The Organized Junk Drawer

Every home has a junk drawer; you shouldn’t be ashamed that you have items which have no permanent home that clutter a drawer. It is where items that are a temporary resident in your home have a place to go, this reduces the look of clutter on the sides but sometimes, it can become too much of a burden and you need to know how to control this temporary home.

Creating an organized junk drawer

Whilst in the beginning a junk drawer can look fine, there does come a time when you need to take back control.

• Ensure there is no rubbish collecting there, this should always be disposed of.
• Make sure items don’t have a home elsewhere and just going into the junk drawer because they are not making it back to their home. If this is happening, consider moving the home of this item, it is likely the original home is no longer suitable.
• Know the reason for keeping the item, this will mean when the time has passed, you are able to get rid of the item. Hanging on to it only whilst it served a purpose in your home.
• If you have lots of similar items consider creating a permanent home, even in the junk drawer. This will mean you are able to weed out the items that you don’t want to keep. If you keep take out menus or business cards, consider keeping them tidily together; it makes it easier to find what you are looking for, if a menu is out of data throw it out.

The junk drawer is a place for things that you need or want, but for only short periods. If there are items that stay in there for long periods of time, then make sure that is their permanent home and they are kept tidy.

It is possible to have an organized junk drawer, it makes it easier to find the items you are looking for and you won’t find anything in there that has another place in your home.

It is important if you place post in your junk drawer to keep it out of sight, you don’t let it sit there and ignore it; this behaviour demonstrates a fear of the post and you might be trying to hide from something. Bills put in drawers indicate a fear of not being in control of your finances or you have no other place for storing them. Consider creating a post area, a place that you will deal with all the mail coming into your home and not hiding from it.

Therefore, it is important to not be afraid of your junk drawer; just take back control of the area and ensure that the items inside are there on a temporary basis and will leave when they have out lived their usefulness. Don’t hold onto rubbish, and if an item looks like a permanent fixture consider creating a home for the item.