The dreaded junk drawer. What state is yours in? Before you answer that, I have a confession story to tell you, that might just make you feel better if yours is a mess.

Once upon a time, four years ago to be exact, I had not one, but TWO junk drawers. Both were the stuff-everything-in-there-until-practically-overflowing-and-if-anyone-ever-lays-eyes-on-this-I’ll-be-mortified kind of junk drawer. Screws & screwdrivers (don’t those belong in a toolbox?), old video rental cards and my college i.d. from years ago (shouldn’t those be shredded?), receipts, batteries, recipe booklets, more receipts, every writing  utensil known to man, sunglasses, report cards, pads of paper, tealights, keys to the car that was sold a couple years prior, keys that I don’t know what they opened…you name it, it was in there. {Feel better? I thought so.} Then one day, I decided to use my OCD tendencies for good instead of evil, and started living by the golden rule. No, not that one. This one: A place for everything, and everything in its place. The junk drawers were banished from the kingdom, and we all lived happily ever after.

So, again I ask, what state is your junk drawer in? Is it happily organized, a chaotic mess, or somewhere in between?

Pop quiz! What’s my golden rule? That’s right! You get a gold star! Now let’s work on finding a place for everything in YOUR drawer. Assignment: Find the time this week to clean and organize your junk drawer.

• Empty the contents out onto the table or counter.
• Wipe the drawer clean, including the crevices and corners of the drawer.
• Now sort everything….
• If it doesn’t belong in there, put it where it belongs. If it’s in there BECAUSE it doesn’t have a dedicated place where it belongs, CREATE one for it. This is, in my opinion, the number one cause for messes. If it doesn’t have a home, it will wander. Simple as that.
• If it’s garbage, throw it away. Be selective in what you keep.
• Put the remaining items into small boxes or baskets that will fit in your drawer. This is the biggest step you can take to make sure your junk drawer (which you can now call something else, because it doesn’t look so junky anymore) stays neat and organized! I heart boxes! As you can see, the only items I don’t have in a box are the extra notepads for my fridge, my scissors, and my coupon binder.

If you’re looking at the picture of my drawer and swoon over those boxes like I do, you can find them HERE. Not only are they pretty, but watch this: presto change-o!!! …*…*…*…*…

Cool, right? Not that lids are essential, but boxes like this would work GREAT for people who have a tendency to overstuff. How many pens or sticky notes do you really NEED in your drawer, right? If you have a problem corralling the clutter, make it a rule that if it doesn’t fit with the lid closed, then it’s too much for the drawer. (As you can see, my one exception is my box with the tape in it, only because the tape is too tall for the lid to fit. The other open box is for my glasses and lens cleaner, and I never bother putting the cover on that, because I know I won’t put other “stuff” in it.)

Don’t want to spend money on boxes? Improvise! Before I bought these, I used Velveeta boxes, and those worked just fine! You can even use double-sided tape to pretty them up with scrapbook paper. Beautiful spaces make me want to keep the space beautiful.

Love & Blessings,

Shandy

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Be sure to visit Shandy’s personal blog Aprons ‘n Pearls for crafts, recipes, home keeping tips & more!