Have you ever been scrolling through Instagram and come across those minimalistic, perfectly divided drawers and thought, “Yeah, right. Where’s all their stuff?” Except your disdain actually came from a place of longing and jealousy, right? Just a little? Don’t fret, I’m here to help all your bathroom drawer organization goals come true.
Organizing Your Bathroom Drawer
Before you can organize your bathroom drawer, you must purge and minimize what you’ve got. The simpler your needs are, the simpler your bathroom drawer organization can be — and simple always works best for organizing.
Be realistic about what you use, what you need, and where you need it. It’s easier to organize a bathroom drawer when you’ve got less stuff.
Step 1: Purge & Rehome
Go through your bathroom drawer and consider every item in the space.
Get rid of anything you don’t need or won’t use — be realistic.
That face wash with an inch of product left that’s been there for months? Use it or let it go.
That free sample that came with the item you actually wanted? Use it or let it go!
If you find anything that doesn’t belong in the drawer, put it in its rightful space.
Step 2: Evaluate your space.
A bathroom drawer, especially a top one, should only contain items you use every day. Move less frequently used items to another space such as the cabinet under your sink or a linen closet.
Just because you always keep things in one place doesn’t mean they have to stay there. Our focus today is on drawers, but you can use your drawers more effectively if you are storing your less-used belongings elsewhere.
Related Post: An Organized Bathroom Closet
Now that you’ve moved some items, whittled your belongings down to the essentials and returned any items that don’t belong to their rightful home, it’s time for some fun!
Step 3: Measure & Shop
Your next step for bathroom drawer organization is to measure your space and shop for organization products. There are two ways to proceed. Choose whichever suits your personality and lifestyle best.
Method 1: Plan and Measure
Get your ruler and measure each drawer and each toiletry item you want stored there. Purchase drawer dividers accordingly.
Method 2: Fly by the Seat of your Pants (kind of)
Shop with your measurements in mind, purchase items you think will work, but then grab some extras just in case. Go back home and play Tetris in your bathroom drawer until you’ve got it exactly right.
My Choice
Personally, I prefer a hybrid between Method 1 and 2. I go into the store with measurements and items in mind, but I also like to be hands-on and have options. I buy more than what I need, but my purchases aren’t random.
Materials
My favorite item to use in drawers are iDesign Linus Shallow Drawer Organizers. They’re sturdy and come in an assortment of sizes. They range in price from $5.49 to $7.99 and go on sale for 20% off every few months, so wait for a sale if you can!
If that doesn’t sound good to your wallet, Walmart’s Home Edit line has some drawer organizers that will work well, although it’s a set, which makes it much less flexible. You could also grab this larger set and knock out a few drawers!
When organizing drawers, I prefer to keep vertical items, such as contact solution and deodorant, in a medicine cabinet if possible.
I also like to keep back stock, such as extra toothpaste, in a closet or cabinet. Always try to use your most valuable real estate for your most frequently used items.
Step 4: Place your items in your organizers
Now, it’s time for the fun part.
You want to match each item you have to the closest sized container.
Why is that important?
The closer the bin is to the product you’re storing in it, the more efficiently you can use your drawer space.
Take each item you definitely want to keep in the drawer and place it the most appropriately sized drawer organizer.
If there’s too much extra space, size down. If it’s such a perfect fit that grabbing your item is annoying, size up.
Repeat this sizing process with everything you’d like to keep in your drawer. Hopefully, when you’re done, you’ll have all of your items perfectly nestled inside each organizer.
Pro-Tip: Remove packaging from items so they take up less room and fit into smaller containers.
Step 5: Place your organizers in your drawers
Try each divider out in the drawer. Move the organizers here and there until it feels just right. Use as much of the drawer as you can for the most efficient use of space.
In round 1 of experimenting with this drawer, I found I had several inches of wasted space in the back of the drawer. While I love open space, this just didn’t seem like a smart use of valuable real estate.
Even though I don’t use cotton balls and Q-tips everyday, moving them up to use the space more efficiently made sense.
Everything is easy to see. Everything is easy to grab. Every inch is used wisely.
Step 5: Finishing Touches
When all your items are in appropriate-sized containers and you’re happy with the layout, it’s time to commit and take the tags off.
One of my favorite features of these iDesign organizers is their little rubber feet that help keep them in place, BUT if you or your partener are aggressive drawer openers, you may find you need a little Museum Gel or other clear adhesive as additional security.
With Museum Gel (or Quake Gel) a little goes a long way. Grab a pea-sized amount, roll it into a ball, stick it to the bottom of the organizer, then press the organizer firmly into the drawer.
Your Bathroom Drawer Organization
And that’s about all there is to organizing a bathroom drawer — or any drawer! Minimize, prioritize, contain, and place!
Could you use this kind of bathroom organization in your life? What are you waiting for? Go organize a bathroom drawer today! Drop a comment below and let me know how it goes!
Happy Organizing!
