Getting My Drawers In Order

Nope, not talking about underwear. Although, I did organize my underwear drawer. Anyway- let’s move on. Today, I wanted to show you something that has changed. my. life… you organizers out there, get ready. Check out this guy:

Wait, let me back up. First of all, welcome to ORGANIZATION WEEK! Seeing as it’s spring and spring makes me yearn for fresh and clean, it’s only fitting that we start to do a little cleaning and organizing around this place. For crying out loud. Today’s assignment? The dreaded DRAWERS. For awhile now, every time I open my dresser drawers (not every single one, but most of them) my mood would get just a little bit worse. I don’t know how it happens, but no matter how many times I try and clean them, it never lasts long and they always just end up a huge mess again.

Messy drawers are stressful, time consuming, and expensive. Stressful for the chaos that my eyes and mind read every time I open them, time consuming because it takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to find anything, and expensive because I’ve definitely bought things I thought I needed, but actually already had and I just couldn’t find them. So, clearly, something had to change. Enter this brilliant invention:

I saw these grid-like drawer organizers and thought that this could be the solution to all my problems. BUT, no stores were selling them anymore! I struck out at Target, Lowes, Home Depot, and most Bed, Bath, and Beyonds. There was one BBB that still had them in stock so I ended up getting three (just to be safe).

First, I started with underwear and jewelry. Weird combination, I know, but I recently pared all my jewelry down and have far less sitting out on my dresser. Just the small stuff- earrings, chain necklaces, and a few bracelets (more on how those are corralled tomorrow!). For the bigger costume jewelry, I wanted to give each piece a designated space so that choosing and clean up were easier. Before, I had them hanging on a hook on my mirror and everything was just getting tangled, it was a pain to get the ones in the back, etc. And really, it just looked junky (and yes, I am aware that the dresser itself is in desperate need of some love… it’s on the to-do list).

And thus, the idea of an underwear/big jewelry draw was born. Here’s how the drawer started:

And after the magic of the organizer, this is how it is today:

Excuse the censoring… I just figured that there’s really no reason people need to see the real deal. 🙂 Trust me, though, they’re there. And they’re organized. Now, about the jewelry. It has really helped to have a spot for the bigger stuff that allows for easy access- I find I wear more of it because now I can actually see what I have! No, this is probably not the best way to store jewelry and it might not be the “forever” solution, but it works for now.

At that point, excitement levels were running high, so I kept the ball rolling and moved on to socks. Let’s just say- things are definitely looking up in this drawer. This is what I started with:

Just for kicks, I thought it would be fun to do a time lapse video of how the assembly and organization process went down. Trust me- this was SO EASY and will take you no time at all. Granted, I’d be impressed if you can do it in 2:36 minutes like the movie, but still- you’ll fly through this.

Have I inspired a new shopping list addition yet? Just to be clear, I’m not getting paid to say this. BBB does not know my name or anything about this blog, nor do the makers of this product- I just thought I’d pass along something that has been a fan favorite with us. If you’re still on the fence, let me just indulge you in one last drawer-ful of organized heaven. This is best before and after I could have asked for. I have this drawer that holds everything from make-up, hair products, headbands, and hygiene products to nail polish, chapstick, perfume, and cleaner for my ring. It’s an everything drawer. Aka. it’s been an organizing nightmare. I had unsucessfully tried to corral things in a couple of shoe boxes, but there was just no good method that kept things nice and neat (and showed me what all was in there!). Here’s what it looked like before:

And (brace yourself) after:

Ahhhhh! Picture a major sigh of relief every time I open that drawer now. Here’s the great thing- everything has a place. When everything has a place, it’s easy to keep neat and there’s less of a chance that things will get crazy again. The headbands that were springing out of the drawer every time I opened it are now tamed and orderly.

The assortment of beauty products have now been organized and are much easier to find and put away. And I don’t accidentally buy duplicates anymore!

There was even enough space on the side to store some things that don’t fit inside the little compartments.

So let’s talk longevity. How long can I really keep up this level of order and organization? Well, I’ve had this system in place since the beginning of January and it still looks the way it did when I first organized it, so this product gets an A+++ in my book! I think I found the solution that’s going to last the long haul and I couldn’t be more thrilled. 🙂

Is it weird to say that I enjoy putting things away now because they have a specific place? Probably. I’m sure it’s way too corny to say that it makes cleaning fun (it doesn’t), but it’s definitely more enjoyable to maintain a system that works rather than feeling like no matter what I do, it’s a lost cause. So I guess we can call that more fun. I mean, sure, why not?

What are your drawer organization tricks? Any tried and true methods for storing the madness? I am all ears and will probably steal your brilliant ideas. 🙂