Organizing Desk Drawers

 I LOVE organizing.  The best thing about having a growing and changing family is that there is always something to organize!  Last Saturday I was finally motivated to clean out our desk drawer (ie. I couldn't find what I was looking for) and make it more usable.  There is really no magic solution or secret to getting organized so I thought I'd share with you how I did it:

1.  Take everything OUT of the drawer. 

A The drawer then needed a good wipe down so I did that too.

B I laid everything out on the floor to see what was really in the drawer

C I know this drawer doesn't look that disorganized but it was many layers deep.  The drawer almost didn't close anymore.  It needed to be reorganized to remove the constant hassle and frustration it was causing.













2. Decide what needs to go back into the drawer and what could be thrown out.

 A We needed a phone book in the drawer but did we need four?  I threw out the two we didn't use and put back the ones we did.

Did we need BOTH check books in the drawer?  I moved one to a different part of the house.

 B Pamphlets with information I wanted to keep could be kept elsewhere.  Or, as I did with the library pamphlet, I simply cut out the information I wanted to keep (the library hours) and put that back in the drawer (taped it to the front of our phone book).

C I gave my son back all the items that were his.  Namely all the pencil and eraser combos he'd been given at school as prizes or gifts from friends.  I didn't need them in my drawer and he was very happy to have them (I also snuck some unused ones downstairs to be put in our Operation Christmas Child shoe box in November).









  

3. Create organizing solutions for the things I wanted to keep.

A I needed a place to keep all our electronic cords and chargers but the baskets I had previous were wide at the top and narrow at the bottom.  The took up alot of space without holding alot.  I had bought these containers for the pantry but ended up not using them.  They were perfect for this project.   I also removed some old cords that were no longer needed.  That allowed me to fit all the cords into one basket.

B I was able to use that little extra space (one basket) to hold all the small sticky note pads that were floating around the drawer.  Now they're all in one place and easy to find if they are needed.

C I placed a small square of anti-slip pad under the basket that holds the pens.  The pad is meant to go under dishes or glassware or placemats.  I cut it to fit my purpose and prevent the basket at the front of the drawer from sliding around and disorganizing my newly organized drawer.

The Finished Product

 

Hooray!! I love organization!

I was so inspired I did the same thing to the drawer beside it:

Some solutions I LOVED from this drawer:

A Using this small take out container to hold all our spare loose felt pads.  Our home is all hard wood.  Keeping that hardwood scratch-free from chairs, couch legs and children's toys is almost a part-time job in itself!

B Using the twine itself as a  holder.  I needed something long and thin to hold extra twist ties.  The twine roll was just what I needed and saved on drawer space!

C Choosing compact tools.  We always seem to need something repaired.  But that something may just need a quick turn of a screwdriver or wrench.  Having these simple compact tools at hand saves us time (and energy) from having to haul a full tool box around.  They're also a great space saver for my drawer.

And there you have it, two drawers successfully organized!

Hooray!

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