Dude, meet our disaster drawer. You may have seen a preview of it yesterday, but this drawer really deserves a dramatic dun-dun-duuuuun sound effect. It was so bad it looked like a wild animal had rooted through it. For organization week (and our collective sanity) we finally decided to tackle it.
The main challenge is that we don’t have a medicine cabinet because of the window above the sink, as shown on our House Tour page. The drawer in front of the sink is a false drawer, so the only shallow storage for small items is this skinny drawer. The cabinet under the sink holds larger items like the hairdryer and our travel toiletry bag, so every little thing—floss, toothpaste, contact supplies, medicine, deodorant, hair and nail items—had been crammed into this one drawer.
I knew the drawer could be straightened out. We keep things minimal—my makeup fits in a small travel bag with fewer than eight items, which I store in the car or purse, and we don’t wear perfume or keep bath scrubs around. So even though this drawer contained almost every small hygiene item in the house, the total volume of things wasn’t huge. We just needed a system so we could actually find what we were looking for.
The first step was emptying the drawer and taking inventory. Everything came out so we could see the bottom again, and I tossed expired medication and empty bottles that had somehow made their way back in.
Next I bought two divided boxes at TJ Maxx for about $9. They’re intended for office supplies or jewelry, but the height fit the sink drawer perfectly. The key was to create zones so things wouldn’t slide around every time the drawer opened. I placed the two containers plus a wooden toothbrush/toothpaste box we already had into the drawer and organized everything by category.
It was a tight fit, but everything that belonged there (minus expired and empty items) fit back in and now the layout actually makes sense. I grouped similar items together: nail polish at the back right, razors at the front right, contact supplies on the left, and mouth care items in the toothpaste box (toothpaste, mouthwash, toothbrushes and one pack of floss). Extra floss lives near the nail polish. The back left holds our medicine and a box of my feminine products.
Some cubbies are owner-specific. One middle cubby contains my extra concealer and mascara that came as a set (I only keep one in my travel bag), hair-cutting scissors, a nail file, and a few small items. The adjacent cubby holds John’s hair products, razor and contact case—basically his morning routine items—while the next cubby has his shaving cream and aftershave. Keeping our items in separate cubbies makes it easier to maintain the system and avoid accidental mixing.
Medication safety update: All medications are in childproof containers and the razor blades snap into protective cases that Clara (23 months old) can’t open on her own. We also keep the bedroom door closed so she’s never in there unattended—there’s a strict no-Clara-in-the-bedroom rule unless an adult is present.
Here’s the other side of the drawer—just a shot of the small, useful miscellany that’s tucked into the rest of the space. For some reason it looked pretty to me.
Success: the drawer is organized. It’s survived one evening and one morning routine so far, and John has respected the cubbies. I’ll take a follow-up photo in six months to see how it’s holding up and report back honestly, whether it still looks great or has slid back into chaos.
Finishing this project also made another task obvious: the cabinets and drawer lips need repainting. Now that the drawer is tidy, the scuffed edges stand out. One upgrade often highlights the next to-do on the list, so painting is on the radar—eventually.
Just for reference, here’s what’s under the sink: pretty minimal. An old box from John’s grandpa with a few of his items, our travel toiletry bag, and a basket holding a hairdryer, brush, and curling iron, plus some miscellaneous items in back. While cleaning, I noticed more dings and smudges I’ll eventually address—small imperfections that stand out after a refresh.
Until then I’ll enjoy the simple convenience of being able to check at a glance whether we need more floss or razors, and grab deodorant without wrestling other toiletries out of the way. It’s the little things that make a difference.
We’ll follow up with a full rundown of the grooming and cleaning products we use to keep things simple—many are multitaskers so we don’t store a dozen different bottles. What have you been organizing lately? Have dividers or cubbies helped you make the most of a shallow space? Who’s tackling their bathroom drawer tonight? And yes, I brushed and flossed after this project—testing the storage system was a convenient excuse.