Hey hey! It is a stunning day here in Indiana and I'm heading out soon to take advantage of this beautiful weather. I want to work on a little gardening and cleaning out the garage a bit. I'm so thankful I am done with the massive purge of our house I told you about a couple weeks ago. I still have a lot to share about the process, especially the ways I've organized what's left.
Our junk drawer in the kitchen has always always been a thorn in my side. Every single time we pulled it out stuff would get stuck and then I'd find random junk laying around on the pots and pans in the cabinet below. You've been there I hope? :)
I cleaned this drawer out months ago and I'm pleased to tell you it's stayed organized since. That's the first time that's ever happened for this long. Part of it is that I've gotten rid of so many items we didn't need, I've stored items in other places where they make more sense, and also that it's organized well and easier to keep it looking good.
I have three items that helped me tremendously and they aren't expensive or hard to find. First up are some simple drawer bins -- I found mine at the dollar store:
I got mine in the kitchen area and love them. If you can't find the bins there I like these from Amazon and have use them all over the house as well. In the past I've tried many little bins and they haven't worked for us -- we end up just throwing things in randomly and the little containers become a drawer full of random stuff…right where I started.
Just using a couple of these makes me feel like it's organized but not overly so. I really think there's such a thing as too much organization. Sometimes I like a bunch of little containers but most of the time I prefer something simpler. I don't need every little bitty thing separated -- I think that makes it harder than it needs to be, for us anyway.
My next items are the simplest but have made things so much easier in ALL of our drawers. I grabbed a bunch of trash ties and some of Velcro strips (supposed to be used for hanging items):
I'm not kidding when I say I have searched forever for a solution to organizing all the earphones and phone cords in this house. We have a lot because we use them constantly and they break so often.
I was thisclose to ordering a set of little cord organizers when I came up with the idea of just using the twist ties. It's changed my life! Ha! Such a simple thing but it makes me so happy:
We only keep one cord in this drawer but in others where we used to have a massive mess of cords it has made a HUGE difference. We use this one every other day or so I don't tie it up every day, but it only takes a few seconds to do so.
The other little trick that has made my life complete (it doesn't take much obviously) is this one to keep the bins from sliding around. It drives me nutty and I've tried the little "feet" and rubber mats and nothing keeps them from moving around every time the drawer opens.
THIS works:
I put the two Velcro pieces together and attach it to the bottom of the tray. Peel the paper off the other side and place it exactly where you want it in the drawer. Push down and there you go -- they will. not. move.
Seriously though, it's the little things right? I've learned overdoing it never works for me.
Now we have a tray for the glue, pens, pencils, markers and chalk markers and then one for other little items like tape, sticky notes, charging cord, etc.:
I left the scissors up front for easy access because we seem to use those the most. The green ones are my favorite pair EVER -- they cut plastic with ease and I've used them for years. (You can find them here.)
The drawer has stayed like this for months and hasn't gotten cluttered up -- which is pretty amazing. A big reason for this is I've eliminated some of the items that used to make a mess. We don't keep paper in here at all anymore -- I have a separate spot for that. We don't throw change in here because I put it away in my purse. All of the other charging cords and plugs are in a central location so they're not floating all over in different drawers.
You know how a clean and organized space just makes you feel better? Well opening up this drawer every day and finding what I need within seconds does the same. You don't realize how much the little messes stress you out until you live without them for awhile. ;)
Do you have any tips or tricks that work for your junk drawer? I think I've finally figured out how to make this one work for us. (This one is just for office supply type items -- I have another drawer for random kitchen items as well.)
P.S. You can see more about my favorite appliance pictured in the kitchen island here. :)
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