As many of you know I am able to maintain organization in my home simply by solving all the little problems around the house that annoy me. It annoys me to be constantly looking for my keys, so I solved that problem with a simple carabiner. It would annoy me to have to see my summer clothes during the winter, so I store them out of the way. Sorting laundry annoyed me, so now I don’t. Having garbage collect on surfaces annoys me so I added garbage bins to every room. I could go on and on.
You see life doesn’t have to be more complicated than it needs to be. If we just take some time to identify the little things, that cause us to waste our time, our money and even our sanity, and then we choose to do something about it, life will be lived with so much less clutter and chaos. And no I’m not talking about the things that we have no control over, just about changing up the little things that we do day in and day out that frustrate us.
Yesterday’s task for me was all about solving the annoying problem with my bathroom drawer in our ensuite bathroom. The organizers I use slid around inside and my ever growing lipstick collection was outgrowing it’s designated space. Also take note of the green bin at the front where my youngest keeps his toothbrush and toothpaste, it’s about to disappear. Time to put the drawer through the PROCESS steps. Plan it out, dump it out, sort it out, purge it out, clean and organize it back together again.
Before:
Not too bad really but here’s the thing. The time to do any organizing task is BEFORE it gets past the annoying stage and into a full blown overwhelming mess. Don’t wait or put it off, you’ll only complicate matters and make more work for yourself in the long run. For sure!
After:
The biggest change was that I added a liner with a grip bottom (from Walmart) onto the bottom of the drawer so now the organizers won’t go slip sliding away.
By the way the floral pattern you see in the before picture above are just napkins that I used inside the organizers. This liner is much better! I’ve used this same liner in my bathroom cupboards and kitchen cupboards.
I purged quite a bit including a number of lipsticks and perfumes I never wear. Now I can easily see my favorites (the rest of my makeup is stored HERE). I also rearranged the acrylic organizer containers that I use into a slightly different configuration just to be wild and crazy 🙂 I didn’t have a designated spot before for my makeup remover wipes and they just sort of perched on top. When I moved things around I was able to free up a spot for them to have their very own section. I’ve got to tell you, they are so much happier now.
For those wondering I use clear acrylic organizers similar to this one and this one (affiliate links). You can also find them at places like Winners, Ross, Marshalls and even the dollar store! BUT remember that you don’t have to use these types of organizers to have an organized drawer. Recycled food boxes like tea and cracker boxes for instance also work well if you just cut off the tops or sides depending on the configuration you need. Or head to your local Dollar Tree for drawer organizers even. I’ve used all of these methods at one time or another, they work!
Oh and as for what happened to my youngest son’s toothbrush basket, well I found a new solution for that. I like him to brush his teeth in the ensuite rather than the main bathroom simply because I like to keep the main bathroom clean for when company drops by (I’m full of tricks!). Nine year olds aren’t so clean, at least mine isn’t. So what I came up with is this.
I absolutely LOVE these over the cabinet door bins, again you can find them at Winners, Ross or Marshalls or HERE on Amazon (affiliate link). If you need more drawer space anywhere use one of these on the inside of a lower cupboard door. This one above is on the inside of the cabinet door in front of the bathroom sink. So awesome! Plus I get my drawer all to myself now, whoot!
And if you are the curious type like I am and wonder where all the other toothbrushes are, well my oldest son has his own bathroom in the basement where his bedroom is and my husband keeps his toiletries in a cabinet behind the ensuite bathroom door.
Well that whole drawer organization task took me about 20 minutes including cutting the piece of liner to fit. It was quick because I didn’t let it work itself into a big problem. Remember little tackles lead to BIG results!!
So stop being annoyed and go organize a problem today!
- *Please note that affiliate links are included in this post to make it easier for you to find what is being referenced. A small commission is made should you purchase product using these links, but this is at no extra cost to you. As always, any and all opinions are genuinely my own – or the author, in the case of posts by my guest contributors. Thank you!*
Diana says
Looks great! Another trick that I use to keep bins from sliding in the drawers is putting some MUSEUM PUTTY under them. This tacks them down and they don’t slide even when you slam the drawer a little too hard!
Diana says
PS: obviously blobs of museum putty might not look so pretty showing thru under your clear acrylic bins. That is better if you have DollarTree plastic bins like I have! 🙂