Divide and Conquer Clutter: Shelf and Drawer Dividers

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Dividers are one of our favorite tools for organizing and demarcating space and conquering clutter.

There are of course countless container or bin options for organizing belongings, however sometimes the flexibility of a simple divider—which can be moved around as you accumulate new or different things and eliminate others—might be just what you need to create zones and separation in your drawers or on your shelves.

In drawers, clear or plastic dividers allow you to separate, for example, your workout tops from your yoga pants or your underwear from your socks. The adjustable, expandable dividers made by mDesign and available on Amazon or those sold by the Container Store offer both functionality and style. These are available in various lengths and depths so that you can find the right fit for all of your drawers. If you use these in tandem with the file-folding or KonMari methods we are huge fans of, you will be able to maintain your organization system and always quickly find what you are looking for.

In the kitchen, bamboo drawer dividers are a great option for separating your various utensils. We use them to group together our spatulas and set them apart from other tools like whisks, ladles, or strainers.

We are also really excited about SpaceAid’s customizable bamboo dividers, which allow us to go beyond spanning the length of the drawer to break down the space even further, creating smaller compartments as needed.

There are also wonderful divider options for shelves, and they come in a variety of materials, from plastics and acrylics to metals. Some are adhered onto your shelves with a removable adhesive, while others are simply clipped on and can be moved at will to make wider and narrower storage spaces as your needs change.

We’ve used shelf dividers in pantries to separate jarred or canned food items so they stay organized and don’t intermingle or get lost in the back of a shelf. In closets, dividers are a great way to separate handbags and keep them upright or to create areas to stack folded sweaters or shirts, keeping them contained and apart from unlike items.

Whether used in drawers or on shelves, dividers are wonderful tools for establishing zones, separation, and visual cues to help you get and stay organized.