No More Junk Drawer!There is the old saying that “the pen is mightier than the sword” and while in many cases, this is true, when it comes to spring cleaning and getting organized, the pen might possibly be the cause of your clutter. As promised, one of the newest additions to our Favorite Organizers, Claire Kurtz is back to give you some great solutions to conquer the villainous junk drawer. Read below to get the scoop… No More Junk Drawer! by Claire Kurtz The junk drawer: the in-home wasteland of all things we don’t know what to do with but “might need” some day. Pens from hotels we visited long ago, the ubiquitous ketchup and soy sauce packets from takeout food, random paperclips, twist ties – they all live here waiting for the day they will become useful again. I am going to suggest something that may be shocking to many people. Abolish the junk drawer!! I do not have a junk drawer and I NEVER will. I hate them with every fiber of my being! Why create a comfortable home for random clutter to move into and happily multiply? Here is how you can release yourself and your home from the chains of the junk drawer. • Give everything a home: Do you have a pen cup? Place all pens, pencils and markers in this handy dandy contraption made just for them. Do you have more writing implements than you can use? Take them to work or donate them to your child’s school or any civic group you might belong to. You don’t have to keep every pen that you come across! Rubber band all of your twist ties together and place them in the drawer or cupboard where you keep your sandwich or garbage bags. Under cabinet baskets and bins make a great home for these miscellaneous items. • Bag like items: Buttons and batteries are some of the mainstays of the junk drawer. Using the smallest size of sealable snack bags, you can group all of these items together. This helps you to know exactly what size batteries you have and what size you may need to purchase. If you have a sewing kit, the buttons can go there near their friends, the needle and thread. If you really like organizational tools, there are great battery storage boxes that allow you to keep like sizes together, free of their clutter-causing packaging. • Full-size condiments: If you do not have a full-size ketchup, soy sauce, mustard and mayo in your fridge, buy them today. Then there will be no need to keep 65 packets of these items “just in case.” It is ok to send the soy packets back with the delivery man for other customers to use or to only take one or two ketchup packets when you get burgers and fries in the drive-thru. • “Buh–bye”: The trashcan. Your best friend and clutter’s worst enemy. If you just cannot think of a use for something or a place to store it where you will find it again when you actually do need it, introduce the item to the ‘circular file’ as my first grade teacher used to call it. • Supply drawer: This is the lovely, well-dressed cousin of the junk drawer. Create a place for items that you really do use to live in well-organized harmony. My supply drawer is in our home office and in it lives two rolls of tape, one box of staples, one pair of scissors, my favorite toy – the label maker, ready-to-use books of checks, a box of paperclips, a small stack of post–it notes and a Ziploc bag of batteries. By eliminating the place where all of these lost things live, you force yourself to make wise choices about the items you actually do use and how to store them. This is just a simple idea that can help eliminate the exponentially larger feeling of disorganization that comes from sneaky clutter. I hope Claire’s words of wisdom inspire and give you a manageable spring cleaning project. Happy Organizing! Mrs. O http://twitter.com/mrsorganized
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