A $15 Fix to My Biggest Organizing Problem

There are so many decluttering tricks for the bathroom out there, like decanting products into glass bottles to streamline the aesthetic or using a tension rod to keep things tidier in the vanity cabinet. And while these are undeniably helpful solutions, they never seemed to solve my true organizing problem: A lack of space for everything I need to stash.

Though we have two nicely sized built-in medicine cabinets, our bath products inevitably overflow onto the counter. And for someone who doesn’t like stuff, this is a perpetually frustrating problem.

After much hemming and hawing, I realized what the root of the problem was: There’s tons of wasted space in our medicine cabinets. Most products we own — face moisturizers, kids’ bubble bath, and cotton swabs are rather squat. As a result, there’s a lot of empty space above each product. If only we had designed the cabinets to have more shelves…

Enter my ah-ha moment: shelf risers. Though adding built-in shelves is an option, it’s not a great one, considering some bath products (like shampoo) tend to be taller — but shelf risers make the space highly adaptable.

These acrylic shelfs simply sit atop the built-in shelf and allow me to fit two tiers of storage on one shelf, thus using all of that previously empty space for more products. And if I need to, I can just as easily remove the shelf to accommodate larger products.

Also nice: A pack of six costs just $15, which breaks down to a mere $2.50 per shelf — much more affordable than having a contractor install new shelves.

I’ve since discovered this solution works really well in the pantry, too. Sure, you’ll need larger sets of acrylic risers (which do cost a little bit more), but it’s a great way to use all of that extra vertical space on each shelf — perfect for canned food or dry goods like rice and pasta.

This post originally ran on Apartment Therapy. See it there: The $15 Product That Solved My Biggest Organizing Problem