Joy is...a Junk Drawer

To love me is to love my junk drawer. Let’s take a minute to really think about that, we have already identified this stuff as “junk”, yet we have assigned it a drawer all to itself. If there truly is no known use for these things, why do we keep them?
As I see it, there are two solutions for this absurdity; the first is, naturally to pitch the contents of this drawer into the local trash receptacle and call it a day. The second option is to sort out the drawer and then I would like to petition for a new drawer moniker. Maybe it could be called the “random items with potential usefulness drawer”.
I was conducting a workshop with a 5th grade class a few months ago. I went around the room to ask everyone what was in the junk drawer at their houses. The answers ran the gamut of crazy glue, a lone sock, papers, string, etc. I was unmoved until this one girl said, and I quote, “miscellaneous stuff that I haven’t found a place for yet.” Holy Cow! What we have here people, is a future Professional Organizer! Her stuff wasn’t junk, it was simply homeless.
A person’s junk drawer can be more revealing and personal that the medicine cabinet. So, what’s in your junk drawer? Is it just items that haven’t found a home yet, or something more interesting? There is the run of the mill rubber bands, bread twist ties, dead batteries (because they just might regenerate), screwdriver, safety pins, candy (melted and stuck to the wrapper), scraps of paper with random scribbling, and crumbs. Yeah, this is something I will never understand, a junk drawer that isn’t even in the kitchen gets crumbs in it! How does that happen?! I digress.
Have a more exotic exhibit? Your life may be more exciting than most, sand from a tropical beach, gold coins, and drink umbrellas fill your drawer.
Whatever your mix, it’s probably time to clean it out. There are two steadfast rules for junk drawers: the contents must have a reasonable potential use and there can only be one per household.
Grab an old newspaper, spread it out over your table and dump out the drawer, you heard me…DUMP it! Easy from here, throw out the trash. Sort out all of the items into different categories, like office supplies, kitchen stuff, unknown, etc. Next you will likely discover items that really do have bona fide homes, put them away so you can find them quickly next time. The items that are left need good hard objective decisions. Remember, love it, use it, or need it…otherwise, get it out of your house. Once you’ve made the tough choices, find a drawer divider or organizer to maintain some semblance of order in your “potentially useful item drawer.” Don’t let your drawer get out of control again, put stuff away where it belongs and don’t keep things you’ll never use just because you have a drawer for that.
Now you will love your junk drawer, too!