Drawer Organizers Aren't Just For Kitchens Anymore. Try One In Your Office

Keeping a clean and tidy desk often feels like a full-time job all on its own. From organizing important documents to keeping track of your daily work essentials, like highlighters and sticky notes, sometimes the mess is inevitable. And sometimes it can even feel avoidable by simply tossing things in your drawer so they're out of sight and out of mind, right? While using your desk drawer may seem like a good short-term solution for hiding the mess, it unfortunately means the clutter and chaos now just live within the confines of your drawers. A longer-term solution and one of the best ways to tidy up your office desk is to use desk drawer organizers or utensil caddies — just like the ones you'd use in your kitchen.

While having a clean, clutter-free desktop does wonders for your productivity alone, adding some organization to your desk drawers is also crucial to maintaining a tidy workspace. Rachel Rosenthal, a Washington D.C.-based professional organizer and entrepreneur, believes that adding structure to your drawers is an efficient way to limit items in your immediate workspace to those you really need. "When you give yourself a clear space physically, it will clear up that space mentally, which will allow you to do your best work (both at home and at work)," she says on her website. So whether you need a full set of desk drawer organizers or only a couple of trays for your necessities, here's how to implement drawer organizers in your desk to help you feel more organized and prepared for the work days ahead.

There are two things you'll want to do before buying drawer organizers for your desk. First, measure and jot down each drawer's length, width, and depth, or use this clever parchment paper hack that makes organizing drawers so much easier. Second, take inventory of the supplies that'll be using these organizers to get a better idea of the tray shapes and sizes you'll need. For example, you may want the long, rectangular trays for pens but smaller square trays for paper clips and sticky notes.

With your plans and measurements in hand, head to your go-to store for home organization and storage products. For budget-friendly desk drawer organizers, head to Dollar Tree, where you can find a diverse line of office organization products that'll help keep your whole office neat and tidy — like these plastic three-compartment storage trays for $1.25, which are perfect for paper clips, rubber bands, and erasers. The Container Store also offers some of the best products to help organize your workspace, and its acrylic drawer organizers, which start at $3.99 each, would be a chic and functional addition to your desk drawers. 

Or, if you'd rather shop from the comfort of your cozy home office, take advantage of Amazon's great deals on organizers, like this 25-piece clear plastic drawer organizer set, currently for $18.49, which includes four different tray sizes so they can easily fit in your drawers. If you end up with extra trays, you can always use them to help declutter and organize other cabinet drawers in your home.