Bathroom Drawer Organization

Remember just a few short weeks ago when I said I was going to set a New Year’s Resolution to get my home organized?  And then I said I was going to start with my incredibly unorganized bathroom drawers?

Well.  I did just that.

I went to Walmart the next day and I did, indeed, buy some very inexpensive organization tools.  I brought them home and went right to work getting those drawers emptied, sorted, and organized.

See? Messy. Unorganized. Frightening and anxiety-inducing.  Also, you should know that the cotton ball remnants are a result of the kids, who for some reason love to play with cotton balls.

Before getting all crazy with the organizing, I knew I needed to come up with a plan.  My main goals for the master bathroom drawers were:

1. Give Charles his own drawer so he can no longer “forget” which toothbrush is his and accidentally use mine.

2. Simplify my makeup drawer.  I rarely wear makeup these days, and when I do, it’s always the same thing…so, no need to pretend I should keep the sparkly black eye shadow in case I randomly find myself with plans to go a club one night.

3. Put everything in a place.  And if it doesn’t have a place, get rid of it.  If I don’t have a place to put it, I don’t need it.

As it turned out, this was a pretty easy – and very fulfilling – project.  Although…I did have to make some tough decisions.  Like, which brown eye shadows I should toss.

You can never have too many brown eye shadows. Or, so I thought.

For a girl who only wears makeup a few days a week, it sure was hard getting rid of it!  I could think of every reason under the sun to justify keeping all of these…this one is shimmery, that one has little sparkles, that one is a little darker than this one but not quite as dark as that one…etc., etc., etc.  In the end, I kept the ones I wear most regularly and tossed the rest.

I actually like opening these drawers now.

Before heading to Wally World, I measured the drawers – width, length and height.  I decided that I wanted everything in the drawers to be contained, so I wanted to make sure I bought containers that would fit in the drawers (this may be obvious for most of you, but I thought I was pretty smart for thinking about this *before* I bought everything).

For less than $20 at Walmart, I bought two silverware trays, a couple of colorful ceramic bowls, and several plastic storage bins.

And then, with containers stacked nicely on counter and a trash bag by my side, I got after it.  I pulled the stuff out of the drawers and either tossed it, put it away in another location, or put it back in the drawer – in a container this time, though.

The silverware trays?  AWESOME.  My cluttered makeup bin is no longer.  Instead, I have a whittled down version of my previous makeup disaster – all neat and easily accessible.

Ahhhhh. Much, much better.

But my crowning glory is, without a doubt, the Man Drawer.

All his. All awesome.

Charles has his own drawer, all to himself (which means that I have, umm, three drawers to myself…but who’s counting, right?).  I do not have the words to express how amazing it is to no longer worry about Charles using my toothbrush or leaving the toothpaste all nasty or using the last of my deodorant because it’s the first one he grabbed out of the drawer.  Everything he needs is in his drawer.  And I’m pretty sure he likes it better, too, so…why didn’t we think of this sooner??

I used cute little ceramic bowls for odds and ends (and, as practical as the cheap Walmart plastic bins are, I kind of love the idea of the little pop of color these turquoise bowls provide).

It’s been several weeks now, and the drawers are as pristine and chaos-free as they were the day I organized them.  Every time I open them, I feel a little bit of peace (no, really…I do…I really, really, REALLY like things to be organized – a little-known fact about me, to be sure).

With one successful project under my belt, I have something bigger in mind for next time.

My writing desk.

That I don’t actually write at.  That sits in the corner collecting all my blogging junk and paper collections and business cards and pens I want to hide from the kids and photos I need to frame and inspirational quotes I need to hang up…yeah.  It’s a big one.

Wish me luck?