Last year, I made a half-hearted attempt to organize our junk drawer. The two small organizers I used (leftover from another project) didn't cut it, and the drawer became a jumbled mess again. Things alternately caught when we opened it or fell behind it and down into the cabinet below. After a friend recently dug through it to find a working pen, I was motivated to reorganize — this time, once and for all.
Since junk drawers hold so many different things, the only way to keep them organized is to give each item a designated place. That way, it will be harder to revert to throwing in things haphazardly. If your junk drawer is also a disaster, organize it using the five steps below.
1. Empty the drawer and sort everything into piles. Decide what will go back in the drawer, what can be thrown out or recycled, and what really belongs somewhere else in your home.
2. Make a list or take a camera phone picture of what you'll be storing. Then when you go to choose organizers, you can reference it to make sure you have containers for everything.
3. Measure the inside of the drawer and find organizers. If you measure first, you'll save yourself the hassle of buying organizers that don't fit. Alternatively, if you already have unused tins or organizers from other projects, you can use them and save yourself money and a trip to the store. I used a wire cutlery tray and a few miscellaneous organizers (including the two I had already) from The Container Store.
4. As you put things away, try to organize similar items together. For example, store pens in one compartment, tape and glue in another, and batteries in a third. While this might not always be possible (my parking permits and masking tape had to fit in the same spot), it will make things easier to find.
5. Do a monthly mini-cleanout. Make sure takeout menus, broken pens, extra batteries etc aren’t starting to pile up again.
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I detest calling it a junk drawer. If it's really junk then you think to just throw crap in there.
If you organize it properly, it is an odds and ends drawer. Then you do not revert to just throwing things that don't belong there, recreating the mess that you started with. A junk drawer. Keep the junk out of your life.
Sometimes it is not so much inability to keep things straight as it is to think of them correctly.
This drawer is an absolute necessity and yet it makes me completely crazy. Thanks for the reminder that it's time to organize.
Hmmm... What's the purpose of organizing the junk drawer? Get another drawer to the junk because this is not a junk drawer anymore. Thank you Google for the translation!
We still call it the "grownup drawer" from back when the kids weren't allowed in there.
Why are the pens and things that will probably be used daily all the way in the back? I think the temptation will be to throw them into that bin in the front of the drawer with the masking tape.
Oooooh!!! I love organization porn!
I think I must be the only person in the world without a junk drawer. All of the things in yours have a home in my house. It makes me wonder (and I really am not trying to be snarky, I'm just curious): do the people out there with junk drawers not have a desk, a toolbox or bathroom storage? It seems these would be the first go-to thought for storing these types of items.
I use the boxes and lids of the boxes my bank checks come in. I can fit several in the drawer & they each store a batch of like objects.
@SQ - That's a brilliant idea about the check boxes and lids. My junk drawer will be getting organized this weekend thanks to you!
Yeah, junk drawers are for junk. c'mon. Send in another picture of the drawer in 12 months. It'll be a mess, and don't judge yourself for it!
@MeganMarguerite - you have a point about occupying the whole thing with office supplies, but in our house the kitchen is on its own floor, so its "junk drawer" holds a lot of kitchen-garden-household items - takeout menus, appliance manuals, shears, extra pens, twine, flashlight, batteries, etc. I guarantee you nobody wants to be in the kitchen and have to run to our office on the second floor, or the toolbox in the basement, every time a pen or screwdriver is needed!
(my point being, sometimes it's best to have handy things, well, close at hand! :] )
I got rid of this draw after watching 9 by design. It became a draw of medical needs. Bandaids, gauze, alcohol prep pads, and good ol neosporin.
@ MeganMarguerite --Nope, I don't have any of those things (toolbox, desk, or bathroom storage). What I do have are several built-ins with drawer space. Hence, the junk drawer.
How timely is this! I just organized my bathroom drawer. I love the little baskets, although I'm holding out for clear acrylic. :)
Question: I'm not familiar with Chicago laws, but why is your parking permit parked in a drawer and not your glove compartment? parked in a drawer and not your glove compartment?
@MeganMarguerite: I personally didn't take your question/comment as snarky. To answer; I do have an office (space), (limited) bathroom storage, and (my version of a) toolbox however, the items in my misc drawer don't belong in any of those places. Things like twist ties, memo pads for grocery lists or recipes or... whatever, batteries, various manuals and other items so it all goes (neatly) into my misc drawer. I live in a small apartment and need to have a place for everything so, believe it or not, this drawer is very helpful, functional and necessary.
we call it a junk drawer - but it's anything but that. I have a dual level organizer. Our office is in the basement, my husband is a contractor so he keeps his tools with him. I keep a few handy things in this drawer so I don't have to run around the house when I need to take off the back of a toy and replace it's batteries. It has all the things I commonly need in one place. It is always organized and refilled when I run low.
I wholeheartedly agree with everything having a home - this is just a substation. ;o)
@andregirl - The Chicago parking permits you see are permits for visitors/guests. If you live on a residential street with permit parking, your permit is automatically printed on your city sticker. The guest permits are paid for separately, and last for 24 hours.
Organization-wise, I actually have our guest permits on our landing strip by the door. I think it's easier to give out the guest passes before people come in, get comfortable, and then realize that they have to venture back out to their car!
I have had an organizer similar to this in my "junk drawer" for awhile now. My family teases me everytime they use it and tell me a drawer that organized isn't a junk drawer. I have also gotten rid of my silverware tray in favor of cheap rectangular baskets for my silverware. They fit better and look neater. The rest of my drawers in my kitchen(and other rooms) now boast the same baskets to store things like measuring spoons, medicine cups(I'm a mom and I have quite a few), even sippy cup stoppers. I have never been happier with my drawers!
No junk drawer any more. My desk is a small table from IKEA, but I got a little organizer at Home Goods that has 2 drawers for desk supplies. My shelves next to the desk have containers for writing implements (Sharpies of every color!!), scissors, paper clips, etc.
I put extra twist ties in the drawer where I keep sandwich bags and plastic wrap.
Tools are in a tool box so we can always find them.
We have some of those plastic drawers meant to hold reams of paper (or things that size) in our pantry cupboard, and one drawer is for batteries, since we have lots of things that use them. Another is for candles and matches (for power outages).
Since I craft, some things that other people might put in a junk drawer go into my crafting stash.
And real junk gets trashed. (Or donated, if it wouldn't be junk for someone else.) "A place for everything..." (Back when I did have a junk drawer, I could never find anything. This system work much better for me.)
Thanks for the motivation to tweak our drawer and get things back in their places--it looks a whole lot better (and only took about 10 minutes to do)!
Amazing how much controversy something even as insignificant as a junk drawer can create among the posters here. Actually, it's more sad than amazing....