Okay so… DIY drawer organizers. Yeah I finally did it.
I’ve been meaning to fix my kitchen drawer situation for like… two years? Maybe three. Every time I open it, it’s like a tiny war zone — spoons fighting forks, random rubber bands staging a coup, that one mystery key that definitely doesn’t belong to anything in this house. Last Tuesday I reached for the vegetable peeler and pulled out an entire avalanche including my old earphones and a dried-up glue stick. I screamed. My neighbor probably heard.
So yeah. Broke, annoyed, and done pretending I’ll buy nice acrylic organizers someday, I decided to make DIY drawer organizers myself. With garbage. From my house. Because that’s the level we’re at in 2026.
Why I Even Bothered with DIY Drawer Organizers
Honestly? Mostly spite. Spite at the drawer. Spite at myself for letting it get this bad. And spite at the ₹800 plastic organizers I saw online that would probably break in two months anyway.
But also… I wanted to feel like I had control over at least one tiny part of my life. You know that feeling? When everything else is going sideways but at least your junk drawer isn’t actively attacking you?
Stuff I Actually Used for My Homemade Drawer Dividers (aka Trash)
I didn’t buy anything special. Like zero. Here’s the sad-but-true inventory:
- 3 empty cornflakes boxes (the good ones with thick cardboard)
- 1 dead shoebox from my husband’s sneakers he refuses to throw
- transparent tape I stole from my kid’s school supply box
- one broken crayon box (for the small sections)
- scissors that are way too dull
- a permanent marker that was already dying
That’s it. Total cost: ₹0 + the dignity I lost when I realized I was hoarding cereal boxes “just in case”.
Pro tip nobody asked for: sniff the cardboard first. Some smell like old milk. Those go straight to the bin.
How I Actually Made These Crooked DIY Drawer Organizers (Step by Step-ish)
- Dumped everything out. Found money. 23 rupees and a coupon for pizza that expired in 2023. Ate the shame.
- Measured the drawer… badly. I swear it was 38 cm. Turns out 34 cm. Classic.
- Cut cardboard strips taller than needed because “better too tall than too short” (wrong)
- Taped them together in a sort of grid. It looked okay for about 7 seconds.
- Realized the tape was losing stickiness so doubled it. Now it’s sticky on both sides. Great.
- Shoved it in the drawer. One side immediately tipped over. Cursed in three languages.
- Added extra support strips. Now it’s ugly but stable. Mostly.
I’m not gonna lie — it looks like something a raccoon with anger issues would make. But guess what? I can find the damn peeler now. And the scissors. And even the tiny screwdriver I forgot I owned.
Mistakes I Definitely Made So You Don’t (Hopefully)
- Used regular tape instead of packing tape. It gave up after two days.
- Didn’t reinforce the bottom. Heavy things sink like Titanic.
- Cut everything too fast while watching reels. Measurements? What measurements.
- Didn’t clean the drawer first. Found rice grains from 2022 stuck to the new cardboard. Elegant.
- Got cocky and tried to make diagonal dividers. They collapsed instantly. Of course they did.
Final Thoughts (If You Can Call This Organized)
Look… my DIY drawer organizers are not pretty. They’re not Pinterest-worthy. One section is already starting to bow in the middle because I keep shoving too many charging cables in there. But you know what? It’s mine. It cost nothing. And for the first time in forever, opening that drawer doesn’t make me want to cry.
