This brilliant $4 drawer organizer helped me reclaim control of my chaotic underwear drawer – and turbocharged my mornings

I live in a home with next to no options for storing clothing, which becomes a problem when I have to share it all with my partner, who is far less invested in perfect organization than I am. Nowhere was this more apparent than in our shared underwear drawer.

Underwear, socks, and tights galore – every morning felt like a struggle to get dressed, with our essentials invariably becoming muddled together.

That was until I snapped up a $4 fabric organizer from Walmart and now I spend five minutes less getting dressed each morning, and there are no more arguments about where things are.

The cheap drawer organizer that fixed my mornigns

I always found organizing a sock drawer tricky, especially as it is a shared space full of all our everyday essentials – from my partner's frankly obscene sock collection, to everyday intimates, to tights and my ‘chub rub’ shorts. I found organizing the underwear drawer particularly annoying.

Previously, I had picked up some fairly basic drawer dividers, like these bamboo drawer dividers from The Container Store. This tiny tweak to make your home more organized certainly worked for a while to split the drawer in half.

However, as our collections grew, items quickly overflowed into either side, and digging through the mountains of stuff to find what I needed was irritating at best, not to mention that the general shambles meant that hooks often caught on fine lace and pulled silk fabric. It was a nightmare.

All prices were correct at the time of publication.

In a cautious attempt to create some order, I finally ordered a set of two sock organizers for under $10 from Amazon. With 24 small ‘cells’ per organizer, the fabric organizers provided the perfect amount of space to stash the small loose items, including intimates and socks, without them spilling all over the place. Plus, it allows us to see everything in a glance, so we no longer spend time digging through ‘stuff’ to try and find the right color socks to match our shoes.

The cheap investment also meant that I could quickly implement the boundary decluttering method in my underwear drawer, too. This efficient decluttering method dictates that you can only keep what you can easily fit inside a set area, and everything else needs to go.

As each unit had 24 slots, we were limited to the number of things we could keep (who really needs 24 pairs of socks, after all). I was able to double up some of the smaller items, such as my small ankle gym socks, which are worn daily.

I also successfully decluttered several pairs that were on their last threads, and pieces that, after being honest with myself, were not all that comfortable to wear.

This is your sign to get rid of those uncomfortable sets, too – they are one of the many items you won’t miss if you declutter them now. Decluttered underwear went into the trash, however, there are several brilliant ways to clean with old socks if you don’t want to create too much waste.

The only thing that did not fit in these small slots were larger underwear such as boxers (which I file fold and line up in the gap left by the organizers in my KILBERGET drawers from IKEA) and my bras, which were stacked together neatly and kept in the gap behind the organizers in the drawer to help organize a dresser.

This method means the cups are no longer squished and the hooks don’t cause damage, increasing the lifespan of all my items. If you want some more structured solutions for these items, however, you can find similar drawer organizers with longer cubbies for bras and boxers at Walmart.

It is worth noting that this approach is not for everyone, however. As professional home organizer Amy Berryhill, owner of SpiffyChicks, points out, 'Over-organizing can sometimes create as much chaos as not organizing at all.

The goal of an organization is to make life easier, but going overboard can waste time and create unnecessary complexity. Folding underwear, for example, may look beautiful, but for many, tossing it into a drawer is just as effective and much faster.'

If this sounds like you, using general organizing bins, such as the Brightroom Square Fabric Drawer Organizers from Target, can help to keep categories clear without over-organizing.

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FAQs

How many sets of underwear should you have?

How many underwear you need will depend on your needs and lifestyle, but around 20 pairs is generally considered average. This allows you plenty to chose from in between regular laundry days.

This simple sock organizer also means it is far easier to hunt down odd socks, as the lone item can be stashed in its assigned cubby until its partner comes through the laundry, helping me limit the things to never keep duplicates of in a home.