ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Junk Drawer: Why Would Anyone Live Without? Quick Guide to Organizing Yours

Updated on March 18, 2013

A mess!

Source

Everyone has a junk drawer, right?

It’s the catch-all of daily living. The detritus of life. It’s the “I don’t have time to deal with this right now.” It’s the quick put-away place for the “I’ll get to it later.”

It’s also the “I don’t know what this is but if I throw it away, then I’ll rediscover later what it is and kick myself.” Grrr.

The Convenience of Having a Junk Drawer

One screw left over from some job? Not worth the steps to the garage or basement to find its like-mates and put away. Leave it in the junk drawer, where it will accumulate with other leftover screws until enough screws make it worth the effort to put away.

Not just screws though. Where does all this stuff come from? A slow accumulation day by day: bag ties from the newly opened box of trash can liners, rubber bands holding stems of broccoli together, pencils that seem to grow on every clutter spot, an extension cord used for a quick job, a handy screwdriver. All useful items but too much trouble to make a trip just to put away one thing. There it goes…into the junk drawer!

More Than Junk

Ideally, the junk drawer would be called the useful drawer, because its fundamental purpose is to have items nearby that are frequently needed but that don’t all belong to one class of things. Here’s the place to keep a Phillips screwdriver, scissors, scotch tape, pencil or pen, measuring tape, and permanent marker. Maybe even the hammer and an extension cord.

This handy drawer makes life a little easier, quicker to find the things you need for a spontaneous fix up of something. A better name for this ubiquitous home necessity might be easy drawer, useful drawer, or handy drawer. But junk drawer it remains.

Akro Mils 10744 44-Drawer Hardware and Craft Cabinet, Red and Gray
Akro Mils 10744 44-Drawer Hardware and Craft Cabinet, Red and Gray
Ideal for workbench storage of nails, bolts, screws, etc.
 

Just Do It!

The hardest part of organizing a junk drawer is deciding to do it.

After that, it’s much easier and quicker than you think.

Step 1: Empty EVERYTHING out of the drawer in a heap onto the floor or a table.

You will get the greatest satisfaction from starting from scratch. Empty it all.

Step 2: Clean the drawer.

Do a good job, this may be the first cleaning your drawer has had in years and it may be (admit it) the last time or at least years before you do it again. (Ours? Dare I say? Six years. I know, because that’s when our new kitchen was built.)

Step 3: Sort the heap into like items. (Mine broke down into 5 big categories I will simplify with one word: pencils, clips, hardware, tools, and glue.)

Step 4: Pull out the things that really don’t belong in your junk drawer and put those away.

Wet naps went into the picnic basket. Nails and screws were sorted into workshop bins. Velcro and buttons went into the sewing chest, and so forth.

Step 5. Use containers to keep some items together.

Pencils, pens and markers get their own box in which scissors, tape and glue share space. Clips go into their own small container as do rubber bands and ties.

Step 6. Arrange everything into the drawer.

Put the things you want quick access to at the front (scissors and pencils), those used less often (flashlights and duct tape) at the back. No brainer.

Sorting

Source

Finished...okay, it's not beautiful but it works.

Source

How Long Will It Take?

I thought it would take hours, maybe days, to do this job. It didn’t. It took a little over an hour that went surprisingly fast. I did it at a leisurely pace, and it actually became entertaining, as we found mystery items and tried to figure them out.

The Best Part, a Pleasant Surprise!

Even better, it made more of a difference that I expected. Now every time I open that drawer I instantly find what I’m looking for….permanent marker, scissors, or clip! Right there. It’s so nice not to do the irritating dig through the junk to find the one thing you need.


What ARE these things????

Source

There’s some kind of mental lift we experience when we bring order even to some small chaotic corner in our lives.

There were some fun discoveries and the “Mysterious 6”, pictured here. We had a fun little discussion about what they could be. A template, a top, a fastener? We decided it was time to give up on most of them, yet….couldn’t do it. A couple of them went right back into the junk drawer.

Mystery Key

Source

My Favorite Junk Drawer Find

It’s this Yale & Towne key, probably obtained by the original owner of our house, built in 1940, which still opens the door to our garage. It’s a keeper!

If you don’t have a junk drawer, please let me know your secret. How could anyone possibly live without one!

Do You Have a Junk Drawer? More than one? VOTE HERE!

Two, three....more?

How many junk drawers do you have?

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)