It’s the 3rd week in the Drawer Organization blog hop and this week we’re in the bathroom. Of course, neither of the bathrooms in my house have drawers. That’s why this week I’m showing you how to organize the bathroom catchall.

If you live in an older house or a house without a master bathroom, you probably don’t have bathroom drawers. In fact, I’ve never lived in a place with drawers in the bathroom in my adult life. Instead, you find creative ways to add more storage in that tiny room.

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[bctt tweet=”Find out how to finally organize the bathroom catchall in your small bathroom.” username=”diyadulation”]

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Welcome to the Drawer Organization Blog Hop! For the entire month of April, 12 bloggers will be sharing the process of cleaning and organizing one drawer in our homes each week. To kick off the first week, we’re focusing on bathroom drawers!

My Pinterventures • Intelligent Domestications
DIY Adulation • Domestically Creative • Cookies Coffee and Crafts
Domestic Deadline • Across the Boulevard • The Latina Next Door
Mom Home Guide • Creative Cynchronicity • Olives & Okra
Centsably Creative • Fearlessly Creative Mammas

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One way is the basket on top of the toilet. You know what I’m talking about. You put that pretty basket on the tank and fill it with extra toilet paper rolls for convenience. Then the basket empties.

Suddenly, instead of being refilled with toilet paper as intended, other items start getting tossed in. Your husband throws his razor in. The kids toss some chap stick in there. A bottle of body spray finds a home when you’re rushing out the door.

Now that basket has become a catchall for anything and everything. You couldn’t even fit toilet paper in it of you wanted to. It’s overflowing with stuff that actually belongs somewhere else in the home.
Not anymore! Today we’re tackling that basket and bringing it back to its purpose in life.

 

Step 1

As always, start by removing everything from the basket. If you’re feeling brave, you can simply dump it out on the floor. I was not that brave since I had no idea what would be inside, instead opting to take everything out piece by piece.

 

Step 2

Next, organize everything into piles of like objects. Toys in one pile, makeup in another, and so on.

Note:

• This is also when you want to toss any obvious trash like empty packaging or loose tissues.

 

Step 3

Before you put everything away, go through each pile and see if there are any items that need to be tossed or donated. For example, there were expired beauty products in mine that could go and about a thousands key chains I never have or will use. Don’t store these for another 5 years, clear them out now.

 

Step 4

After you have only the items you want to keep remaining, put them away in their designated homes. I’m incredibly embarrassed at the number of jewelry items in mine. In fact, when I pulled my jewelry box out to put them away, it was still empty from when we moved into our house almost 5 years ago!

 

Step 5

Lastly, return your basket to the bathroom and immediately fill it with toilet paper (or magazines, hand towels, etc. that it was originally intended to hold).

 

It’s amazing how long I waited to tackle this project. It seemed so daunting but, in reality, I finished it in about an hour. That includes sorting everything and cleaning the basket.

Now you know how to organize the bathroom catchall and return it to its original purpose. The next step is preventing it from becoming a chaotic mess in the future. Luckily, I have some tips to help you.

1. Always keep the basket full. If you see the toilet paper getting low, add a few more rolls. This will help keep you and your family from putting other items inside.
2. If you do catch an item in there that doesn’t belong, have the owner of the item put it away immediately. This works especially well for kids and teens who won’t like having their fun interrupted for cleaning. That’s a powerful deterrent.
3. Be present. Don’t flit in and out of the bathroom with items that have no place in there. My husband is bad about bring books to the bathroom only to be on is phone anyway. If that’s the case, point it out and have him remove and re-shelve the books.

 

If you do have drawers in your bathroom, don’t fret. My friends below have you covered with their tips for organizing bathroom drawers. Hop around and see what inspiring ideas they’re sharing!

See where I’m linking up!

Don’t Forget to Pin It!

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For more bathroom drawer organization ideas, visit the other host blogs below.

We’re back with another Drawer Organization Hop and this week we are focusing on the office, craft room, and living room. Start here with wrangling your office supplies and electronics with step-by-step office drawer organization.

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission. Read the full disclosure here.

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Welcome to the Drawer Organization Blog Hop!

For the entire month of April, 12 bloggers will be sharing the process of cleaning and organizing  drawers around our homes each week.

