We call it by many names, (“the forgotten”, “the gather-it-all”, “the multi-tasking drawer”), but really when it comes down to it, it’s really a junk drawer. Junk drawers came into existence in our kitchens for two main reasons: to store items we rarely use or to store the items we really don’t know where else to put it.
After a while these drawers can get really messy, full of odd items and basically a waste of valuable space. Follow these few easy steps and bring order back to this chaos.
Empty everything out of the drawer. As you empty, use the opportunity to get rid of all the little pieces of trash and useless stuff that have been collecting for some time now. Start piling up the items you take out of the drawers by the group and based on their function.
Now take a look at your piles, what really doesn’t belong in the kitchen? Items such as coins, paper clips, pens, and ribbons really don’t need to stay in the kitchen. Take them out to your office and store them in there. Too many pens? Keep a couple in the kitchen and take the rest out to your office as well.
After you decided on what stays, now it’s time to put them back in the drawer. If you just put the piles back without containing or dividing them, in few days you are back to square one.
Use drawer organizers or dividers to keep them organized. You can also really get creative and use some old bakeware such as a muffin tin or individual cupcake molds as a divider. Or why not use some of your old Tupperware to store the items. We love reusing and repurposing things. It’s a fun way to stay green!
If you have only a few menus you can still store them in this drawer. Use a filing system if you collect a lot of menus.
Every often take a look at this drawer and purge. If you don’t stay on top of it, the junk will just keep creeping back.
Go ahead and open that drawer now. Enjoy the peace and happiness that it gives you after it is organized. Now you can call it whatever you want, but for sure not a junk drawer.
