it, and forget about them.
But what often happens is the drawers either become too full to shut (which could break them) or they become so cluttered that you can’t find anything.
It’s so important to make all your drawers a pristine and organized place. When you know where things go, you will be more likely to put them there.
Another fantastic thing about organizing your drawers is that it is a super easy win. When you look at them and see how satisfying and calming everything is, you will be inspired and energized. You might just have the idea to organize more rooms in your home next!
So, let’s look at how to organize them and find some solutions that you can actually put into action.
The perfect companion to this guide is our Take Back Control book. Download this book and go through each room of your home and create a calm and organized area that brings you peace and joy!
How to Organize Clothes in Your Drawers
When your drawers are well-organized, you are doing more than providing additional space. You are keeping your clothes nicer too. If they are stored correctly, they won’t be stretched out or full of wrinkles. Plus, have you ever snagged a shirt in the back of the drawer and felt it rip? Not good.
Keeping drawers organized also protects your furniture. A drawer that is stuffed too full will potentially break.
There are three ways to organize your drawers, and all of them will help you have the most envious spaces.
Do you need to know how to organize all your clothes in your closet and bedroom? Check out our complete guide to closet organization and our bedroom organization guide!
1. Roll Clothes to Fit them in Better
One way that will more than double your storage space in your drawers is to roll your t-shirts. This is a really simple technique that you can also use when you are trying to pack lots of clothes into a small suitcase.
Here is a video showing you how to do it.
The only downside to this method is they might get wrinkled. But there are other ways to fold your clothes, save space, and prevent wrinkles.
This video shows you how to fold clothes in a different way. It also includes how to fold pants and sweaters.
2. Create DIY Drawer Dividers
If you are struggling because you have too much space in your drawers, use a drawer organizer to keep everything in its place.
The example below also shows how you can inconspicuously label your drawers. That way everyone in your house will know where things belong.
It’s pretty surprising, but true – having more space can often create a whole new set of problems.
You can buy drawer organizers online or even make your own out of foam core or plywood.
3. Sort by Color
After you fold all your clothes and create a separate space for each category, consider sorting everything by color. You will be amazed at how satisfying it is to open your drawers and see everything in a perfect ombre right in front of your eyes!
Organize Kitchen Drawers
The next room to organize is the kitchen. All those utensils and kitchen supplies are tough to keep organized. This is especially true if you just don’t have time to go through them all.
Take your time and go through each drawer, one at a time. Use these three kitchen drawer hacks and conquer the clutter.
If you want even more help to organize your entire kitchen, then our complete kitchen organization guide is what you need to read right now.
How To Organize Kitchen Drawers
Time needed: 1 hour
This is how to completely organize your kitchen drawers and keep them organized.
- Use Smaller Boxes
The first thing you can do to keep your kitchen drawers organized is to use smaller boxes inside of them.
Sort your kitchen utensils and tools in their own separate boxes. Keep washcloths and potholders separated too.
This will speed up the time it takes you to put things away and if you need to clean them, you can just pull out one box at a time. - Use Drawer Dividers
If you don’t have enough space for smaller boxes, you can always use drawer dividers. Custom fit the drawer dividers to split up your drawers into the exact dimensions that you need.
- Stack Dishes in Deep Drawers
Consider turning kitchen cabinets into large drawers for pots and pans, plastic containers and lids or even plates and bowls.
If you choose to upgrade your kitchen and add some deeper drawers, you’ll need to install some kind of dividers so they don’t become a big mess. These peg board dividers are pure genius.
Office, Hallway, End Table Drawers
Almost everyone has a junk drawer. And most junk drawers are either in the living room, hallway, or kitchen. Where is your junk drawer?
Well, it is time to conquer those problem areas and keep them organized. When you need a battery or a flash drive, you’ll be so glad you organized these drawers.
We covered most of this in our junk drawer organization guide. Check it out for even more tips.
1. Use small containers and dividers
Junk drawers and office drawers are often home to lots of small items that spill out and take over the entire drawer. You know what I mean – batteries rolling around on top of thumb tacks and loose pencils.
To combat this from happening, use a combination of both drawer dividers and small containers. This example from Instagram perfectly keeps everything where it belongs.
2. Only keep things with a home
As you are going through everything, throw things away. If you can’t find a place to keep it, create a place. If you don’t think you will ever use it then don’t keep it.
This one simple act will give you a lot more space and help you find a place to keep what you actually use.
