Practical Drawer Organisation For A Tidy Living Space
The state of your living space can have a profound impact on your overall well-being and sense of harmony.
One often underestimated factor in home organisation is the organisation of drawers. Drawer organisation plays a significant role in creating an environment of order and efficiency, ultimately contributing to a more harmonious living space.
From reducing stress and improving productivity to enhancing visual aesthetics and promoting a peaceful atmosphere, the benefits of drawer organisation extend beyond mere tidiness and have a positive influence on our daily lives.
Methods of Drawer Organisation
DIY Drawer Dividers
When it comes to achieving effective drawer organisation, DIY drawer dividers are a popular and practical solution. By creating custom dividers tailored to your specific needs, you can optimise the use of space and keep items neatly organised within your drawers.
There are various methods for creating DIY drawer dividers that are simple, cost-effective, and customizable. One approach is to use materials readily available at home, such as sturdy cardboard, foam board, or even repurposed materials like shoe boxes or cutlery trays.
By measuring the dimensions of your drawer and cutting these materials to fit, you can create individual compartments for different items, such as clothing, accessories, office supplies, or kitchen utensils.
Purchasing Premade Drawer Organisers
If you prefer a convenient and time-saving solution, purchasing premade drawer organisers is an excellent option to achieve efficient and hassle-free drawer organisation.
These organisers are specifically designed with various compartments and sections to accommodate different items and optimise space utilisation. They come in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and materials to suit different drawer types and purposes.
When shopping for premade drawer organisers, consider the specific needs of your drawers and the items you intend to store.
Look for organisers that offer adjustable or customizable compartments, allowing you to arrange them according to your preferences and the size of your items. Materials such as plastic, bamboo, or fabric offer durability and easy maintenance.
Utilising Containers as Storage Solutions
Using containers as drawer storage solutions is a practical and effective method to keep your belongings organised and easily accessible.
Containers provide designated spaces for different items, preventing them from getting mixed up and creating a layer of clutter within the drawer.
Make sure you select the appropriate containers, categorise your items, and optimise your space. Also, remember to label the containers, and consider using drawer liners for stability.
Repurposing Items as Organisers
Repurposing items as organisers is a creative and sustainable approach to the best drawer and home organisation. Instead of purchasing specific organisers, you can give new life to everyday objects by repurposing them to suit your needs.
Repurposing items as drawer organisers offers cost-effective and eco-friendly solutions. Ice cube trays, muffin tins, cutlery trays, empty food containers, shoeboxes, egg cartons, and cardboard tubes can all be transformed into functional storage solutions. These repurposed items help organise various items, from small jewellery and craft supplies to office supplies and cables.
By utilising these creative methods, you can save money and contribute to waste reduction while keeping your drawers tidy and clutter-free.
Room-Specific Drawer Organisation Solutions
Kitchen Drawer Organisation
Implementing effective kitchen drawer organisation is important for maintaining an efficient and clutter-free culinary space.
Start by decluttering the drawer and categorising items based on their function. Utilise drawer dividers or trays to create separate compartments and consider vertical storage solutions. Specialised organisers for knives, utensils, and gadgets can enhance organisation. Labelling containers or sections facilitates easy identification, and regular maintenance ensures optimal functionality.
You can create a well-organised kitchen space that saves time, enhances efficiency, and improves the overall aesthetics of your kitchen by following these tips.
Bedroom and Wardrobe Drawer Organisation
Efficiently organising your bedroom and wardrobe drawers is key to maintaining a functional and neat space.
Start by decluttering the drawers and categorising your clothing items. Utilise drawer dividers or organisers to create separate compartments and maximise the use of vertical space. Strategically fold or roll your clothes to optimise visibility and space. Consider using drawer liners for protection and add labels or colour-coded tags to identify the contents of each drawer.
Bathroom and Vanity Drawer Organisation
To maintain an organised and efficient bathroom and vanity drawer, it’s important for you to prioritise a clutter-free space.
Begin by decluttering and getting rid of any unused or expired products. Group your items into categories and utilise drawer dividers or trays to create separate compartments. Clear containers will enable you to easily see smaller items.
Maximise vertical space by using stackable containers or organisers. Label your containers to quickly locate specific items and keep frequently used items easily accessible at the front.
Home Office and Workspace Drawer Organisation
Are you tired of digging through a cluttered mess in your home office drawer, desperately searching for that one important document?
It’s time to take control and create an organised and efficient workspace that will supercharge your productivity. Start by decluttering and prioritising the essentials, clearing out the unnecessary items that are only taking up valuable space.
Next, categorise and sort similar items, giving each its rightful place in the drawer. Don’t forget to use handy drawer dividers to keep everything separate and neatly organised. Arrange your items strategically, placing the ones you use most frequently within easy reach.
