[Dresser Drawer] Organization

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Slowly, but surely, I have been trying to organize my drawers. Apparently very slowly: months later and all I have to show for it are 4/6 drawers in my dresser.

So what, you ask? Well, apparently it's more of a daunting task than you would think.

For starters, why don't they make organization sets that when you put together use up the drawers space maximally? Ideas anyone?

Let's talk about what I've done so far with my dresser drawers.

I have a bracelet tree that sits in the left most corner of my dresser. And I LOVE it. But considering I wear bracelets quite frequently, and have quite a few of them... I still needed to figure out a [compact] way to organize the rest of my bracelets. Plus my rings, and earrings. I don't really wear necklaces too much as of yet, so that dilemma doesn't apply to me. One less thing to worry about at least.

Several months ago, I found the organizers pictured below and implemented them. I currently have three of them: one for rings, another for earrings, and a third one for the bracelets that I don't have hanging on my bracelet tree.

The good thing about them: they allow me to organize the jewelry in separate compartments [for the most part] and are easy to choose from, keep organized, etc. The bad: the organizers are stacked upon one another inside my drawer. This means that when I need earrings or rings, I need to pull the organizer(s) on top of them out first to reach them. Nuisance. Worse? Wasted space. See picture below:

You see the wasted space I'm talking about?

What in the world am I suppose to do with that space?

Ideally, I'd like to figure out a way to utilize the space in my drawer in a more effective manner [and use the maximal space] and have everything side to side... so when I open the drawer I can see the bracelets, rings, and earrings at one glance. I'm open to stacking less used of all of the jewelry below the more commonly used ones.

What I basically want is: have the drawer divided into three [one each for bracelets, rings, and earrings] that are then divided into smaller compartments like in my jewelry organizer above. I wish they organizers came in smaller sizes that you could combine like puzzle pieces to fit the way you want. ;)

By the way as a side note: for earrings, I found a neat collapsible/fold-able organizer. Unfortunately, it would only work for studs or other small earrings so it was of no use to me. Most of mine are the dangling ones.

Next project I tackled? A never-ending dilemma faced by a Muslim girl/woman who wears a hijab: how in the world to organize said hijabs.

I've tried a basket in my closet, but it was annoying to dig through them to find the one I wanted. Plus, if I don't see it, I don't usually remember it's there as an option.

I considered the shoe hanger behind the door method and the hangers for scarves they have now for your closet. Both would require me to iron them for each use. Yeah, that's not happening either. I don't mind ironing them once in a while, but I don't want to have to sit there ironing a completely wrinkled hijab each time. Also the visual problem was there again for the hanger(s) in my closet. I also considered buying individual drawers to put at the bottom of my closet, since that is space I wouldn't be taking from anything else.

I thought I had posted about it on my blog when I organized the hijab drawers this way, but apparently not. Only on twitter and instagram at that time. So since this post is about drawer organization, I figured I'd throw it in this post. You know, considering the hijabs currently take up three out of six of my dresser drawers.

What I ended up doing several months ago, finally, is this: I took the hijabs I wear frequently/regularly and rolled them up. I then organized them by color, and lay them in rows. It's convenient, compact, and organized: which is just what I wanted.

Pictured are two of the three drawers. It has been several months since I implemented this, and so far I like it a lot. 

Now I can just pull open the corresponding drawer [based on what I'm wearing] and see all of the hijabs at once to pick and choose from, rather than digging through a pile of them or anything of that sorts. This method also keeps them organized, because you only pull out the one you need - and are not going through several to get to one at the bottom, for example.

I was, pleasantly, surprised how many hijabs I was able to fit in each drawer this way! And, by the way, another pleasant surprise: rolling the hijabs keep them from wrinkling too - which means less ironing.

Last week, I tackled the drawer with makeup/everyday necessities/ items I frequently use.

This is what I am using for on-top of my dresser

In the organizer on  top of my dresser, pictured above, I housed the lotion, make-up [moisturizer, liners, gloss, lipstick, blush, eye shadow] body spray, deodorant that I use regularly.

All the others [party wear or once in a while use ones], pictured below, I put in the organizer on the front left of my drawer. Don't get me started on the wasted space in the back. Hair ties and clips are on the right [with humongous eye-shadow palette hidden below].

Clothes in my closet? Organized by color. Light to dark: starting with white on the extreme left, black on the extreme right.

Next task? Purses. Probably. I think. But don't expect anything for a few months at this rate. And while I am at it, I should think of a way to organize my cabinet of herbs and spices. Lets see.