The $14 Product That Solved My Biggest Organizing Problem

published Dec 28, 2021
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image

There are so many decluttering tricks for the bathroom out there, like decanting products into glass bottles to streamline the aesthetic or using a tension rod to keep things tidier in the vanity cabinet. And while these are undeniably helpful solutions, they never seemed to solve my true organizing problem: a lack of space for everything I need to stash.

Though we have two nicely-sized built-in medicine cabinets, our bath products inevitably overflow onto the counter. And for someone who doesn’t like stuff, this is a perpetually frustrating problem.

After much hemming and hawing, I realized what the root of the problem was: There’s tons of wasted space in our medicine cabinets. Most products we own — face moisturizers, kids’ bubble bath, and cotton swabs are rather squat. As a result, there’s a lot of empty space above each product. If only we had designed the cabinets to have more shelves…

Enter my ah-ha moment: shelf risers. Though adding built-in shelves is an option, it’s not a great one, considering some bath products (like shampoo) tend to be taller — but shelf risers make the space highly adaptable.

These acrylic shelfs simply sit atop the built-in shelf and allow me to fit two tiers of storage on one shelf, thus using all of that previously empty space for more products. And if I need to, I can just as easily remove the shelf to accommodate larger products.

Also nice: A pack of six costs just $13.99, which breaks down to roughly $2.33 per shelf — much more affordable than having a contractor install new shelves.

I’ve since discovered this solution works really well in the pantry, too. Sure, you’ll need larger sets of acrylic risers (which do cost a little bit more), but it’s a great way to use all of that extra vertical space on each shelf — perfect for canned food or dry goods like rice and pasta.