Okay so awhile back Katherine over at Raising Five wrote a really funny post about her junk drawer. If you haven’t read it please go on over and do so and then come back. Isn’t that great…I love it! I’m here to say there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a junk drawer, in fact I think it is essential with our busy lives today, I mean where else would you put old driver’s licenses, right Katherine? The trick here though is to every once and awhile dump that junk drawer out and discover the “treasures” waiting to be unearthed. So that is what I did today with my kitchen junk drawer and yes I even found some “treasures” I hadn’t seen in quite some time. Let me walk you through my process:
My kitchen junk drawer before:
First I dumped everything out onto the counter.
I have all sorts of things in here:
- gum, string, , bag of elastics, labels, oil scents, water tags, pencil sharpener, little tools, candle lighters (3!), post it notes, etc..
I was happy to find my bathtub no stick strips in here, I had wondered where they had gone.
Next is the containerizing. I had some baskets in that drawer already but I wanted to see if I could improve on it a little bit so I went to my collection of unused baskets in the basement to see what I could find that might work better:
I tried this arrangement but found it didn’t really work for me:
I went back to the red basket because it was a better size for what I need to store in there. The two containers in the front are different and work much better allowing me to establish more boundaries.
Containers establish boundaries and limits.
Finally after purging and sorting, I put everything back in and voila the finished product:
Katherine had said that her junk drawer organzing started in search of a spare key. These little baskets work great for containing small items like that. My spare keys are kept in my lightbulbs and batteries rolling tote in one of the drawers and here is a picture of it because apparently I don’t have enough pictures on here already….lol.
If you don’t have little baskets, no worries, take a cereal box, cracker box, tea box (etc) and cut it down to fit. They work just as well and cost nothing!!
Happy organizing!
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Your “before” drawer looks waaaay better than my “after” drawer!
LOL Ditto to what the previous poster said!
You have inspired me, I’m going to tackle my junk drawer today!!!
Awesome. The goddess of organization!!
What are “water tags”???
I love the before and after pictures! I should dump out my junk drawer and get rid of half the stuff – I bet it wouldn’t even be missed. Maybe I’ll tackle that next week. Thanks for the inspiration! :-)
I cleaned out my junk drawer last week. At least I thought I did. I’ll do it again next time I buy cereal & the crackers are gone or I find some little baskets.
I don’t have a junk drawer in this house, but I do have those long & skinny baskets in my medicine cabinet to hold small boxes of meds, loose sheets of pills, little tiny bottles, etc. I love them!
I have rectangular or square stainless steel basket organizers and it’s fun opening the drawers just to look at them.
You just inspired me to do some organizing today.
I thought of you when I was organizing my junk drawer…..along with organizing everything else in the house.
We have a water bottle delivery service here and have to purchase water tags to use in advance.
Great job as always, Laura! You always have great ideas. I need to have a junk drawer. lol I don’t have one.
That’s your BEFORE drawer? oh, Lordy – I’m in big trouble.
Love it! So gratified to see I’m not the only one who thinks perfectly organized is much better than mostly organized!
I organized my junk drawer a month and a half ago after discovering your blog! Although I too thought the first photo was your “completed” junk drawer.
I love your site! I have always enjoyed organizing!
I did what you said, I went to Raising Five and read her blog. And the amazing part about that is that I was able to get back to you, sometimes it doesn’t happen that way.
I like the looks of your before drawer, and after too. When I work with clients I could drive them nuts by getting too, too organized. The before would have been such a big adjustment that I would have to start there. And all would be well as they could find everything and things that don’t belong in that junk drawer AKA Resource Drawer are moved.
Marilyn :)
Get It Together Organizing
This blog is crackin’ me up! You must be Dutch. ;)
But I’m loving it. And inspired by it. I’m off to surf some more and bookmark you for sure.
oh my – that looks soooo good!
wow! To be so organized… if only if only. Having a home for everything is a sure time saver… but it just wouldn’t be a junk drawer if it looked that good! :) Isn’t part of the fun the thrill of the hunt? ;)
Ok, I know I’m wrong there. I spent 20 minutes looking for the tape measure the other day. That wasn’t fun. I’ll be taking noted off your site from now on. Thank you! Keep up the good work.
I have to say that your before junk drawer looks even better then my just been organized junk drawer I was envious in a good way.
I like the organization and
colors in your BLOG.
Am exploring “ideas” in your
blog right now.
Blessings, Gerald (Jerry)
Landis, Altamonte Springs,
Florida
Love it! I organize mine with fishing tackle boxes (the clear ones with a hinged lid). I’ve got office supplies in one, small tools, nails, tacks, etc in another, batteries in another, and odds and ends in the last one (packs of gum, spare keys, lighters, etc). I have a really deep drawer. LOL.
Thanks for sharing your organization tips, this is great.
I love your blog, I’m going to go and clean my junk drawer, that is after I clean my counter off so I can dump my junk drawer out onto it.? Thanks for the inspiration
This was my task for me to do today – so glad I came across your site! It was recommended by a homeschool site.
I am slowly working my way around the kitchen, so I will be back to visit soon!
I love the baskets!! Just did a few drawers yesterday with your ideas – it works!!
As well I was thinking you could use cookie or chocolate tins! Thrift shops have a lot of these tins for cheap cheap. Rectangle and square work better than round cookie tins because they fit together nicely! Shoe boxes work too!
I have to say that I absolutely would love to have you come to my house LOL. Your drawers look so much neater than mine. I actually have to sit down and go through all of my stuff and organize it.