If your drawers are in constant disarray and you can never seem to find the items you're looking for, it might be time to change up your storage habits. Dreams of the perfect dresser where you can identify and access your clothes with ease are not that far off. If you'd like to learn how to organise a dresser like a pro, whether that entails folding shirts for drawers or discovering how to organise clothes, we've got you covered.

Start With the Dresser

To begin organising your chest of drawers, you might have to get a little disorganised first. In order to start with a clean slate, remove everything from your drawers (even those items crammed right at the back) so you can take stock of what you have. Sell, donate or give away anything you haven't worn in over a year. It's not practical to hold onto duplicate items or items that don't fit anymore. Once you've pared down your pile, you can play with different clothes organisation ideas.

Step 1: Clean your drawers. Now that your chest of drawers is empty, you can begin organising. Start by cleaning the drawers themselves. Remove those dust balls and insert new drawer liners. For something durable, peel & stick wallpaper comes in a large array of colours and designs and is durable.

Step 2: Organise your clothes. While you declutter, split your clothes up according to the number of drawers in your dresser. Pair like items and assign a drawer to each category. Choose a method that is convenient for you, but it's a good idea to store the most frequently used clothing items at the top and less frequently used, or out of season clothes at the bottom. Once you've decided where each item will live, you can make things easier for yourself by installing different drawer knobs on each drawer, that way you will always know what goes where.

Step 3: If necessary, buy a new chest of drawers. If your chest of drawers is dated or looking a little worse for wear, consider starting from scratch and investing in a new one. Our wide range of chest of drawers offers models with more drawers and larger storage space, and can simply make your dresser organising a little easier. Find out more on how to pick dressers with our Expert Advice on How to Choose the Perfect Chest of Drawers.

Folding Tips

Once you have grouped and categorised your clothing, you can begin folding. There are various means and methods of folding, so you should choose what is best for you.

• Keep socks, tights and underwear together.
• Use a drawer divider to store these smaller items so they are easily accessible.
• Alternatively, you can simply toss all of your socks in one drawer as they do not need to be folded neatly as other items do.
• Store shirts and trousers in different drawers in one of three ways.
  * A simple arm-over-arm fold as you would find in stores, which you would then stack on top of each other.
  * Folding Kondo-style in order to attain a rectangle fold that can be stacked next to one another.
  * Roll them into an oblong shape and store side-by-side.
• You can also store these items in rectangular baskets or boxes to keep their folds for longer.
• Bulky items can be folded neatly and stored on top of one another. If the pile gets too tall, you can keep them folded the same way, but stagger them so they lay flatter.
• If you have any additional space in your chest of drawers, you can use it for other items such as accessories and jewelry.

Start Organising

1. Try Storage Boxes & Baskets

An organisational system that is easy to maintain will help you keep your chest of drawers in order for longer. Sometimes keeping your items neatly folded can be difficult. Storage baskets and boxes offer a simple way to organise a dresser to keep things tidy. Think of baskets and bins as storage inside of storage. Hang any bulky clothes in your wardrobe, and begin to create logical categories for those you plan to store in your dresser. Folding is a vital part of chest of drawers organising, and sometimes a basket or a bin helps make that task a little easier.

2. Consider Additional Storage

It's entirely possible that you won't be able to fit all of your clothing in your chest of drawers, even more so if you store both your winter and summer clothes together. Consider splitting your clothing seasonally with underbed storage boxes, or opt for plastic containers that can be placed in the attic. Organising a chest of drawers often means that you need to work in conjunction with other open spaces that you have available.

3. Use Drawer Organisers

If storage baskets and boxes don't fit in your dresser's drawers, or if you just need something smaller, drawer organisers (aka utensil holders) are a great solution. They're the perfect product to optimise your drawer space and keep all your items visible and accessible. Simply insert a drawer organiser into your chest of drawers and start loading. Some are simple boxes that you can stack your folder items within.

Others are divided into different compartments to allow you to store individual articles. It's even possible to find underwear specific organisers which helps with more complicated folding. Group smaller items like knickers and socks together so you can have a better view of the drawer interior. The compartments will help you maintain order with minimal effort. Organising a chest of drawers is a lot easier when you have a place for everything and everything in its place.

4. Keep the Top Clear

To maintain a clean aesthetic, avoid storing jewellery, skincare and cosmetics on the top of your chest of drawers. Instead, choose stylish trays and stands to keep jewellery and trinkets in order. Display your fragrances and make sure that your cosmetics items are stored neatly. If you want to find out more about how to store and organise your jewellery properly, read our How to Organise and Store Your Jewellery guide.

Now that you know how to organise a chest of drawers or dresser, you can say goodbye to messy drawers and hello to a brand new, organised system.