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Last updated on August 22nd, 2023 at 08:48 am
If you don’t know where to start organizing, a junk drawer is a great place to start. It’s filled with a lot of really useful stuff along with, well, a lot of junk. It’s a great place to practice your decluttering and organizing skills.
The thing about junk drawers is that it doesn’t exactly have to be about junk. Ours has pretty handy stuff that we’re constantly reaching for. Having it in the kitchen means it’s in a place where we need it the most.
I’m going to walk you through the steps of organizing a junk drawer, and you can pretty much use this framework anywhere.
Step 1: What will you keep?
What are the useful things you want to keep within arms reach? Batteries? Tape? Scissors? Pens? Think about how you can maximize your junk drawer so you can rechristen it the Handy Stuff drawer.
Step 2: Take everything out
It’s easier to go through things and see what space you have when you take everything out. And it makes step 3 easier.
Step 3: Clean
Give that drawer a good wipe. A lot of junk accumulates in there, so let’s start with a clean slate. (I use my all-purpose Thieves cleaner because it smells like Christmas.)
Step 4: Sort
Sort what you have by category, like pens, paper, sharp objects, matches, glue, tape. Separate things that should be tossed or relocated.
Step 5: Organize
The way to keep your drawer organized is to use organizers. Inexpensive baskets or anything you have lying around will work fine as long as they fit in the drawer. Assign each category a basket (AKA a home).
I used these little inexpensive baskets I got at Walmart a couple of years ago. I thought about going to the Dollar Tree to search for clear organizers, but why bother? These work perfectly fine, and I can use those dollars on Taco Tuesday instead.
Clearly I have my priorities in order.
Step 6: Arrange
Arrange the baskets inside the drawer based on the categories you’re reaching for most often.
Step 7: Upkeep
Finally, it’s all about upkeep. Practice putting things back where they belong right after you’re done using them. Before you add to the drawer, think about finding a better place for the random things that might end up there.
Instead of throwing in broken pieces of toys, decide if you’ll actually fix it if the pieces are hidden away. It might be better to toss it altogether or put it somewhere where it will actually get fixed.
This takes practice and doesn’t always happen. So you can always take a few minutes to declutter your drawer again.
It only takes about 10 minutes to organize a junk drawer. This basic framework will give you practice in organizing practically anything, so it’s a great place to get started.
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