An empty drawer????? What exactly is that???? What does an empty drawer look like?????

Okay, enough goofiness here, this is actually a pretty thought provoking question. I'll have to think about this some more......

Barbara

I would suggest you declare a use for your empty drawer and go with it for a while.

Stop trying so hard to decide what is just right or correct, and just go with something. It's better to start somewhere and start working the problem, than it is to plan and think and never do it. It's okay to be wrong and problem-solve with what works and doesn't work.

So, you asked how one decides what goes in a drawer? Objects useful and convenient to you within the space. Get them in the space and tweak the details as you live with it. If things are just there taking up useful space, they become items to either store somewhere else to reclaim useful space or get rid of them.

Also...this is just from your original post & not sure if it's the case or not...but if you are stacking things on the floor (or wherever), are you having a problem with putting things away...all the way? Are you in the habit of dropping things off and not taking the extra 15 seconds to finish what you started? Just curious if that might contribute to the dilemma?

Like with like. When my kids were little and in their first bedroom I organized their clothing in their dresser drawers top to bottom. All underwear in the top drawer, T shirts and all other tops in the middle drawer, shorts and pants in the bottom drawer. Dresses and coats and jackets and shoes went in the closet. In my own dresser I put bras and camisoles in one drawer, panties in another, socks and pantyhose in another,shirts and tops in another and all bottoms in another. This system works well for clothing. I keep my nightgown tucked under my pillow. A spare nightgown is in with the bras. Shoes in the closet, along with my dresses.

Also, sometimes a drawer is not what you need for what is piling up. It just depends.

Again, my "study" at home is entropy-prone, so at times I review just what tasks and storage I think should be done there. Then I look to see that I have assigned a place or space for each. I usually have to use pen and paper to outline what I want to try. But then as in gayle's suggestion, feel free to just try something for awhile.

I kept my recipe files (not my cookbooks or tried and true recipe notebook, but "to try" files) in or near the kitchen for a long time. Then I figured out that I did more ripping and filing and browsing/dreaming ( and discarding) about menus and recipes in the study. So I moved them there.

I have a cabinet on the deck for small garden tools and supplies. But I wasn't using it so started storing in a kitchen cabinet by the back door, plus used the drawer there for garden items also. That worked okay for awhile, because I just grabbed gloves or whatever on the way out, but then I found I really had some canned/kitchen items that would work best in that cabinet and some other gizmo items that were used near that drawer. So I re-organized my outside cabinet to be more user-friendly for grabbing and for putting away, and am back to storing the garden stuff there. So, you sometimes can go back and forth until you figure out what works best.

Plus I have in the past tried to keep way too much stuff in a drawer, even if organized by those inserts. Pare down, pare down and it is much easier to put stuff away, as well as find stuff. Put only the most-used items in the prime drawer space.

Thanks for those answers. Gayle, you have me nailed, and Frankie, so do you. I definitely am organizationally challenged. It doesn't help that our house is totally non-standard, a small Victorian that has no closets, and far too little space for us to begin with. No front hall, so a corner of each of the two bedrooms that go off it have to function as front hall storage, that means our clothes are stored in other rooms... you don't want to hear how crazy this all is.

But every time I do have an empty drawer for some amazing reason, I just don't know where to start in deciding what to put in it.

My daughter just went off to university and though she left her shelves full, her dresser is empty - what do I put there, given that she may be home for the summer? I got a new (vintage) desk with lots of drawers about a year ago and I still can't decide what to use a couple of the drawers for. And there is one empty one in the laundry/utility room (used to be a pantry off the kitchen) in a big antique chest I have there that I simply can't decide about.

And as often as not, I put things in drawers that look nice because I can say "this type of thing goes in this drawer" and then find that the stuff that looks messy/ugly, maybe tools for the projects I'm working on, or stuff to be mended, or newspaper clippings (yes, a problem), are still lying around.

And yes, I do tend to overfill them when I do assign a use. There must be some magic formula for it, because I reason that if I take everything out of a piece of furniture and it takes up less than half the space that the furniture is taking up, then I am wasting the space.

So I do appreciate the guidance and reminder that it isn't just the drawers, it's me!

KarinL

Well, it doesn't have to be "you", but your needs.
You made some good points about the furniture. I wouldn't try to get you to offload a fine antique, but you may have some situations in which the piece of furniture is just not what you need there. Be as bold as you can (financially and brain-wise) about seeing what should be where and re-purposing, or upgrading, or whatever, so that the type of "storage" unit fits what you are doing.

I love photos of very "clever" uses of odd furniture--so quaint, so original--love repurposing vintage items-- but lots of times that breaks down in reality, and a good-quality piece of office furniture is better (just an example). The item, to me, needs to not only hold stuff, but be pleasant or convenient or fun to use--drawers that open smoothly, wood (or even laminate) surface that's clean and smooth for projects, shelves the right distance, etc.

