Organizing is a domino effect. Once you start organizing one area, you can easily get suckered into doing more. That's what we love about organizing but some areas of the house can take days, weeks or even months to finish. Sometimes you only have a small window of time, but are in the mood to be productive and tackle a small area. We’re going to give you some tips and suggestions on where those areas are and how to start!

Junk Drawer:

Almost every kitchen has a junk drawer – or as we like to call it, a “handy” drawer. It typically stores take-out menus, random keys that you don’t know what they belong to, chip clips…are those sunglasses? The items are limitless and always super random. 

The first step in tackling your handy drawer is to remove everything inside of it. We said it, rip it all out. Sort what you have into categories and purge any of the expired coupons, old mints and gum, take-out menus (they can be found online). Once you have the drawer cleared out, we suggest cleaning and wiping it down.

Determine what you want this drawer to be. Oftentimes these drawers become super random  because you don’t have a home for these items or wherever you do store these items isn’t working or isn’t convenient. 

 Once you decide what you want to live in these drawers it’s time to contain your items. Our drawer organizers are the best way to keep your handy drawer organized and items categorized and contained. Make sure to measure your drawer BEFORE you purchase bins.

Nightstands:

Typically you’re accessing whatever is on or in your nightstand fairly frequently. Since it sits right next to your bed and you’re usually cozy and tired when you’re next to it, it’s easy for items to land there and stay there since we’re not always motivated to put things back where they belong at that time. 

Start by removing anything from your nightstand that doesn’t belong there and return it to it’s proper home. Once you have what does belong, measure your drawer space and fit some iDesign drawer organizers inside. When it comes to the top of the nightstand, we suggest not having more than 3 items on top of the nightstands to reduce visual clutter. Remember, you want to keep your bedroom zen with little distraction.

TV Cabinet:

Although this area may seem random, it’s probably because it’s easily neglected. It’s not abnormal for old DVD’s, video games and old game consoles to get lost in there. As media continues to change and develop, some older forms of media become obsolete. Make sure what you have is current and that you want to keep it. If you have categories of smaller items within your console, find ways to contain it. Different size bins like these can be super helpful to store your items so they don’t get lost. 

Sock Drawer:

This is always a good one. Pull all of your socks out of your drawer. First, make sure all mates are accounted for. If you want to pair down your collection, start by picking the socks that have holes in them or are missing mates. Once you have your socks paired up and paired down, make sure you fold them to keep them together. We suggest sorting them together by type at this point - no-show, athletic, short, tall, hiking, thick, etc.

Linen Closet:

Linen closets are often a neglected area of your home. Sometimes it’s because sheets are so hard to fold and other times it’s because you can’t find the matching pillowcase to the top and bottom sheet. What we suggest is to first pull out all of your linens. Next you want to match up the sets. If you have extra linens that are missing their mates or no longer suit your fancy, ball it up, toss it into a large trash bag and donate it to your local animal shelter. Once you decide which sets you want to keep, fold the top and bottom sheet and slide it into one of the pillowcases of the matching set. Another option is to fold the bottom sheet and pillow case within the fold of the top sheet so it creates one organized bundle. That way you can easily grab each set when it’s time to use them.

Organizing doesn’t have to take up your entire day. Even if you have just an hour of your time, you can be super productive and satisfied. A little bit of organizing can go a long way and help increase your efficiency in your day-to-day life giving you more time to do the things that you love!

“For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.” 

Benjamin Franklin