Continuing my Saturday challenge of doing Two Things at some point in a busy day, I decided to tackle my Junk Drawers.
Remember them? I decluttered them long ago, in this post where I first came up with my two decluttering questions.
They needed re-decluttering.
Oh boy, did they.
My clue that it was time was not so subtle. When you can’t close a drawer, it needs to be decluttered.
Just the kind of life-changing organizing advice you were hoping for when you came here today, huh?
But when I opened up the drawers, I was completely overwhelmed. I mean, I’d decided to do two things. Two things doesn’t seem like it should be that bad. But these two things? These two particular drawers?
Blergh.
I told myself to end with less than I had when I started.
Less. That was my goal.
Not perfection, not even finishing, just having less.
The best way to achieve less?
Pull out random stuff and stick it in the Donate Box or the trash.
Top left: The random Christmas decoration that wasn’t used in ’14 and never made it back into the attic in ’13.
Top right: A never-used calendar from 2014.
Bottom left: Whatever I could cut away from the big tangle.
Bottom right: Some poor polar bear whose face was chewed off. I’m sure I stuck him there to save him from Scruffy the Polar Bear Eliminator. Not sure why I didn’t stick him straight into the trash can. Oh well, he’s there now.
There’s less in that second picture. I promise.
Next drawer.
OK. This second drawer seems to have more of the “less” thing going.
Things I removed:
Left side, top to bottom:
- Box top expired in ’12. Ugh. Deja vu anyone?
- Sewing kit I’d look for in the gameroom cabinet. (So I took it there.)
- Pure randomness. (I threw it all away. It’s ok. I had permission.)
- Extra batteries for my beloved Key Finders. I took them to the place where we keep batteries. (Which happens to also be where we look for them!!)
Right side, top to bottom:
- Handwipes and swimming earplugs (that I’d look for in a cabinet three feet away).
- Another box top that I’m sure produced clever musings in my mind in the moment when I took the picture, but that my 41yo mind can’t recall and my 41yo eyes can’t even read to try to come up with more clever musings.
- Glue sticks I’d searched for desperately a few weeks before (in a drawer on the other side of the kitchen).
- Another DS charger for the kid who bought one when he couldn’t find this one (or the one I found on my bathroom counter).
I can’t call anything I did that day organizing, and I can hardly call it a project.
But I did take a few of my Saturday’s awkward pauses to get rid of stuff. Enough stuff that my kitchen junk drawers can easily close.
Y’know, so they can properly hide the junk that’s still in them . . .
I’m calling that progress.
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--Nony
Dana, I’ve nominated you for the Sisterhood of the World Award.
Please come by my blog to pick it up. https://purpleslobinrecovery.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/nominated-for-sisterhood-of-the-world-award/
Thank you!
Melinda
Oh thank you so much! I’m honored!!
So very welcome! You are my hero! You inspired me to start my own slob blog. And, man, is it ever helping my house!
This cracks me up. I did this very thing to my kitchen table the other night. It tends to be the landing zone/bane of my existence . . . Anyway I went through everything on the table (with the garbage can open) and just began chucking whatever needed to go. Even the tablecloth went in the trash. Which trust me, it was ruined – I just couldn’t get to it. Sometimes all I can do is focus on having LESS vs. being perfect. I’m sure my table would still be a mess to anyone who walked in the door, but things are no longer sliding off it and you can now see more than half of it LOL.
I heart you. I went through the box top problem too. But I put a pencil holder thingy with a magnet on the side of my filing cabinet and the second I get home I cut the box tops off and put them in there. That’s the only thing that saved my box tops and my sanity. Lol
de cluttering questions-
why do I have a junk drawer?
things you use, need a home- I love love love the way you put things where you would think to look for them
things you don’t use, need to leave
see, there is no such thing as junk!
It’s a wonderful (Southern) thing. Y’see, when you live life, you end up with lots of things you need that fit perfectly in that drawer. It’s comforting, really. Also, if I go in a home, I know pretty much what’s going to be in their junk drawer. #Useful
I appreciated this post SO much because I’d forgotten that I had decided to go a decluttering project today. I couldn’t think of a good reason to put it off once I saw your post, so I went and cleaned the fridge. Oh Nony! It was bad. Embarrassingly gross. Chicken juice had leaked into the produce drawers and glued them shut. It took forever to trash all the contaminated food and scrub the entire area. But, now it’s clean and empty. 🙂 Next on my list: go to the store and fill the fridge with good food!
