Before                                              After

Do you have that junk drawer that holds just about everything? Unlike a pantry, this space doesn’t have a single purpose so it can quickly become a tangled mess. I call my miscellaneous mess my Everything Drawer and it is a dumping ground for all the things we need in a pinch, extras, and the things that have no home. As you can see from the before photo, it can get pretty disorganized in there. Here is how I organize my Everything Drawer and some tips on how to organize your junk drawer.

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1. When I am organizing a space, usually I would asses the space available and designate its purpose. But, because my Everything Drawer is for miscellaneous items, it doesn’t have a defined purpose. You can certainly define the types of items in your space and then move all things that don’t belong to a new location.

2. Use small containers to organize like items. Here I used kiddie snack cups to hold small items such as barrettes, business cards, and batteries. It is helpful if the containers can be washed easily. (You can also use recycled containers from baby foods, kid snacks, and baking cups. Or for a more unified look, use modular kitchen drawer organizers with no-slip pads on the bottom.)

3. Place small containers in the drawer snugly so they don’t slide around when you open and close the drawer. (Alternatively a drawer liner can prevent items from sliding.)

4. Place chargers and other corded items in plastic bags to keep their “tails” contained. Label the baggies with a label-maker if you’d like. (I use recycled plastic Ziploc bags.)

I need to re-organized this drawer periodically, but this system saves time when I need to find that other white baby hair barrette or that tiny little battery that goes in my son’s talking toy car.  I hope these tips help you organize your junk drawer. If you have other organizing tips, leave a comment to share with other readers! Happy Organizing.