You might never know it from the outside. And that’s the point. You hope no one has the need to open the drawer because if they did, they would know your secret. You have a majorly disorganized JUNK DRAWER.
We all have at least one and they naturally happen a lot of different ways. You get some pizza coupons in the mail that you might use this weekend. Where do they go? In the junk drawer. You have unexpected company coming over in 5 minutes and you just need to clear off surfaces. Where do you put literally everything that’s sitting out? In the junk drawer. The junk drawer is the easiest solution for all those random items that don’t have any other real place.
Even though we all have them (and need them) here are some practical tips to keep even your junk drawer organized and pretty:
Practical tip #1
Start by organizing your existing junk drawer. Take everything out. Throw away any trash and relocate items that you don’t need to access on a regular basis. When I went through our junk drawer we had a container of glitter. I don’t use glitter on a regular basis (and would prefer to never use it again), so I relocated it to our art supplies bin.
Practical tip #2
Only put items back in the drawer that make sense in the space. These “items that make sense” will be different for every person. Just think through the reasons you have accessed this drawer in the past. If you always go there for batteries, that’s probably a good place to keep them.
Practical tip #3
Set up a place for everything you would like to keep inside. For example, we keep coupons in our junk drawer. So instead of throwing the whole sheet in the drawer, cut out the coupons you could see yourself using and place them in an envelope labeled “COUPONS”. Now you have an actual place for them. Maybe you like to keep rubber bands in your drawer. Find a small box or basket they all the rubber bands can fit into. This will make it harder to just toss things in without thinking.
Now you have an organized and pretty junk drawer that is easier to maintain. It IS possible! And it feels so good to not only have the outside clutter free, but the inside as well.
We were able to clear out so much clutter in this client’s drawer that we made enough space to divide the drawer. One side for foil and baggies, and the other side “typical junk drawer stuff”.