Love the Less Idea! You have been so inspirational to me – not organized, definitely not neat and clean but maybe a little less cluttered! We were just reflecting on this last night at bed – in the past month, I have given 2 garbage bags worth of shoes to Charity: ones we didn’t like, ones that the kids had outgrown, etc. 3 large bags of craft supplies to a homebound Mom with littles to entertain via Freecycle, and 2 carloads of stuff to a friend who was having a garage sale to raise money so her kid could be on a sports team. In the past I would have gotten caught up on selling it myself, but thanks to you, I realized that if she was willing to put in the work, that I could feel good about giving her my stuff, and I didn’t need to worry about the money I maybe could of, would of made – if I got around to it 🙂 THANK YOU! You are really making a difference in the level of clutter in my life!
Don’t worry about the could’ve or would’ve. You did what you should’ve: You got it out of your house!
I think I might be in the wrong place or something like that :/. I love decluttering tips, etc. and I have learned some things here. But, I’m a few years older than you and I find myself wanting to share tips with you! I know you want to figure things out for yourself, so I’m struggling here.
I will leave you with this then, exit “Stage Left,” : Don’t have a junk drawer 🙂
Not my idea, but, “A place for everything and everything in its place!” Totally eliminates the “need” for a “junk drawer” aka a closeable catchall.
You are adorable and funny! And real and … I will miss you!
~Andrea
Don’t have a junk drawer? That’s like something my mom would say, all along have about 16 junk drawers and never admitting it. I think when you get the point you don’t have a junk drawer, you probably live alone and you own next to nothing. A busy household with kids, years of decluttering behind you, and probably more years of decluttering to come . . . I don’t think the advice of not having a junk drawer is really useful. Plus getting other people on board with “no junk drawer” won’t work. Until they want to change, they won’t, even if you do.
I’ve never understood the purpose of a junk drawer…
Although I remember my mom definitely had a couple.
I love this blog, though.
Very fun and encouraging.
Junk drawers are to hide the junk piles of course o_0 they are much much better then junk piles. One step at a time right?
Yes, everything is in its place. In the junk drawer!
we have a save-a-tape program at my grocery store for local non-profits, so i try not to ever throw any receipts away. problem is, i also never remember to actually take any receipts to any of the local nonprofits that will accept them. so i feel your pain with the box tops, but trust me it’s soooooo much worse when it’s piles and piles of grocery store receipts.
Thank you Dana (Nony), for the concept of Less. It jump started me to start tackling the garage. Like a mantra, I kept saying to myself “The goal is less”, and it propelled me forward. Like for you, it was a combination of discarding, organizing and donating. There’s a lot more to go but I’m motivated now!
Oh my gosh, I spent months with that same mantra ‘Less, less, less, less is good, less….’
Even organizers have catch all drawers. There are small items in the home that work out better in a junk drawer. Dont get me wrong, you can let the stuff get out of hand but a trip to the dollar tree or an old siverware organizer can set you right in no time. The key here is to purge frequently.
Im so excited that today my son & I worked together and moved his clothes from his dresser to his closet! This is a big step for my slob brain. I got the idea from your post on hanging clothes. I think this will be a great help to our kids. And I even put the clothes that didn’t fit in a box to go out of here….I better donate it tomorrow or it will just be clutter in various locations throughout the house for at least the rest of the year!! Thank you for your help 🙂
I just moved from a 1245 sq foot home, to one that’s 720 sq feet. Not only do I not have a junk drawer anymore, there’s not even a drawer available for that purpose. Right now, I have a junk gallon zipper bag! In a box somewhere. Ay yi yi…
I am so proud of you! Keep going, girl! My husband and I are dealing with his elderly parents who are hoarders……to the extreme. It is SO sad to see up close and personal how “stuff” has taken over their whole life. they have no relationships, no money, and no joy. Toss it all, girl! You will gain so much mor than you lose. ❤️❤️❤️
‘…stuff” has taken over their whole life. they have no relationships, no money, and no joy. Toss it all..’ That says everything really about why less is better.
Do they make eyeglasses finders?
To tell you the truth, I’ve been seeing ways to incorporate some of these principles into my home-schooling day. I’ve been bringing your name up on a facebook page as I share my ideas, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some people tiptoe over here.
What do we do with all the “donate” stuff now that the thrift stores won’t pick up?
“Less. That was my goal.” Oh how I needed this message this week! Parts of my house are looking like they possibly vomited a bit. It overwhelms and shuts me down. Being able to have “less” as a goal is a mindset changer.
This was great encouragement for me today. Decluttered the top shelf of my 2 1/2 ft deep pantry today for about 20 min. Doesn’t look like I did much but tossed 3 boxes of cake mix that expired in 2013, some V8 juice that was definitely not the color it was supposed to be, took picnic stuff to where it belongs, and a couple of other odds and ends tossed. Now I’m ready to do more tomorrow because it was so rewarding just to accomplish that today.
Thank you for all that you have shared on your decluttering journey.