Your bedside table is one of the most personal spaces in your home. It holds the items you reach for first thing in the morning and last thing at night. It's a landing spot, a charging station, and sometimes a catch-all for everything that doesn't have another home. If your nightstand has become cluttered and chaotic, you're not alone—and you're in the right place to fix it.
In this guide, we'll help you evaluate what truly belongs on and in your bedside table, what should be relocated elsewhere, and how to maintain an organised nightstand that promotes relaxation and better sleep.
Why Bedside Organisation Matters
A cluttered bedside table does more than look messy—it can actually impact your wellbeing. Studies on sleep hygiene consistently emphasise that bedroom environments should promote calm and relaxation. Visual clutter creates subconscious stress, making it harder to wind down at night and feel peaceful in your sleeping space.
Beyond the psychological benefits, a well-organised nightstand is simply more functional. When everything has its place, you can find your glasses, phone charger, or lip balm without fumbling in the dark. You won't knock over a precariously stacked pile of books when reaching for a tissue.
The Calm Bedroom Principle
Your bedroom should be a sanctuary reserved primarily for sleep and rest. Everything visible in the room—including your bedside table—should contribute to a sense of calm. If it creates stress, visual noise, or reminds you of unfinished tasks, it doesn't belong in your bedroom.
The Bedside Edit: What to Keep
Before adding organisation systems, start by editing what you keep on and in your nightstand. Be ruthless—the goal is to keep only what you genuinely use regularly in the hours around sleep.
Lighting
A lamp or light source is a nightstand essential for most people. Whether it's a traditional table lamp, a wall-mounted reading light, or a simple touch lamp, you need to be able to see without getting out of bed. Consider a lamp with dimming capability or a warm-toned bulb that won't disrupt your circadian rhythm before sleep.
Current Reading Material
Note the word "current." Your nightstand should hold the one or two books you're actively reading, not a towering stack of everything you intend to read someday. If you're a Kindle reader, that device counts as your reading material—no physical book backlog required.
Phone and Charging
If you use your phone as an alarm or like having it accessible, a charger at your bedside makes sense. However, consider whether you might sleep better with your phone across the room or in another space entirely. If the phone stays, designate a specific spot for it—ideally with a proper charging station that keeps cords tidy.
Essential Care Items
A few personal care items you use nightly might earn a spot: lip balm, hand cream, or medications you take before bed. Keep these minimal and contained—a small tray or dish corrals these items neatly.
Water
A water glass or bottle is perfectly reasonable to keep at your bedside if you often need a drink during the night. Consider a carafe with a lid to keep water fresh and dust-free overnight.
Glasses or Eye Mask
If you wear glasses or reading glasses, having them at your bedside is practical. Same for an eye mask if you use one to sleep. These personal items belong in or on your nightstand.
What to Remove
Many items that end up on bedside tables don't actually belong there. Here's what to relocate:
Work Materials
Laptops, work documents, notebooks with to-do lists, and anything related to your job should stay out of the bedroom entirely if possible, and absolutely off your nightstand. Seeing work materials before sleep triggers stress responses and makes it harder to disconnect.
Excessive Electronics
Beyond your phone (if you keep it there), additional devices typically don't need bedside real estate. Tablets, extra chargers, headphones, and other gadgets can live elsewhere until needed.
Old Books and Magazines
That stack of magazines from three months ago and the novels you finished weeks back need to move on. Create a book rotation system: once you finish something, it immediately goes to your bookshelf, donation pile, or back to the library.
Random Clutter
Receipts, loose change, hair ties, random jewelry, old tissues, empty glasses—all the detritus that accumulates on surfaces needs regular clearing. None of these items belong permanently on your nightstand.
Excessive Decor
While a small plant, candle, or meaningful photo can add warmth to your nightstand, too many decorative items create clutter. Choose one or two meaningful pieces and remove the rest.
The 5-Item Maximum
A simple rule of thumb: no more than five items visible on your nightstand surface at any time. This might include your lamp, current book, phone/charger, water glass, and one decorative or personal item. Everything else should be inside drawers or relocated elsewhere.
Organising Your Nightstand Drawer
If your bedside table has a drawer (and most do), use it wisely. The drawer is valuable hidden storage that keeps your surface clear while maintaining accessibility.
Use Drawer Dividers
Small items get lost in nightstand drawers without organisation. Use small trays, drawer dividers, or even repurposed boxes to create zones for different categories: medications, phone accessories, personal care items, and so on.
Categorise Contents
Designate specific areas for specific things. Everything in the drawer should have a designated spot so you can find it easily, even in the dark. Common drawer categories include evening routine items like lip balm and hand cream, phone accessories and charging cables, reading accessories such as bookmarks and reading glasses, small personal items, and emergency items like tissues and pain relievers.
Clear Out Regularly
Nightstand drawers become junk drawers if you're not careful. Schedule a monthly quick clean-out. Empty the drawer completely, wipe it down, toss or relocate anything that doesn't belong, and reorganise the keepers.
Maintaining the System
Organisation isn't a one-time effort—it requires ongoing maintenance. Here's how to keep your nightstand clutter-free long-term:
Nightly Reset
Before getting into bed, take 30 seconds to clear your nightstand of anything that accumulated during the day. Return items to their proper places and remove anything that doesn't belong.
Weekly Surface Wipe
Once a week, remove everything from your nightstand surface, wipe it down, and replace only what belongs. This prevents dust buildup and forces you to evaluate what's sitting there.
Monthly Drawer Audit
Go through your drawer monthly to remove expired items, things you haven't used, and anything that's migrated there without purpose. Keeping the drawer organised is easier when you do it regularly.
One In, One Out
Adopt a strict policy: for every new item that earns a place on or in your nightstand, something else must leave. This prevents gradual accumulation and forces mindful decisions about what truly deserves this prime real estate.
Special Considerations
Medication Storage
If you take medications at bedtime or upon waking, your nightstand is a logical storage spot. Keep them organised in a small container, and consider a weekly pill organiser to track doses. Ensure any medications are safely out of reach if children access your bedroom.
Partners with Different Needs
If you share a bed, you and your partner might have different nightstand needs. That's perfectly fine—each person's nightstand can be organised according to their own priorities. Just agree on common ground regarding clutter levels and visual chaos.
No-Drawer Nightstands
If your bedside table lacks a drawer, you'll need to be even more selective about what stays there, since everything is visible. Consider adding a small decorative box with a lid to contain smaller items, or use a shallow tray to corral essentials.
The Bigger Picture
An organised bedside table is part of a larger goal: creating a bedroom that promotes rest and relaxation. Apply these same principles throughout your bedroom—minimise visual clutter, remove work-related items, and ensure everything has a designated place.
When your bedroom feels calm and organised, sleep comes more easily. And when you wake up to a tidy space rather than chaos, you start the day on a better note. Your bedside table is a small space, but mastering its organisation is a step toward greater peace and order in your daily life.