How to Tackle the Junk Drawer!

September 30, 2009 by Nikki 

BEFORE

BEFORE

Tackle the Junk Drawer!

We all have them - The Junk Drawer! There is good reason why it is called a Junk Drawer!  Most of the time, junk is exactly what goes into it!  We waste so much time looking for items we know we have but can not find! Stop using the Junk Drawer as a dumping ground and start giving it purpose!  Heres how you do it……

1.  Empty it!  Clean out the drawer and start throwing out the trash.

2.  Peter Walsh recommends:  Put everything in a box, and then for the next month, every time you use an item put it back in the drawer, at the end of the month, get rid of what’s left in the box.  Noble idea!

3.  Decide what you really want in this drawer, get rid of the things that do not belong!  For example, in my drawer we had a lot of little screws, I asked my husband if we had a reason for them to be here?  No reason, therefore they were moved to the garage with all of the other tools and supplies!  What kinds of things should go in this drawer?  It depends on your household, for my family it’s the basics like pens, pencils, sharpener, take out menus, tacks, etc.  But everything has a purpose, a reason for being there, don’t use this drawer as a place for items without a home.  What happens, is they stay there and more clutter builds up.

4.  If you can’t figure out what something is in less than 3 minutes?  Toss it.

5.  For drawers like this, I highly recommend using drawer organizers / dividers.  You want to categorize your items and place them in the sections of the organizers. Their job is to section the large open space into small, defined compartments, helping create permanent home for things.  It will help you maintain the organization and it will be easier to find items.  They are inexpensive and can easily be found at Walmart, Target, Container Store, and Office supplies stores.

AFTER

AFTER

September 30, 2009 by Nikki  · Filed under: Home Organizing · Tagged: , , ,

Comments

One Response to “How to Tackle the Junk Drawer!”

  1. Kitchen Makeover for the Holidays! | Take Control Organizing on December 15th, 2009 3:13 pm

    [...]  Review my posts on organizing your junk drawer and organizing your pantry!  This is a great time to get these projects [...]

Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!