You’ll start to feel good about your organizing skills after cleaning out the junk drawer.
By Nick Gerhardt, The Family Handyman
Empty the Drawer
When you empty the drawer someplace you’ll get a good look at what you’re dealing with instead of just adding to the pile.
Toss What You Don’t Need
With everything spread out you can see all of the unnecessary items instead of just seeing a few when you open and close the drawer.
Start Sorting
If you want to find everything in your junk drawer easily, then you’ll want to sort everything and create categories for the items. Our next tip will make it easier for you to create a storage spot for each category.
Simple Drawer Dividers
Here’s an easy way to make your own inexpensive drawer organizers. Attach thin strips of adhesive-backed foam weather stripping to the inside of your drawers (either to the sides or to the front and back, depending on which way you want your drawers divided). Then set 1/4-in. plywood strips into the drawer with the ends pressed against the weather stripping. Add as many dividers as you need, and voilà —a perfectly organized drawer.
See-Through Junk Drawer in a Bag
I store my extra fasteners in a clear plastic bag instead of a coffee can or junk drawer. Searching for the correct nut, bolt or whatever is as easy as looking “through” the bag, reaching in and plucking it from the mix. — Gail Snyder
It’s Time to Toss Those Takeout Menus
Though your takeout bag comes with a menu or two, the reality is, you end up stuffing all that wasted paper in a drawer. Then before you know it, menu after menu, it’s hard for you to close your kitchen drawer. Toss those suckers in the recycling bin and stick to looking up menus online.
Don’t Let the Junk Drawer Overflow
It goes without saying that a junk drawer goes from being a place for miscellaneous items, to an overflowing space that has more non-essential items in it than ones you actually want to get easy access to. Go through your junk drawer quarterly, making sure anything that’s in there is something you truly need. The rest you can toss, like extra rubber bands, plastic bags, chopsticks, business cards, and more.
Test Out Pens and Other Items
Maybe a group of pens in your junk drawer no longer work. Test them out and toss them if they’re no good. If you’ve got liquid paper from a decade ago, it’s probably dried out and it’s time to toss it.
Place a Drawer Liner Inside
- Even if you scrub it, the shelf or drawer surface could still be sticky, rough or just plain gross.
- If the surface is in great shape, a liner helps keep it that way. For example, protect your new portable kitchen island’s drawers from your pointy cooking utensils.
- If you don’t like the sound of things rattling around in your drawers, liner dampens the noise.
- On wire shelving, a liner keeps small items from falling through to who knows where.
- Liner takes minutes to install and every time you put your clean towels on the shelf or stick your veggie peeler in the drawer, you’ll thank yourself.
Muffin Pan Drawer Organizers
Reach into your cookware cabinet for a brilliant solution for storing office supplies. Muffin pans are perfect for corralling thumb tacks, paperclips, erasers, etc., all the things that usually end up strewn about in the junk drawer.
