Organize Your Nightstand
Have you ever reached over to turn your phone’s alarm off in the morning, only to knock over your glasses, a pile of books and a cup of water? If this sounds familiar, then there’s a good chance you need to spend some time organizing your bedside table.
Learn how to organize your nightstand so that you can avoid cleaning spills and stepping on glasses in the future.
Start with a Purge
Before you begin to put things in order, you need to do some purging, just as you would if you were organizing your bedroom closet.- Take everything off the top of your nightstand and remove all items from the drawers, too.
- Toss or recycle anything that’s obviously trash, like used tissues, empty water bottles, and so forth. The items that remain will be your “keep” pile.
- Go through your “keep” pile and consider which items could be placed elsewhere. For example, the book you finished two months ago can go back to the living room bookshelf, while your book light and phone charger may need to stay nearby.
- Now that you’ve purged and decided which items need to remain in or on your nightstand, you’re ready for some bedside table organizing ideas.
How to Organize the Top of Your Nightstand
Believe it or not, there are several things you can do to make the top of your nightstand a little less cluttered.- Buy a floor lamp or mount a sconce on the wall so that you can free up space by not needing a table lamp. If you do keep a table lamp, consider choosing one with a narrow base.
- Use a tray as a night stand organizer that contains things such as glasses, book lights or cups of water. This will decrease the likelihood of you knocking these items off when you reach for the snooze button in the morning.
- Display photos on the wall rather than on bedside tabletops.
- Hang floating shelves for knickknacks so that they don’t clutter up the limited surface area of your nightstand.
Organizing Nightstand Drawers
Nightstand drawers can quickly become chaotic catch-all pits if left unchecked. Keep yours in order with the following bedside table organizing ideas.- Insert drawer dividers to that you have a dedicated space for everything.
- Dedicate the top drawer for the things you use most, such as your tablet charger, TV remote, lotion, lip balm, tissues, nasal spray and so forth.
- Save the bottom drawers for storage or use them to hold your nighttime gear, including pajamas, head scarves and sleep masks.
- Alternatively, you can use the bottom drawer to store any crafts or hobbies you work on at night, such as knitting, writing or sketching.
How to Organize Your Nightstand Shelves
If your nightstand has a shelf rather than a bottom drawer, you have room for a little more creativity when it comes to organization.- Place a decorative basket or canvas storage container on the shelf so that you can tuck away pajamas or tissues.
- Use the shelf to display decorative items, such as a small sculpture or cool vase.
- Stack your favorite pre-bedtime books or recent issues of magazines on the bottom shelf so that they’re within easy reach.
- Use your shelf to corral electronics, like laptops or tablets.
Maintaining an Orderly Bedside Table
Once you’ve taken the time to organize your nightstand, you have to work a little to keep it from becoming cluttered again. Fortunately, maintenance requires minimal effort on your part.- Clear items such as empty water bottles or mugs of tea each morning.
- Take a few minutes after waking up to neatly place chargers and pajamas in their respective drawers.
- Consider placing a small wastebasket next to the bed to collect things like tissues, empty tubes of lip gloss, stretched-out hair ties and so forth.
- Replace books you’ve finished reading on the bookshelf, rather than letting them stack up.
- Avoid having a nightmare of a bedside table by knowing how to organize your nightstand for sweet dreams.
