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Before and After: How to Organize a Junk Drawer in 5 Minutes

by on Mar 21, 2013

We all have one spot in our house that is like a black hole. Things go in, but they don’t come out. In most cases it’s the dreaded junk drawer. Not sure where to put something (bills, nail files, extra rubber bands, headache medicine)? Stick it in the junk drawer. Right?

This makes things a nightmare to find when you really need them. So here are some helpful tips for cleaning (and organizing) your junk drawer in five minutes.  

1. Empty it out: Take everything out of the drawer, and I mean everything. While the drawer is empty, it wouldn’t hurt to wipe it down on the inside with a damp rag. Let it air dry or use a dry rag to get rid of any moisture after cleaning.

2. Organize: Create three piles (one as a keep pile, one for trash and recycling, and a third for other). The ‘other’ pile is for items that belong in different areas of the house, not the junk drawer. Put everything that you removed from the drawer into one of these three piles.

3. Toss the ‘trash/recycling’ pile and set aside the ‘other’ pile so you can put those things in their proper places later.

4. Now it’s time to go through the ‘keep’ pile. Separate like items into smaller piles. If you have bills, mail, or other important documents in the ‘keep’ pile, file what you can before putting the rest back into your drawer.

5. Use rubberbands to keep paperwork nice and tidy and find containers or other ways to keep loose items organized before placing the remaining ‘keep’ items back in your drawer.

created at: 03/20/2013

Now all you have to do is put the items from the ‘other’ pile in the areas they actually belong, around the house, and you are all done. Good as new.

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