After a few months away from my tiny wood shop, I spent some time on the first day of my annual winter break, also known as my fake retirement, working to address a small need that’s bugged me for years: Better kitchen drawer management!

Maybe I should have taken some before photos, but is there really a point? You know what a cluttered drawer looks like. We all have them and learn to live with them. But I got tired of fishing for measuring spoons multiple times each day, and decided it was time for a change.

I picked up this approach from an article in Family Handyman (which also has ideas for other drawer organizers). By using spacers to separate each compartment instead of grooves, I figure I knocked a few hours off the overall process, and gave myself a little room for error and/or changing my mind as I went along. In the end, I spruced up three drawers in just over an hour.

If you do any sort of woodworking yourself, you know the price of lumber is pretty bonkers right now. Aside from some screws, I was able to organize all three drawers from scrap material I already had around. Depending on how many drawers you’re looking to tame, you could probably get pretty far with a half-inch and a quarter-inch plywood handy panel.

I did most of the work on a table saw, but a circular saw would work, too. If power saws make you nervous, check out Brad Rodriguez’s take on DIY drawer organizers, which shows how to accomplish something similar with a simple hand saw and miter box.

Yeah, this is a simple project, maybe not even worth writing up. But after a pretty long layoff from shop work, it was good to get down there, away from computers, working with my hands, and working my brain in ways I don’t for my day job. I hope you have hobbies and projects that let you do that sort of thing, too.