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We recently helped a friend organize her bedroom--including the dresser drawers. We ended donating many things from her bedroom, but most items came from the dresser. Because dresser drawers are typically the least organized zone in the bedroom, we've come up with some tips on how to organize your dresser (and how to keep it that way).

Dresser drawers are similar to a closet full of clothes in that we tend to cram as much as we can (but we don't mind because we can shut the closet door or and shove the drawer closed). But when a dresser is disorganized it's difficult to find particular clothing items but since we can easily hide the mess, it's the last thing we tend to organize.

In order to make your morning routine more streamlined (and have a better chance at finding your black tank top) here are some easy tips on how to organize your dresser drawers.

  • Remove everything. Clear your bed to use as a processing area for sorting your clothes into piles by function and type. Things that you wear out in public; T-shirts, tank tops, sweaters are in one pile. Pants, shorts, jeans (things that don't need ironing) in another pile. Pajamas, workout clothes in a pile. Socks, leggings in a pile and unmentionables in another.
  • Decide what goes and what stays. Now that you have clothing grouped by function and type, do you have duplicates? Do socks have holes in them? Have moths gotten to your sweater(s)? Distribute clothing into boxes that are to be donated, mended, and taken out to the trash.
  • Designate Drawers. We like to keep socks and undergarments towards the top of a dresser (since we wear these items on a daily basis, they need to be easily accessible.) T-shirts and tops are the next drawer down for us, followed by pants, and finally PJ's and workout clothes.

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  • Use Drawer Dividers. You can use drawer dividers for your smaller items, like these pictured above, or you can use empty shoe boxes or empty tissue boxes as well.
  • Like with like. When placing your clothes back into your drawers, it's important to keep like with like. For instance, fold and group shorts together towards the left of one drawer while keeping your jeans on the right side of the same drawer.
  • As a final step, we suggest labeling the upper right corner of each drawer. You can get gold or brown label tape so the label blends in. The label is helpful when someone else besides you is putting your clothes away.
  • Maintain, maintain, maintain. To keep your dresser organized, you'll have be disciplined when putting your clean clothes back, making sure to put items back in their designated spot.

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