Not that all my furnishings meet those criteria! But I have tried to recognize when I'm trying to stuff a square peg in a round hole.

I put whatever gets used near the drawer into it.

And if items aren't used near that area, they get moved.

After thinking about it, I realized that a lot of my drawers got assigned contents because "I've always done it that way." As a child, I shared a b/r and a 6 drawer chest with my sister. My mother put my underwear in the top drawer on my side, the side on the right. My underwear has forever since been living in a chest in the upper right hand drawer! The rest of the drawers have been re-assigned as time goes by, but not that one.

My mom always had a junk drawer in the kitchen, and so did I. Finally figured out that wasn't working for me, and reassigned the junk and the drawer. And so on...

At this point, I put things in drawers that I frequently use, and relegate other stuff to storage.

Barbara

Since I've spent my entire adult life moving around, being a gypsy, being in the military, etc. I've gotten accustomed to changing houses every 2-3 years. Just yesterday I was searching for a kitchen gadget that should be to the left of the coffeepot...three houses ago.

It's always helped me to lable drawers and cabinets when I first move into a place. No more looking in every drawer to find one thing.

I tend to keep like things together, too. Like my "sock" drawer. It holds (surprisingly, LOL) all my socks. But it also holds all my spare shoelaces, arch supports, ankle supports, extra foot powder, and toenail clippers. Anything that is used below the knees is kept in my "sock" drawer.

I have a drawer just for winter scarves, gloves, headgear. Since winters last longer than summers here, I don't pack away cold weather gear. I keep everything in the proper drawers, or on shelves and in the closet year round.

I do try to constantly thin-out items. If I have more scarves, gloves, etc. than will fit in the one drawer, I have to get rid of something.

I always try to use the best item for the best spot storage system..things that are seldom used should always go in the more difficult to get at places, like bottom drawers, sticking drawers (see sticking drawer post), top shelves or bottom cabinets..

things that are used the most often and need to be easily accessed should always go in the drawer or shelf or container closest to where it will be used regularly.

esp everyday items.

sounds like you have an office type situation..

i found my desk drawers were getting piled up with gobs of extra things like 50 ink pens, 10 rulers, 4 staplers..etc..

so i cleaned them out to where they now only store my most often used items..like my best pens, pencils, best rulers, best scissors, etc..and all the rest have either been stored somewhere else, or given to charities.

i also found that with clothing i was storing things i seldom used in my dresser drawers..the other day i took my once and a while fancy bras, and foundation garments, and extra underwear i seldom use..and put it in an underbed storage container and left myself 3 empty drawers for things i'll use regularly.

in my kitchen i put things i use by the range in the drawers by the range, one has spices, one has cooking utensils, one has potholders and whisks and clips, one has knives..and there is one misc drawer..by the sink one has plastics, one has towels, one has silverware..by the microwave one has paper plates and napkins, on the island there are drawers with scissors, box cutters and tools, one with dishclothes and wipes (across fromn sink), one with openers and odds and ends of tools, and one with measuring cups and spoons.

in the bathroom the drawers have most quickly needed items that don't go into our medicine cabinet, like combs and brushes, hair ties, tubes of meds, etc.

Thanks, these comments are helpful. Nice to hear how other people (people who aren't surrounded by their stuff!) think about these things. Mind you, it does sound as though many people have just a few more drawers than I do! However, using the ones I have would be half the battle, so thanks for your help.

KarinL

karinl - have you tried getting some of those plastic stacked drawers? I don't have drawers in my 'now' bathroom. so, on my counter top I have a small stack of 3 drawers - for makeup, nail files etc.

between the vanity and the toilet I have a tall stack of about 7. 4 skinny and 3 fatter ones. a fat/deep one has wash clothes, another TP, a skinny one has my socks, another medications, another hair clips, pull backs etc.

i also have a 4 shelf pantry type cab in there for towels, sheets, pillow cases etc

when I move I'm going to use that pantry/cab in one of my bdrm closets for my sweats.

in the drawers of my dresser i do like some others do - a drawer for underwear, 1 for tops, 1 for bottoms etc.

in the kitchen - well, I have 3 useless drawers now that i stuff with junk (speaker wire, phone wire, cable wires etc).

when I move (and redo the kitchen) I am planning a drawer for tools (2 screwdrivers, pliers and small hammer), scissors, flashlight, batteries. some of those things you need so often and have no idea where they are (at least for me). I want them IN a space so I can find them when needed!

a cab in the laundry room will have a shelf for garden tools, gloves etc., a shelf for the dog brushes, extra collars etc., a shelf for other household chemical stuff (bug spay, mouse traps (ick)) and one for my other tools.