Comments on: Attack your junk drawer

By: Scooter

Scooter — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 15:47:32 +0000

We don’t have a junk drawer either. But we used to. It was a huge problem at our house. We solved it with a custom drawer insert organizer from http://www.junkdrawernomore.com . Any drawer, any size, any use. Amazing! You design it and they make it out of beautiful polished plexiglass. I’ve got several and I love showing off my “junk-drawer-no-more” drawer and my silverware drawer.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 02:03:35 +0000

I have a junk drawer and I swear I need everything in it. Whenever I try to declutter, I only throw out one or two things. The most that gets done is that the 45 pens and pencils get rubberbanded.

By: Cliff

Cliff — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 03:06:20 +0000

I don’t have a junk drawer either. I have specific places for specific things. For example, I own several “nice” pocket-knives and fountain pens, and I carry a version of one or both as jewelery. These don’t go into “junk” drawers; they go into “knife” and “pen” drawers (in fact, jewelery cases). I’m not surprised that a lot of people here say they don’t have junk drawers at all. The solution isn’t to organize your clutter, it’s to DE-clutter in the first place!

By: Lisa S.

Lisa S. — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:43:30 +0000

I think it’s almost impossible not to have a junk drawer.

No, it’s not. You may have a “command center” drawer where you store things you need on short notice — flashlight, batteries, first aid supplies, stamps — but nobody needs to have the kind of junk drawer that’s got four socket protectors, a half-dried tube of glue, two wine bottle corks, a tacky bottle opener or horrible souvenir magnet and ten orphaned buttons all tidily resting in wee compartments.

I got rid of my junk drawer organizer because I found that having it only encouraging having a tidily-sorted collection of clutter. This was counter to a mindfully-decluttering lifestyle.

By: chocolatecrunch

chocolatecrunch — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 04:48:14 +0000

i may not be a neat freak but i’m really happy if i see my house free of clutter. i do have lots of drawers but none of it are junk. i try to give my stuff a home. my friend teases me that i always purge my stuff that she thinks that i buy things so i can get rid of it after a day or two. i used to buy a lot of stuff before until i came across an article that whenever you buy something make sure you get rid of another, shoes for example, i make sure that before i buy a new pair the old pair has to go so my new pair will have a clear platic home. i love shoes and purses but my house is small and not a lot of storage so that rule applies to me. thanks for all the great articles.

By: Erica

Erica — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 01:09:15 +0000

I don’t have a junk drawer, but that is just because there are no drawers in my apartment!

I have a small 1 bedroom in DC and there is almost no storage space. The bathroom has a medicine cabinet and under sink cabinet. The kitchen has one under sink cabinet and one upper cabinet. The rest of the storage is open shelving. I bought a small rolling kitchen cart and it has a tiny drawer that I use for silverware.

I do have lots of bins to compensate for the lack of storage and this tip could work just as well for those. Thanks!

By: Rhea

Rhea — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:15:02 +0000

I think it’s almost impossible not to have a junk drawer. I love to clean it out every so often. It’s mostly takeout menus and matchbooks.

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:02:27 +0000

WOW JUDE NO JUNK DRAWER? TWO PAIRS OF SHOES ONLY? NO JEWELERY? PLEASE TELL US MORE, YOU’RE THE EXPERT, YOU ARE!!

* folds arms, rolls eyes

By: Chris Rasco

Chris Rasco — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:04:29 +0000

My wife and I did this 2 weeks ago to our Junk Drawer in the kitchen. We used organizers we already had and it’s staying perfectly clean. I couldn’t believe how much stuff we threw away either. We have only been in this house for 18 months and we had stuff falling out the back of our drawer.

By: James Chase

James Chase — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:30:50 +0000

total opposite, i read everyday and come away with something useful.
I’m a collector (I make art out of found objects) and i keep evrything in my workshop. I finally went among my collection and found stuff i neevr knew i even had, i put of this decluttering for so long becuase i thought i might use it in a piece of work “someday”. I’ve created storage areas for wood, metal, a small bin system for misc parts and i can see everything. This has overflowed into my bedroom and office aera. I’m living in tight courters because i’ve decided to go to school full time and work part time, and to do this im living back home. That means i have to store all the stuff i had from before. Now, im decluttering these things, why did i have a smoothie maker? because it was on sale? before i ramble too much, i just want to say thank for your post and im going to get a small diveredfor my desk drawer.

By: Lana

Lana — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:39:47 +0000

Funny you should post that. Costco has an expandable organizer on sale just like the one in the picture, except the Costco one is made from a golden-colored bamboo. It also comes with a flatware tray/organizer made of the same material. It’s 19.99 for both.

By: Leo Petr

Leo Petr — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:10:46 +0000

I rather like this blog. Matt’s goal has never been to cater to the monastic set.

Jude, if your place has no clutter, then perhaps it is time for you to reap the fruits of your labours, relax, and celebrate.

By: Mo

Mo — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:07:05 +0000

Jude - I envy you! Haha! I’ve been able to adopt more tips from this blog than I can count!

By: Jude

Jude — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:28:03 +0000

I don’t have a junk drawer. I own two pairs of shoes at a time. I don’t wear jewelry. I don’t wear makeup. Every time I read your blog, I think we live in different worlds. There’s so little here that I can relate to. I suppose I still subscribe because out of 20 or 30 posts, there’s one useful idea.