I Used the Junkless Drawer Decluttering Trick, and It Cleared Out a Cluttered Spot in Minutes

I like to think that I’m generally good at staying organized. But when life gets busy, my tendency to shove something in a drawer as a quick fix seems to increase. My desk drawer is definitely one of the biggest clutter catch-alls that’s easy to forget about — out of sight, out of mind.

Luckily, I recently discovered a trick I wanted to try to help me clear it out: The Minimalists’  “junkless drawer” method. Here’s how it works, and what happened when I tried it.

Coined by pro organizers The Minimalists, the “junkless drawer” method is a simple decluttering tactic that relies on memory. Choose an area you want to declutter, then take a notebook and do your best to write down everything that you think is stored in the space without looking at it. Once you can’t think of anything else that might be in there, sift through the stuff and identify all of the items you didn’t remember. At this point, you can declutter anything you forgot was in there. These items may need storing elsewhere, or you can get rid of them completely.

This method works anywhere junk piles up, whether in an under-bed storage box, a closet, or a forgotten cabinet. Where you apply the method doesn’t matter — the same rules apply.

I found the “junkless drawer” decluttering method both incredibly easy and surprising. I struggled to remember anything in the drawer, only listing “stapler, hole punch?, old journal, stamps, envelopes.” The Minimalists encourage you to be as specific as possible when recalling items with colors or amounts, but this was the best I could do. 

As I sorted through the items in my drawer, I quickly learned that I owned way more duplicates of items like notebooks and pens than I ever thought. I also found random items in the drawer that didn’t belong there, like a broken reading light and a mystery cable. I also found the missing WiFi card with my passcode on it after misplacing it months ago! In minutes, using just my own memory, I cleared the drawer out and now know everything that lives in it.

Although I didn’t rehome or get rid of everything that wasn’t on my initial list as The Minimalists recommend, I still found this method to be really eye-opening. My drawer feels notably more spacious after returning items to their proper homes, tossing things that were broken, and decluttering some spare stationary items. If you’re anything like me and are prone to unintentionally cluttering drawers, cabinets, or even your pantry, I couldn’t recommend this method more highly. 

It begs the question: If you can’t remember something, do you really need to keep it? I can’t wait to try it on another cluttered space soon.