How To Organize A Nightstand In 4 Steps (Before And After!)

A bedroom nightstand has potential to store every item needed within hands reach. But often a lack of organization can quickly cause tons of frustration. Learn how to easily organize a nightstand in a matter of minutes!

Whether you have several drawers to organize or just one. I have a ton of great tips on nightstand organization that are going to save you a lot of time and possibly your sanity at the end of a long day or even in the middle of the night!

If you love to get inspired by a good before and after organizing project, this well-organized nightstand is sure to motivate you to tackle yours!

I’m going to show you just how easy it is to declutter and organize a nightstand. Then I’ll share my bedside essentials and a few of my favorite nightstands that will help you maximize your bedroom storage as well.

Organizing A Nightstand

We have chatted about drawer organizers before and I’ve also mentioned them in my declutter challenge as well. They are easily one of the best organizing tools! They can take a messy, disorganized, cluttered nightstand into a showcase of organized brilliance in about an hours time.

It’s such a great feeling to rid your home of unnecessary things and put useful items in their place so there’s no frantic searching!

Here’s the before look at my nightstand drawer.

It’s not horrible cause I can still get the drawer open and eventually find what I’m looking for when I need it. BUT – this drawer still has too much stuff and could be so much better!

The 4 Simple Steps To Organize A Nightstand

So let’s get started with this easy organizing project! I’ll show you the step-by-step of this very satisfying before and after.

Sort Like Items, Discard Or Relocate

Now it’s time to group like items together in piles and remove any random item that doesn’t belong in the nightstand.

As I was grouping together the items I wanted to keep, I was also making piles of unnecessary items that I wanted to get rid of or move somewhere else.

This is a great time to trash or donate any unwanted items and to put things back in their proper locations. The multiple outlet plug used for Christmas decorations did not belong next to my bed! So it was relocated with Christmas lighting items.

Add Inserts To Define Spaces

Now that I knew what I would store in the nightstand, it was time to grab some drawer organizers to divide the drawer into compartments.

I went with a set of bamboo drawer dividers to keep the items in their place and from shifting around in the drawer. If you want an even simpler look, you could also use clear acrylic inserts as well.

Since no two nightstand drawers are the same size, you will need to measure your drawer width and length and then play around with varying sized inserts to get the right fit and and keep wasted space to a minimum.

Finally, Arrange Items Back Into Drawer

Once the inserts are in place and you like the arrangement, the last thing to do is start filling them with your nightstand necessities.

Don’t forget to place items you removed from the top of your bedside table back in place. I like to keep this area is neat and tidy as possible.

So all you will find on the top of my nightstand is my phone charging station, facial tissues (in my DIY vase tissue holder – tutorial HERE) and a couple of photo frames. I don’t have any alarm clock here because I use my phone for that task!

If you have a bottom drawer, you could take a moment to organize that as well. All I store in my second drawer is workout wear. So it’s pretty easy to keep that sorted and organized.

Now, all that’s left is to enjoy your new organized nightstand!

Nightstand Essentials

I want to talk a little more about my bedtime essentials. Of course, what you store in your nightstand will be different than mine.

But these are some of the items that I love to have stored in the first drawer, right next to my bedside.

Since I’m getting older, a pair of reader eyeglasses is a must! I can not go to sleep with dry lips. So every night, without fail I apply my favorite lip treatment balm by Laneige. Burt’s Bees lip balm is for the little man in those drier winter months.

So now, let’s talk about all the hand lotions!  Before I close my eyes, I like to apply some cuticle serum by Olive & June. This has helped my cuticles tremendously!

Next comes my favorite Heel Genius moisturizing cream for my feet. If you have dried cracked heels or rough callused feet – this is a must. Rub in, go to sleep and wake up with the smoothest feet EVER!

And then, the last moisturizer I use is for my hands. I’ve been using my ultra repair hand cream for years and I love it!

The other items I store in my nightstand are an extra iPhone case, a wood coaster for late night tea or glass of water, the remote control to our ceiling fan, and a few hair ties and satin sleep scrunchies.

A few other suggestions for storing here would be an extra phone charger or maybe even some cough drops. Again, customize the drawer with those little things that matter to you!

Best Nightstand Drawer Organizers

Here are a few of my favorite picks of organizers for drawers.

Favorite Nightstands

Here are a few of my favorite nightstands that would work with any bedroom decor.