Getting Organized < 

Drawer Organization

Moving on, take time to go through the drawers.   Start with all your clothes drawers.  Organize your drawers by the type of clothes.  Make an undergarment and sock drawer, shirt drawer, sweater drawer, pants drawer, shorts drawer, and so on.  If you don't have enough drawers to store all of your clothing, you can purchase storage bins to stack on the shelf of your closet or the ones that easily fit under the bed.  Store your clothes by season storing out-of-season clothes in the storage bins.  Remember, you can donate any gently worn clothes to your local donation center.

An easy storage solution to keep panty hose and socks organized is to purchase large zip lock bags and store them by color and type. Write on the outside of the bags the type and color so they are easily identified when needed.  Store blacks and blues separately to take away the guess work.

Utility and catch all drawers can be packed with all kinds of important things that were put there with good intentions.  Now is the time to dump them out and sort through.  Use small sandwich bags to store items by type and write on the outside what's inside.  Test any batteries that found their way into the drawer to make sure they work and throw out the ones that are no good.  Storing batteries for too long can be dangerous because eventually they begin leak.  Other items like paper clips, buttons, bolts and screws can easily be stored in small, plastic storage containers with lids.  Write on the lid what's inside so when you go looking to see if you have that particular item, it can easily be found.  Used baby jars or any small jar will work also.

If you have a drawer to store your plastic food containers with lids, go through and match lids with containers.  Find other uses for lids with no container.  These can be used to put under plant pots to catch water overflow.  Or a seed germinator for spring plants.  Containers with no lids are great to use outside as a water dish for your pet.  They can also be stored in the basement or garage for later use to mix paint, spackling, and the like.  If you can't think of a use for these items, throw them out to get organized.