3. Store things where you use them
Think about what you use in each room. Do you really need pliers in the living room? What about highlighters in the hallway?
Create storage for things where they are used. If you have a command center, store the dry erase markers and sticky notes next to it. If you need batteries for remotes, keep them in the living room.
This will save you lots of time searching all over the house for things that you need.
Bathroom Drawer Organization
When you have way too many beauty products, chances are you are just throwing them all in the bathroom drawers and forgetting about them.
Even if you don’t exactly relate to that scenario, bathrooms are home to medicines and tiny jars of nail polish. This lends it to being a disorganized mess. Thankfully, there are some proven methods that will keep everything sorted and straight in a peaceful way.
After you organize all your drawers, check out our complete bathroom organization guide to get the entire place all tidied up.
1. Sort by Category
First, you have to go through everything and put it into piles by category. You want to be able to find things, so to make that easier, keep all your things together in groups.
Use this list of common bathroom categories to help you sort everything:
- Medicine
- First Aid
- Hair clips and ties
- Makeup
- Lotions and soaps
- Oral care
- Wash cloths and loofas
- Bathroom cleaners
- Tissues
- Self-care toiletries
- Cotton swabs and cotton balls
- Nail polish
- Perfumes
2. Use small containers
Now that you know what you have, you need to decide what types of containers you need. How many bottles of nail polish do you have? That will determine the size of box you need.
The best thing about storing boxes inside of boxes is that when you need something, you don’t have to pull out the entire large container. You can just pull out the small box of hair clips, for example, and then put it back.
3. Hang things up on the wall
Finally, if you are still short on drawer space, you can always use your walls. Yup, hanging baskets and mason jars on your walls is a fantastic and popular storage hack. You can keep things sorted and it adds some decor to the walls at the same time.
Things To Remember When You Organize your drawers
It is so tempting to just shove things in a drawer and forget about them. But the one time you need something in that drawer, sifting through all the loose stuff will be super frustrating.
After all this work, you want to keep it all organized for as long as possible.
With these tips, you will be setting yourself and your family up for long-term organizing success.
1. Only keep what you need
This is the most important rule in organization and storage. Only keep what you use, what you need, and/or what means a lot to you sentimentally.
Take the time once or twice a year to go through all your drawers and get rid of anything you didn’t use recently. It is amazing how quickly collections of unnecessary and unusable things amass. It’s as though they are reproducing on their own.
Another way to combat the clutter is to make difficult decisions with all gifts and anything you bring into your house. Will you use it? Give yourself a time limit. If you don’t use it, get rid of it.
2. Use small boxes
All drawers, no matter which room or which area, can benefit from small boxes and drawer dividers. You can find a ton of super helpful drawer organizers online too.
Create a home for all your little knick-knacks and office supplies. If you can’t find a place to store something, create a place. The minute you just throw it in the drawer is the minute that loose battery tells its friends where the party is. Soon, you’ll have an overrun junk drawer.
3. Put things back where they go
Next, put things back after you use them. Does this sound familiar? I’m sure all parents continuously try to teach this lesson to their kiddos. Well, it’s a good one!
But if you are struggling to put things away, maybe reconsider where it belongs. Would it be easier for you if you created a spot for it closer to where you used it last?
Updating your storage spaces is always a good idea. You want your organized spaces to stay organized.
4. Clean them out regularly
Finally, it is very important to stay on top of your systems and make sure they are working. You can set a reminder on your phone to go through your drawers in the spring and fall. That way whatever you collected that year can be purged.
If it helps to do it sooner so you don’t have as much work, you can clean them once a month.
Set a schedule that fits in your life. The most important thing is to prevent yourself from being overwhelmed with clutter and too many things. Keep what you own sorted. If it becomes too difficult, find out what you can let go of and make it more manageable.
Organizing Drawers is So important
The best way to keep all your things organized and tidy is to give every single thing a home. Drawers are an integral part of this system. But don’t just rely on drawers. Sort them and put everything into even smaller containers.
And don’t forget to label things too. Some people even put labels on the inside of drawers so they don’t forget where things belong.
Above all, do what works for you. Keep your things where they belong and they will never be lost.
Struggling to get motivated? Sign up to get our FREE guide, The 30-Minute Organizing Secret, and discover easy ways to overcome the chaos of clutter – even with kids at home!
How To Organize Everything You Own
Now that you know how to organize your drawers, here are some more tricks and hacks for organizing everything else.
