Shopping is one of my favorite activities along with gossiping, so it’s fun for me to do these affiliate posts. It also highlights my issue of collecting too much stuff. I wanted to look for more ways to organize around the house, and I found some promising drawer organization solutions as well as some cute ways to store things on counters and shelves. This is our second post with organizational products. In an earlier post I mentioned the systems that work for me, although I have a lot of room for improvement. There are also some videos there if you’re looking for inspiration. Marie Kondo’s books and show on Netflix may help too, it’s fun to watch her help people transform their homes.
A cute storage box for your makeup and brushes
I have this! It’s so convenient for keeping my most-used makeup and brushes at hand. I keep it under the bathroom sink and then put it on top of the sink when I’m applying my makeup. There are so many versions of this cute acrylic storage box, and there’s even a huge interlocking and detachable one if you you have a lot of makeup you’d like to store.
Clear plastic drawer inserts to sort your makeup
If you keep your makeup in a drawer, there are clear plastic expandable makeup drawer inserts like the one above you can use too. Reviewers call them “very chic looking” with “good sized partitions” and say “they make me feel fancy.”
Clear plastic organizers for larger items
Check out these cool stackable clear plastic organizers. I just learned these exist and now I want them. The link above is to a six piece set and you can also order different sizes separately. I wish my drawers looked this nice.
A set of five bamboo boxes for drawers and counter spaces
These are a little pricier but look how classy these bamboo boxes are. You can even leave them out to store small things like tea bags and office supplies and they would look great on a deskThere’s also a bamboo drawer organizer that is adjustable and has little dividers you can move.
A bamboo desk set to help clean up your clutter
I got a bamboo monitor riser after talking about it in an earlier post and I’m really pleased with it. Now I want this little bamboo desk set. . Here’s a similar desk organizer that I’m also considering. You can hide all your pens and clutter in the drawers and put a little plant or decorative item on the top. It would even look nice in a bathroom.
Mod-looking color coded drawer inserts
I had such a nice time looking at drawer organizers and fantasizing about getting my sh-t together. Here is a really cool-looking mod set of organizers that come in different bright colors and will make you want to open the drawer to constantly look at them. (I always do that after I clean something up.) Other options include these bright plastic organizers with inserts that let you adjust the size and this 9 tray organizer with little compartments for small things like rubber bands and paper clips.
Organize your skincare and sundries in the bathroom
I have a similar unit in my bathroom and it makes my skincare products, various lip balms and deodorant look classy while they’re on the counter. I bought a bunch of new products after we talked about skincare and this helps everything look like it belongs together. Here’s another clear organizer if you’d like a different size option.
Thanks for reading and commenting on our affiliate post!
Photos via Amazon and courtesy of Netflix press
I started saving the outer boxes from things like tins of tea, biscuits, etc – basically anything small, rectangular, with hard sides. Made a world of difference in my drawers.
These are just next level and I think I might spend a bit of money to pretty up my drawers further – I do open them many times a day…
I do that too, I save little packages. Kondo does that on her show. I also get the plastic drawer organizers from dollar tree, which is an option I should have mentioned! I know I’m going to end up buying a couple of these so at least they’re helpful for reducing clutter.
Enjoying these posts and don’t mean to undermine, but I’m on the downsizing end of things and have accumulated my share of organizing tools. Some other recycled items ideas: older plastic kitchen cutlery organizers are good inside of shallow dresser drawers for necklaces (with the wider compartments for pins and bracelets). The 4 long slots each hold a few necklaces (non-statement!) and you can sort by color, bead etc. Older ceramic or plastic toothbrush holders – oval with 4 little holes? – are good for storing lip-brow-eyeliner pencils and skinny brushes. They items are tall enough not to fall in and often too tall for typical makeup organizers. Mine holds 2 pencils/skinny brushes per hole, so that’s pretty good – 8 items. Wish I’d thought of this years ago!
I have lots of empty Rocher Ferrero (or imitation Rocher Ferrero) clear boxes and they make lovely organizers. I prefer rectangular or square ones because they’re easier to stack/store as compared to round or heart shaped ones. I love those clear acrylic organizers but once they get scratches they don’t spark joy anymore.
i read her book and enjoyed the conept. i just watched the first two eps of the show and just couldn’t stand the husbands. imagine instead of just helping put away laundry yourself you agree to hire someone to do it but then flip it on its head and chastise your wife on national television about it. she needs to market man sized trash bags – then these women could really spark some joy.
Oof I was so angry while watching that first episode. He was not nice to his clearly stressed out wife who does both primary caregiving and works part time. They need a marriage counselor more than anything.
I skipped that one but watched the episode of the couple that moved from Michigan to LA, with 2 school-aged kids. They were really sweet with each other and their kids. He did admit he didn’t do enough and she admitted she did too much, and it was great to see them work toward greater balance. I didn’t enjoy seeing his fake “sheepishness” about not pulling his weight around the house earlier. Why do men think pulling that nudnik act will help them get away with being incompetent.
