Organize Your Junk Drawer in 15 Minutes
You know exactly what I’m referring to when I say ‘junk drawer.’ It’s that catch-all, “I might need this around the house someday,” filled-to-the-brim drawer that lives in your kitchen, your entryway, your office, or maybe even your garage. Personally, I’m not a fan of the name ‘junk drawer,’ because I believe that it immediately creates a negative connotation around it, almost encouraging you to throw caution to the wind when you add to it. Instead, I like to call it your joy drawer. Want to know why? Because when it’s well organized and you’re maximizing its functionality, you can’t help but smile everytime you reach for something inside it.
Every junk drawer has the potential to become a place of reliability, and yours is no different. In fact, organizing your joy drawer can be done in as little as 15 minutes! When you think strategically and get critical in your decision-making, turning this disheveled drawer into a true resource in your home is only a few minutes away. Here is the foolproof step by step process for organizing your joy drawer in 15 minutes:
Pull everything out
Lay it all out on the table. Literally. Remove every single item in your drawer, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. If you already have drawer organizers, get those out too. Once everything is out, take some all-purpose cleaner and wipe your drawer down. Over time, crumbs and debris can pile up in those untouched nooks and crannies!
Categorize & sort
With everything out of the drawer, it’s time to sort through your items, so you can see your full inventory. This is super helpful for learning if you have duplicate items, items that are broken, or anything outdated, like takeout menus (tip: there’s a 99% chance even your favorite hole-in-the-wall dumpling spot has an online menu now). Of course, what you keep in your joy drawer will depend on your personal routine, but these are items we generally recommend storing in the joy drawer:
Utility scissors
Batteries
A flashlight
Scotch tape
Measuring tape
Rubber bands
Two to three pens
Small notepad
Sharpie markers
Stamps
Checkbook
Reading glasses
Discard and relocate
For those broken or outdated items, you can likely toss them without giving it a second thought. If there’s anything in here that you know you haven’t used in more than a year, or you know you never will again, it’s probably time to discard. For anything that might have been thrown in your drawer in a pinch, when it doesn’t truly belong there, be sure to relocate it to its permanent home. As a rule of thumb, I tell my clients to keep no more than 3 of the same writing utensil in the joy drawer. If you’re having a hard time letting go, you’re not alone. We wrote a blog all about confronting emotional barriers as you purge to help you!
Measure your drawer
Alright, onto the fun part! Time to add in organizational systems. The best way to figure out what’s going to work for you is to first measure your drawer, and take note of how big your items are. You’ll need to work with products that give your inventory ample space to live in the drawer, so you don’t find yourself carelessly tossing items back in because they never really fit in the first place.
Pick out products
Once you’ve measured your drawer, it’s time to find the right products that are going to comfortably create boundaries and designated spaces for your items. If you can, I encourage you to overbuy products so you can really select products that will work well with your inventory. By this, I mean that if you only have one size of each drawer organizer, you might find yourself forcing a fit, and let me tell ya, that’s a recipe for short-term success. Here are some of our favorite joy drawer products:
Maintain!
You did it! YAY! Take a minute to celebrate this win. Now the only thing left to do is keep up your work! The good news is that when everything in your drawer has a proper, designated home, it’s pretty straightforward to keep things in order. But I have to say that once you’ve gotten organized, you’ve made a commitment to yourself and your home. To keep things organized, it’s as simple as incorporating small habits into your daily routine—like putting the pens back in their drawer organizer—to maintain organization. For more on how you can maintain your home organization, check out the blog we wrote all about it.
While it may be small, organizing your junk drawer can seriously propel you forward and encourage you to get organized in other areas of your home and life. If you don’t have the time to get organized or you feel overwhelmed at the mere thought, this is the key. So start small, and take it one space (or drawer) at a time. The most important thing is that you’re starting. Eventually, these small victories will add up over time!
Feeling inspired? For tips, tricks, product picks, and inspiration for home organization, make sure you grab your copy of Life in Jeneral if you haven’t yet and sign up for the LIJ Book Club! There’s a 70 page workbook with exercises to help you work through your emotional barriers and goals in relation to organizing, and of course, step-by-step guidance to do the work. For even more support and encouragement, follow along with the book club on our Instagram, too!