Mistakes That People With Organized Drawers Never Make (& What You're Getting Wrong)

Whether the dresser in your bedroom is overflowing, your kitchen drawers won't close right, or you need to figure out how to declutter your junk drawer, you're likely making organizational mistakes that prevent you from being as tidy as you'd wish. When you see images of perfectly sorted drawers online, you may notice that they all have some similarities. One mistake that people with organized drawers never make is simply throwing loose stuff into the storage area. Rather, you can create sections within the drawers using commercial organizers or other little bins. While many people do this with their cutlery, it can certainly apply to clothing storage or desk drawers as well.

With this system in place, all of your belongings will have a designated spot in the drawer. For dressers, you might consider using several different plastic or fabric bins to separate your clothes, or expandable drawer dividers (about $13 for a five-pack on Amazon). If you find that containers move around a lot, you could use glue or command strips to keep them in place. If you want to save a few dollars, you can also keep plastic food containers, wash them out, and implement them as a drawer organizer system. However you choose to do it, divvying up drawers into smaller compartments is one of the integral ways to declutter and organize every cabinet drawer in your home.

Not only is it important to install something in your drawers to keep your items separate, but you'll also want to consider how you're filling the bins. Ensure that each section has similar objects inside. For example, if you're organizing a bathroom drawer, try placing hair ties and bobby pins in their own small containers, while putting hygiene products in a larger one. Additionally, if you have trouble keeping track of where everything is, using clear bins or labeling your organizers can make staying neat even easier.

Another common mistake is not decluttering your drawers as you organize. When you take everything out of the drawer to sort and put back, remove any items that are no longer useful to you or don't work well anymore. This will prevent your drawers from becoming stuffed to the brim and you won't have to dig around redundant items to find what you need. In the same vein, it's also important to put the items back as soon as you're done using them, rather than leaving them out to create clutter on a counter or table.

When you start trying to find the best way to organize your dresser drawers and other storage spaces in your home, it can become overwhelming. This is why it's crucial to take your time and implement a system. Instead of trying to organize every drawer in your home at once, or even all the drawers in a room, start with just one a day. Doing so will break up the task and allow you to find the perfect way to sort each drawer. By the time you've finished them all, you'll have gotten into the habit of organizing your drawers and can continue to go through them on a regular basis (the more often you do, the quicker and more painless the process). This is a great way to ensure your drawers stay tidy rather than becoming cluttered again over time.

As you go through your belongings, you may also want to clean the drawers. Even if everything inside is neat and sorted, accumulated dust will make them look dirty. Unless you're tackling product spills, simply wipe down the inside of the drawer with a dusting cloth when you sort through it. Having a properly stocked cleaning caddy for on-the-go tasks like scrubbing a food stain out of a drawer can be invaluable. A cheap handheld cordless vacuum is another tool that can streamline jobs like cleaning a dusty drawer. Liners can also help keep dresser drawers clean and are convenient if you're using dividers rather than bins. Now, you'll be able to stop falling prey to organizational pitfalls and keep your drawers neat as a pin all year long.