And for that extra touch of home organisation ideas, try using labels or clear containers, so you can effortlessly find what you need at a glance. Don’t let valuable vertical space go to waste – stackable containers and organisers will maximise every inch of your drawer.
Lastly, remember to regularly maintain your organised space by reassessing its contents and getting rid of any unnecessary items that may have snuck their way in.
Get ready to revolutionise your drawer organisation game as Kelly and Bonnie unleash a treasure trove of tips and tricks in this electrifying podcast:
2017.02.21 ABC Radio – Junk Drawer
Transcript
Kelly:
How organised is your home? Well, we’re going to start organising our homes with the Junk Drawer. First up, Bonnie Black is a professional organiser. She is the Little Miss Organized. Bonnie’s going to be here every fortnight to give you some inspiration for making life a little easier. Hello?
Bonnie:
Hi, Kelly. How are you?
Kelly:
Good. Did that ring some bells? Although which drawer is it for you now? For me, it is about the third and the fourth drawers, to be perfectly frank.
Bonnie:
Sure.
Kelly:
That are full…
Bonnie:
-of stuff.
Kelly:
Yes.
Bonnie:
Well, I have to tell you, I don’t actually have a junk drawer myself, and that’s no, I know. But that’s giving hope to people. There’s a solution out there, and it does work. So, we often find in people’s homes, the first drawer can be the junk drawer, but often it’s the third or the fourth drawer as well.
Kelly:
The first drawer makes no sense because that’s where your knives and your forks are.
Bonnie:
I know you’d think it would be the most organised one, but especially if you’ve got kids or you’ve had little kids, it’s full of those plastic kids spoons or the dispensers for the Nurofen and the Panadol, and nobody really knows where to put those things. And so when we’re doing a kitchen, we always start with that drawer, because that’s the one that’s the least emotional.
Kelly:
Where do you put all those little Nurofen things? I know what you’re talking about. The ones where you have to measure it out to give your child the right dose, all those sort of things.
Bonnie:
Usually you put it with the Nurofen and the Panadol, and that’s generally not in the top drawer, is it?
Kelly:
It’s in the fridge. For me, with it might be the best idea.
Bonnie:
Yeah. So, having a medicine spot.
Kelly:
Fancy that.
Bonnie:
Yeah, I know. It’s a revolutionary idea, right?
Kelly:
It certainly is. The junk drawer isn’t just the kitchen, though, is it? The junk drawer? I have junk drawers as well in my study. I have not the bedroom so much. Well, I’ve got junk cupboard, but we’ll get to that later. Let’s just stay with that. So it can be anywhere. Can it be the kitchen, the office, bedside drawers? We have a lot of little bits and pieces of stuff.
Bonnie:
Yeah, we do. We don’t really know which place to put things in, so we just kind of scoop it into a drawer and think, I will deal with that later. And later never comes, of course, so it can be any room.
Kelly:
And is the reason we have one because we think we will use it, or because it actually is useful? Because when I think about it, I don’t actually go to that third drawer very often. I avoid it like the plague, in fact, because it scares me a little.
Bonnie:
Yeah, well, that’s why we call it the drawer of doom, because it’s scary going in. You might not ever come out again.
Kelly:
What have you found in people’s junk drawers or drawers of doom?
Bonnie:
Lots of things. So, you can get anything from all those little bits of the extra bits of cutlery and so plastic things that were used when you had little kids and the Nurofen dispensers and all that kind of thing, to rubber bands, to batteries, to anything little that people haven’t given a home somewhere, it just all goes in there.
Kelly:
What’s the solution, then, for cleaning up?
Bonnie:
Look, finding a place for everything, that saying a place for everything and everything in its place, it rings true for a reason. And people talk about that being a little bit too OCD or a little bit too anal, but that’s actually what works. So, if you had a place for all your batteries to go, if you had a place for all your medicine to go, if you had a pen holder where all your pens were to go, you wouldn’t actually have a junk drawer.
Kelly:
You’d have a spot for everything.
Bonnie:
Yes.
Kelly:
Isn’t that just a whole lot more spots for more stuff? Are you actually addressing the issue when you do that?
Bonnie:
Well, I guess the thing is, if you’re creating, say, a battery box, you’re giving yourself a boundary. So once that battery box is full, or getting too close to being full, then you say, right, no more can fit in here, so we have to do a cull. The same thing has to happen with pens, so people tend to think that, oh, my pen holder is full, so I’ll just chuck this one down in the drawer. How many pens do you use at one time? One.
Kelly:
One.
Bonnie:
And generally speaking, we’ve got our favourites. It’s that Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule. We have always got those couple that we will go back to. They’re our fallbacks. So, why are we keeping the pens that we got from the hotel or from the exhibition? Yeah, they’re useful, but you don’t need it, so why don’t you pass it on to someone who will actually use it like a charity.