Ugh, did you read about the Russell Brand interview where he basically played this to the hilt? I hate this so much, when men pretend like they’re so incompetent they couldn’t possibly manage to take care of children. And usually they couch in terms of how amazing their wives are at doing it. This induces rage…
The bathroom is not the best place to store makeup and certain skincare. The humidity can damage the products. It’s better to store it inside a closet/bedroom stand! I keep them in storage boxes and carry them into the bathroom whenever I have to use them.
Great idea, wish I had the space. Luckily we’re in a cold climate and the windows leak and the exhaust fan works well — humidity is less of an issue than it might be in other regions.
I don’t have much space either, so I put everything in two medium sized boxes I keep in my closet. Not pretty but functional.
Great post. I already have drawer organizers in my bathroom and kitchen although I feel like they could be better, nothing fits quite right and I never felt like I’m really maximizing the space. The stackable organizers are perfect for the deeper drawers I have.
It helps so much to break down organizing into posts like this, thank you. I’ve gone into The Container Store determined to buy the perfect storage solutions but I get overwhelmed quickly and end up leaving with stuff I don’t really need, like glass candy jars.
One of the very few things I’ve learned : ) over the years is that all-purpose organizers are far more versatile than specialty organizers. Oh, the other thing is that square is better than round. LOL.
After watching something Marie Kindo did on the show, I took an empty photo-organizer box (very sturdy) and used it for storing party paper plates and napkins – vertically. Worked great!
That’s a great idea — my paper plates and napkins are in messy stacks at the back of a cabinet and they come tumbling out periodically when I try to squeeze something else in there. Thanks!
In unrelated news -why so i keep seeing ads for funeral costs insurance?this is so unpleasant. I will avoid celebitchy for a while.
Send me the URL and I can block them for you, or you can click on the ad and in your ad preferences turn them off.
Oh man the Dollar Tree is a great cheep option for organizing tools. I have baskets that are 5 years old still holding items in my closet and bath! I have a bit of a basket/organization tools obsession.
I have been on a blitz since Clutterbug was first mentioned on the site, and I’m so glad you have an affiliate post with organizational stuff! I have a question – do you get a kickback only when I purchase something through the above direct link? Like, if I click the link and then see something on amazon that works better for me and buy that, will you still get paid because I initially got there through your link? Or do you only get paid if I buy your recommended product?
The direct links have a higher affiliate percentage, but please do not feel pressured and get what works for you. We do get a percentage when you shop! If you end up buying from another site or thrifting or reusing that’s excellent too.
A few years ago I despaired of the way my messy closet looked so I bought cheap storage cubes at Ikea to store linens, towels, and blankets. I live with a roommate and we don’t have a linen closet and I was sick and tired of seeing the shelf in my closet with unfolded towels and sheets. I also bought a few of the Ikea shoe boxes for my shoes. I cannot tell you how much of a difference it made in keeping my closet from looking like someone had just thrown a pile of shoes into a random assortment. I haven’t found shoe boxes big enough to store my boots I wear during winter but I have a plastic bin where I can store my “off season” shoes. I was actually inspired by a former roommate who had the storage cubes and shoe boxes from Ikea in her closet (though hers was pretty messy) to keep my stuff organized.
These links have made me want to better organize my drawers with bras/socks/underwear/tights/leggings etc. though because those drawers get so messy so fast and it drives me nuts. Thanks for the organizing inspo!
I went through my clothes recently. OH. MY. GOD. I had so much stuff. SOOOOOO much. I ended up with a very big donate/sell pile, despite cleaning out a lot when I moved a few years ago. I didn’t do the whole spark joy/thank the item thing, but her method of pulling EVERYTHING out to one spot really worked well for me.
Yay another shopping post! But… I don’t like clear containers for makeup! Anybody else the same way? They get dirty so quickly, things in them tend to still look cluttered, and you miss an opportunity to add texture.
Yeah, they’re just one more thing to clean.
I just think it’s funny that the decluttering thing is now driving sales of these organizer boxes. Always something more to buy! 😂
Although I’ve decluttered my house, my bathroom drawers are full of hair/face/makeup samples that I always forget to use. I end up throwing them out when they get too old. Maybe if I organize them I’ll use them. I’ll have to get some of those clear drawer organizers.
Almost every one of my drawers has dividers / sorty things and even now in my kitchen cabinets / spice cabinets I use medium sized clear sorting bins– one for the “most grabbed” spices, just take the bin out, use all the things, put the bin back- no more digging through shakers and jars of spices to find the right ones.
Items in the pantry– same. Medium-large bins- all tomato stuff in one bin, just pull it out, put it back…. noodles, rice- same, each go into specific bins. And lids means you can stack it without risk of avalanche.