It’s a weekend, so we’re taking on one of the meatier projects for our Organizing Challenge Month:  Cleaning out the Junk Drawer. Drawers. With and “S”. Take all of yours on this weekend! The kitchen, the bedroom, the office, the entry way, the tv room… they’re everywhere. Go find them all!

I have a friend who knows how I feel about junk drawers: I don’t believe in them.  He’s seen the inside of most drawers in my home, and realized I meant it. Any drawer I have has a purpose, the items in there make sense, and are orderly.  Why? Because I like being able to find things when I need them.  I’m wacky that way.   So, how do you get to a great place where your drawers are storage tools, and not places you dread and get frustrated over whenever you need something?

“No Junk Drawer” may be a bit of a jarring perspective for some people to imagine, but maybe use it as a goal to shoot for, and see how far you get.  The keys to cleaning out a junk drawer:

1) Take it all out, wipe it down, and deal with the pile on the table, not just move things around in the drawer.

2) Get rid of things that really are trash.  It’s inevitable; you’re going to find trash or “not worth keeping” items. Those are the first things to separate out.

3) Ask yourself “Is this the best place for this item?” about everything.  If it’s not the most logical place you’d look for it, then it you’re not going to find it when you need it.  Be okay about finding new homes that are more reasonable for items.

4) What’s remaining should be well-corralled and grouped together.  You can use small bins or tins or baskets or cut the bottoms off of boxes, but essentially the rule is if items have smaller space to move around in, they are less likely to get lost somewhere else.  Just don’t toss it all together, knowing that, as soon as you open that drawer again, it will all get shifted.

So, tackle a junk drawer this weekend. Or two. Or THREE!  It’s a weekend challenge, so you can take on more than just one Twenty Minute Attack this weekend. Make the most of it!

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