We kicked off the first week in the kitchen! This week we have been doing drawer organization in our Office, Craft and Living Rooms.

My Pinterventures • Intelligent Domestications

DIY Adulation • Domestically Creative • Cookies Coffee and Crafts

Domestic Deadline • Across the Boulevard • Michelle James Designs

Mom Home Guide • Centsably Creative • Olives & Okra

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[bctt tweet=”Stop using your desk as an expensive catchall. Wrangle your supplies and electronics today with this step-by-step office drawer organization.” username=”diyadulation”]

Too often in our desks, we start throwing things in drawers without any real plan. The result is that months or years later we have no clue what’s in the drawers and cannot find what we need.

In my desk, it’s easy to tell which drawers I use regularly and which ones I don’t. The ones that have some semblance of organization are frequently used. The chaotic ones? Almost never.

Why do we keep things that we don’t use? Why are we turning important furniture pieces into overpriced catchalls? This challenge is helping me fight that habit and I hope it helps you too.

 

 

Office Drawer Organization

Step 1

First remove the drawers you are organizing from your desk. This always makes the process of cleaning and organizing much easier.

 

Step 2

Next, take everything out of your drawers. I was amazed that so much stuff fits into such small drawers but that is what comes from a year of cramming items in. I was also shocked to see what was inside. Some I forgot I even owned. To name a few things:

• 3 Cameras
• Countless Tangled Cords
• Thomas Photo Magnet from Day Out With Thomas 5 Years Ago
• Floppy Disks (Right after they stopped being actually floppy)
• Countless Hello Kitty Office Supplies (I may have a problem)

Step 3

Once everything is removed from your drawers, it is time to sort all of the items.

Tips:

• Group like items together. This makes putting them away easier.
• Toss any trash you find in the drawers (such as pencil shavings).
• Items that have homes in other areas need to get put away immediately. If you don’t, you’ll never get to it.
• Don’t be afraid to get rid of items you no longer need. It was super hard for me to get rid of my extra cameras but I have not used them in years. It is better to donate them to someone who can use them.

Step 4

Now, clean your drawers. Again, I recommend Clorox Spray for this. It does a fantastic job of cleaning out grime and kills germs.

 

Step 5

Before you start adding items back to the drawers, grab some empty cardboard toilet paper tubes. You need one for each cord, or one for each type of cord if you need multiples of similar cords.

 

Step 6 (Optional)

Next, cover your cardboard tubes with pretty washi tape (I got mine at Michaels). You totally can skip this step but I, personally, like things to be a little prettier so I did this step.

 

Step 7

Now, put your cardboard tubes into one of your drawers and use them to organize your cords.

Tip:

• Don’t forget to label the cords (or the tubed) so you know what they go to.

 

Step 8

Lastly, return the remaining items to your drawers.

Tips:

• Keep like items together in the drawers. This makes locating specific items a breeze later.
• You can use my drawer categorization below for inspiration.

 

Electronics Drawer

This drawer contains electronic items I might need such as cords and my label maker. I stored the cord for the label maker underneath of it to keep them together and also because the label maker is slightly canted within the drawer. This is also where I stored our video camera.

 

Notebook Drawer

Yes, I needed a drawer designated to notebooks. I have a ton because I go through them like crazy. For this drawer, I do use a few small boxes to help organize everything. A larger box stores the smaller and irregular sized notebooks. A second, smaller box holds all of my sticky notes. I also keep a pencil sharpener in this drawer. The kids are constantly losing theirs and this means I will always know where a backup is.

 

Program Drawer

After the decluttering and organization process this drawer is pretty much empty. It now houses my computer programs. So few come on disk anymore that I don’t have many to store. I also decided to keep my floppy disks because I think they could make a cool craft in the future.

 

Stop using your desk as an expensive catchall. Wrangle your supplies and electronics today with this step-by-step office drawer organization. It’s amazing how much less stress you feel when you start getting rid of the excess in your life, not to mention how much more productive you’ll be.

Now it’s time to get your craft room and living room drawers organized with the other ideas from the hop. By the end of this month you’ll have some of the best drawers on the block!

See where I’m linking up!

Don’t Forget to Pin It!

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Please visit the other host blogs below for more Office, Craft and Living Room Drawer Organization Ideas