What happens when you take three different organizers and ask them the same organizing question? We’re not sure, but we’re about to find out. Join Mandi from Organizing Your Way, Tanna from Complete Organizing Solutions and me as we take your organizing questions and provide you with three possibly different answers on each of our own blogs. We aren’t going to discuss our answers ahead of time, so it will be interesting to see if they differ.
What we can agree on for sure, though, is that there is no right or wrong way to organize and that there are many different ways of doing so. Through this little experiment of ours, we hope to showcase what works best for each of us in various organizing scenarios. The question is, will we be the same or different? Let’s find out together.
It’s time for Organizing Triple Play!
Today’s question:
How do you organize your kitchen junk drawer?
Well first of all I have to say that I think it’s perfectly acceptable to have a junk drawer in your kitchen. Often there are just odds and sodds that need a home and a junk drawer provides a perfect space for them. However I also believe it’s possible to have an organized junk drawer. How do I manage that?
With baskets of course! Gosh bet you didn’t see that one coming did you 🙂
Baskets are ideal for establishing some much needed limits and boundaries in your drawer so you can see what you have without it being one big jumbled mess. I last posted about my kitchen junk drawer in August of 2007 and I just checked the picture and am amazed that almost two years later it is still organized exactly the same way. It’s definitely working for me!
Check out my post on Organizing a Junk Drawer where I take you through the process of how I select just the right baskets to give me just the right configuration. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being organized enough.
And that’s how I organize my junk drawer 🙂
To find out what Mandi and Tanna have to say about organizing a junk drawer, be sure to visit them at Organizing Your Way and Complete Organizing Solutions. If you have a question you’d like us to tackle next time, leave a comment with your suggestion!
Tanna says
Isn’t it amazing how the containers practically do the work for you? It practically stays uncluttered on it’s own.
Chele says
I do the same thing! It does work!
Vicki says
Where do you find all your great little baskets??
I’m going to do this for my bathroom drawers too!!!
Thanks,
MJ Doyle says
I agree that having a junk drawer in the kitchen is helpful if it’s organized.
For someone wanting to get theirs to look like yours, they first need to purge whatever is in there. Then get the baskets to fit the drawer and organize what’s left after the purge. Also, routines need to be established so all their work doesn’t go to waste and so that, like yours, their junk drawer continues to look great and function as it should.
Laura says
Vicki all the baskets I used were from the Dollar Store where you can typically get the little ones 2 or 3 for $1.00. You can’t go wrong, however this would also work with cut down boxes.
Ally0005 says
This is one area even if you organize it, it always get messes up again.
Gina says
I love my junk drawer. It’s my “designated messy space” that I allow myself, then it’s easy to organize and feel a sense of accomplishment even if the rest of life is chaotic. I talked about it here:
http://www.moneywisemoms.com/2009/04/wfmw-junk-drawer.html
Charlene says
I recently reorganized my “junk” drawer and a drawer that I keep all of my plastic lids, etc. I threw away OTC medicine that expired in 2005, batteries that had never been used that were expired, and 27 lids that I didn’t have containers for.
Now I have baskets similar to yours–from the dollar store, too, and it’s so easy to keep things looking decent!
Tiggerlily says
i’ve always been a fan of your site. it makes me feel that i would be able to organize without spending too much. your posts are always realistic – because the stuff you use pretty much resembles what i can use around my house. i also have a collection of baskets 😛 i got it from a local plastic factory here in manila. cost me less than a dollar for 6 pcs. it’s a cheapskate’s heaven!
Elaine says
I really need to get my junk drawer organized, I do clean it from time to time but the family cannot seem to keep my kitchen drawers orderly like I like them to be. I need to be on the lookout for good organizers such as what you have here and what the other 2 ladies show at their sites.
Thanks for doing this.
Bonnie says
i love it !! it’s not about being perfect, it’s about being organized enough. i’m totally filing that away in the back of my brain for when things aren’t going exactly as i want them to !!
ps … i mentioned your blog in a post the other day … http://bonnie-simple-beauty.blogspot.com/2009/06/tiggy.html
Alison says
So, I’m a fairly organized person. In fact, some people call me OCD. 🙂 However, I struggle with my kitchen because I only have 2 drawers! One drawer is used for all those miscellaneous kitchen utensils, and the other has to hold my cutlery. Now, the cutlery drawer has a bit of extra space in it, but it ends up looking kind of junky holding candles, tape, pens, shopping lists, twist ties and more…any suggestions on how I can either a.) organize my cutlery drawer to fit these extra items or b.) store my miscellaneous kitchen utensils differently to provide more space to store the “junk”? Any advice would be appreciated!!
Rebecca says
Hi Laura! Thanks for the ideas! My junk drawer is not organized! whoo-hooo!
Denise says
You have such a neat junk drawer. *sigh*
I have one, yes one, drawer in my tiny kitchenette! So my junk drawer is also the drawer where silverware, appliance manuals, rubber bands, twist ties, and other little necessities are kept. Can you say mess? I knew you could! Have you ideas on keeping one drawer that needs to hold a lot organized?
Rebecca says
The junk drawer has been my nemesis since childhood. lol. But really, they bother me. Until I found the organizer that fixed all that. It was $5 or less and I loved the labels – though I don’t follow all of them. It keeps things organized & if the drawer gets out of hand I can fix it up quickly again. I like the one with the lid though – keep those little hands of trouble out!
This is an old post with BAD pictures
http://nsdesperatehousewife.blogspot.com/search?q=junk+drawer
Kristin @ klingtocash says
I did the same thing with my junk drawer in the kitchen. It so much easier to find things in there now.
Connie says
Nothing beats the Veleeda box…durable and free!
Denise says
Laura, the organizer you sent me the link for looks like it might just do the trick. Thank you!
Rebecca, where did you get your organizer? I like it!
stephanie says
i need evryone help who can help i am sorry that i wrote this her though i had no other place to write it.
my problem is i want to purge my whole house ,keep my new buying organizers and stuff until i move.
that is my big purge reason i do not want to take even a sock that doesn”t fit i want to get rid out basically alli can.
help me if you can
thanks
Bertha Lunn says
There may be some thing wrong with your on page links. You should have a web designer take a look at the site.