I don’t think I’ve ever been without a junk drawer!
I would even go as far to say a junk drawer is an essential in every home!!
BUT!
A junk drawer which has got out of hand isn’t any fun - and nobody needs that!
This is my junk drawer in the kitchen - and this is the process I used to sort through it, it is quick and pain free!!
Just follow 4 easy steps - and once you've done one drawer you can tackle anything!!
We are only dealing with one drawer, so let's just go for it!
Empty the drawer out completely. Don't worry about sorting anything yet, just get it completely empty.
Now let's clean out all the crumbs and little bits which have adhered themselves to the bottom of the drawer!! Don't ask how they got stuck - this is one of the universe's great mysteries!!
I used the vacuum cleaner, some elbow grease and a knife!
This gives us a good clean base to work from, now we can move on to STEP 3.
Now we can begin to sort through everything we took out of the drawer.
I had a 'this belongs elsewhere' pile, a 'donate' pile, a 'rubbish/recycle' pile and a 'put back in the drawer pile'.
These are my 'Put Elsewhere' and 'Donation' piles.
You now have a choice -
Move the put elsewhere items back to where they should be
right now so that the pile doesn't go straight back into the drawer,
take the donations to a different room, too, for the same reason
OR
Move straight onto STEP 4
I have given you these choices because we all operate differently! Either you are the sort of person who will put everything which needs to go back, back into the drawer and than put everything else back in there because 'it's all sorted and I can move it properly later' - guess what? You wont! Or you will take the items away to be put in their proper homes and zones only to get distracted and come back to the drawer later having forgotten about it and with no time to put it away properly!
Make your choice!!
Nice and simple - put everything back into the drawer! You are left with all those things which have no other home and are destined to make the junk drawer their home. Gather together like items, fold tea-towels and put them in the drawer together.
Optional step - buy drawer dividers - but this is a junk drawer and the contents will vary over time so I would argue this is a space which needs to be flexible to work for you.
As this is a 'No Spend' drawer de-junk, I have no drawer dividers but there is a basket which already lived in there where I put my tea-towels.
I know this isn't an after picture worthy of the great After Pictures Hall of Fame, but I can see everything in there and it is all easy to get at - that's a win for me!
Let me know how you get on with your junk drawer!! or drawers!!
You can comment below ↓↓ or look at the end of the blog for all the ways you can contact me privately. I love hearing from you with all your ideas and photos of the areas you are working on!!
If you want to delve deeper into finding a ‘system’ which will work for you, you can contact me via my email lindajharper@yahoo.com or using the chat bubble on my website, I would love to help you!
You can message me on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Linda-J-Harper-Professional-Declutterer-and-Organiser-107805011001601.
I am also on Pinterest and Instagram if you need some inspiration! https://www.pinterest.co.uk/adnilenaj1314/boards/
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