I love having things organized, but the cost and effort of getting there is often what holds me back.  Well, I’m here to tell you that after this drawer organization project, I wish I had tackled it years ago!  It only took a few Dollar Tree supplies ($11 total for 3 drawers!) and a couple of hours (including shopping), and these drawers will never be a cluttered mess again!

Selecting the Drawers to Organize

There are two junk drawers in my house, right by the back door.  They’re much shorter than an average drawer, which really limits what can be stored in them.  The short height also means that papers, notepads, etc. sticking up eventually end up getting pushed out behind the drawer and into the cabinet below.

It’s always been so frustrating to find anything in this mess, and wouldn’t you know that I always had to dig for something in there when we had a guest over.  I know everyone has junk drawers, but it’s still embarrassing!

Buying the Drawer Organizers at Dollar Tree

Recently, while I was shopping at Dollar Tree, I came across this amazing organization section near the kitchen items.  It usually seems like if a store labels something as “organization,” it automatically costs at least twice as much as it should.  So it’s nice to see organizing containers that are great quality for $1!  It really can’t be beat!

I went shopping prepared with my tape measure and measurements of my drawer interiors.  And I was the crazy lady trying different organizer layouts on the floor in order to decide which ones to buy – ha!

Because of my drawer height restrictions, I went with these white organizers.  You seriously would never guess these are from Dollar Tree with the nice gray coating on the bottom!  They’re stacked in this photo, but I bought 2, 3, or 4 of each kind.  The blue containers were in the “back to school” section at the front of the store, and they’re the perfect width for a narrow drawer in my kitchen (see below).

I bought everything below for $11 – total steal!  I was considering making my own organizers out of boxes, which you wrap in a cute wrapping paper.  There are lots of inspiring posts about it on Pinterest.  But that seemed like so much work, and I’ll happily pay $11 to avoid hours of cutting and wrapping!

Putting the Drawer Organization System in Place

After pulling everything out of the drawers and finding new homes for some of the misfit items (which was quite often the TRASH!), I made piles of like items.  Then I put the organizers in the drawers and placed the piles of items where they fit best.

The thing that cracked me up the most about this project was seeing just how many of the same item we had buried in the drawers.  As you can see, one container is dedicated to lip balms.  There were 11 of them scattered in these drawers!

Here’s the second junk drawer’s before and after shots.  I’m loving having a pile of notepads to choose from right at the front of this drawer.

Here’s the narrow drawer I mentioned earlier in my kitchen.  I mostly use it for chip clips, rubber bands, and twist ties.  It’s so nice being able to keep these separated now!

Although I bought the organizer below a few months ago at Dollar Tree, I just wanted to share.  It’s been an awesome way to organize my daughter’s hair ties and headbands in the kids’ bathroom.  It’s one big piece and costs $1!

Enjoying the Finished Drawer Organization

Don’t you love this?  It makes me happy every time I open one of these drawers!

By the way, the white & grey things on the fronts of the drawers are child locks.  My oldest son was obsessed with getting into these drawers when he was a toddler, and those locks saved my sanity!  I attached them with Command strips just to be sure it wouldn’t damage the cabinet finish.

What drawers are you inspired to organize?