Kelly:
Yeah. So, Bonnie, I just want to know, in your kitchen, do you have your utensils hanging down where you can get them, or are they in a drawer?
Bonnie:
Oh, they’re in a drawer, because I don’t like too much visual clutter. It creates too much mental clutter.
Kelly:
Right. You’re never coming to mind.
Bonnie:
Look, some people can do hanging utensils really beautifully, but really, if you’re a minimalist, that’s the only time that it actually looks beautiful, as well as being functional. And most people who try to do the hanging utensils end up with 50 of them up there, and that just doesn’t tend to look so great.
Kelly:
Yeah. How often should we be cleaning out our junk drawers?
Bonnie:
Oh, regularly, I think at least once a month.
Kelly:
I was hoping you were going to say once every five four, five years. No, once a month.
Bonnie:
Oh, that’s really going to build up a mountain for you that long.
Kelly:
I’m sure there are people like me who get put something new in the junk drawer. And it’s a bit like you open it just a bit, shove it in.
Bonnie:
Hope that it doesn’t pop out later.
Kelly:
In the middle of the night. You’re going to hear some creaking and confusion as everything goes. How can you organise these drawers then, if you’re going to do it properly?
Bonnie:
Yeah, look, it’s okay for people to actually have miscellaneous drawers. It’s not about, oh, you shouldn’t have a drawer full of those random items. It’s about organising them properly. So if you went to the discount shop near you and got a whole lot of those shallow baskets, color code them if you like, and put those in that drawer, then you can have a spot where your spare pens can go. Then you can have a spot for your batteries and your Nurofen dispensers or whatever it is. But it’s about assigning a home for things. So, a miscellaneous drawer is fine. Just don’t let it overflow and become a junk drawer.
Kelly:
Alright. I cannot promise anything with the old junk drawers. Just one. Should we keep it to just one? As I say, I do have two. I’m not even making that up. I’ve got two and sort of there’s overflow into other drawers.
Bonnie:
That’s the thing. Once we start breaching our boundaries, then it just kind of sets us up for danger down the track. So, setting those boundaries and saying, right, I’m going to stick to it. And once this drawer is full, I’m going to do some maintenance work on it. So, I think it’s fine, as I said, to have a miscellaneous drawer. But yeah, don’t let it overflow into more drawers or into the cupboard of doom or the room of doom.
Kelly:
Yes, well, we’ll get to the room of doom later because I’m sure everyone has one. Well, some people have one of those, too. Now, I bought my husband a few years back. Now, a Man Tin, actually, that’s what it’s called on,
Bonnie:
The Man Tin.
Kelly:
A Man Tin, because and I’m sure he’s not the only one, I’m sure a lot of blokes do this, and maybe some women, too, where they just collect, like, nuts and bolts and rubbish. I don’t even know what they are, but it’s like, oh, no, put that in the Man Tin. That goes in the Man Tin. How much stuff can they keep? That never gets used.
Bonnie:
I know. And this causes so much frustration for so many wives because those Man Tins overflow into drawers and into cupboards, and then all of a sudden, you can’t find the garage bench.
Kelly:
Then it’s in your living room on the bookshelf. Yes, a screwdriver. Why, I’ve got a whole set of that kind of thing, actually, on my bookshelf at home because there’s nowhere else to put it.
Bonnie:
Yeah, sure. So once again, it’s about assigning it at home give your husband a spot where you can say, all right, this is your Man Tin. But once it’s full, you’ve got to do something about it, and it’s about sticking to those boundaries.
Kelly:
All right. Going to have to get tough.
Bonnie:
Yes. Tough love.
Kelly:
We’ll see how we go. All right, so that is sort of our duty for the next fortnight. Or one of our tasks that’s.
Bonnie:
Yes. One of our homework, if you like.
Kelly:
That’s a good word. Homework for the next week. Get into the junk drawer. All right. I might do that for the fun of it.
Bonnie:
That would be awesome.
Kelly:
That would be scary. I’ll have to go through it first.
Bonnie:
No, we can’t show that one. Let’s get that out of there.
Kelly:
That’s it might be giving too much away. All right, I will Facebook Live cleaning out the junk drawers, so just be ready for it when it happens.
Bonnie:
Sounds good.
Kelly:
Bonnie, thank you very much. What’s your website?
Bonnie:
www.littlemissorganised.com.au
Conclusion
By implementing the above tips, you can transform your living space into a haven of order and tranquillity. Organised drawers not only bring practical benefits, such as easy access to belongings and increased efficiency. But they also contribute to a sense of calm and well-being.
So why not take the leap and try out these tips, or book a cleaning service? Start small, one drawer at a time, and watch as the ripple effect of organisation spreads throughout your home. You’ll be amazed at the transformative power of a well-organised drawer and the positive impact it can have on your overall well-being.
