There always seems to be that one drawer, typically in the kitchen, where small things get placed that we’d like to have handy. This drawer usually starts out nice and neat but somewhere along the line something goes horribly wrong… and before we know it, it has mutated into a black hole of literal JUNK. Mine usually gets cleaned out when I move which was OK because I’ve moved a lot so that happened regularly. But now that we’re more or less settled I’m determined to keep this  drawer orderly!

The only true way to do that is to avoid using it as a catch all. You know, a handy localized spot that’s inviting you to toss stuff in you don’t want to deal with at the moment. Well you can’t do that anymore. You need to follow one rule: Only keep the things in it that were decided upon and nothing else.  Your drawer will then joyfully function to it’s fullest capacity and be a place of convenience for things we need and use regularly. (As opposed to a bog of nastiness lurking in the background.) The contents and location will of course vary with each household. My drawer has always been in the kitchen but in our new home I decided to use a drawer in my bakers rack which is in the dining room next to the kitchen.  You can see it below along with some suggestions. The key is to make it handy.

Remember, your junk drawer should make life simpler not be one more place you need to clean out “some day.”

My junk drawer is in my bakers rack in the dining room next to the kitchen.

Results of Junk Drawer Survey

We took a small survey of what people had in their junk drawers. Here is the result.