I'm a big fan of controlled chaos. I don't organize, sort and make perfect every nook of my home. I just implement strategies to control the chaos. Most of the time that means baskets. And pretty little bowls. And in this case, a muffin tin too!
So, how do we control the junk drawer chaos?
1. Make it pretty. I find it so much easier to keep things neat and tidy if the space is pretty. I used shelf paper and some pretty bowls to make my junk drawer a happy space. Pretty labels would be a nice addition too!
2. Don't put something in the junk drawer if it has a home somewhere else. That means that if you have a place where hair elastics or band-aids or batteries are supposed to go, go put them there, not in the junk drawer.
This is actually an important tip for efficient homemaking. When you put something in the wrong place just for now you are choosing to put that item away twice: once in the wrong place and once in the right place. And in the mean time, it is still kind of in the way. Just put things away in the right place the first time! (I'm currently trying to learn this...but that is not what my bedroom floor would tell you.)3. This last point is partially in jest. Partially. Here it is: don't tell your husband and kids that it is the 'junk drawer'. If you hope to control the chaos, the last thing you need is 2 or 4 or 10 people trying to shove everything that meets their definition of junk in one drawer! Call it the top drawer (if it's at the top) or the bottom drawer (if it's at the bottom) or mom's drawer. That should keep it from collecting screws and Lego pieces and a receipt from 2005 that your husband isn't sure whether to throw out or not. Or maybe not.
My absolute favorite part of my junk drawer is this little muffin tin. Isn't that the cutest way to store paperclips?
Today I'm participating in We're Organized Wednesdays over at Decorate and Organize Everything. Head over there to find all sorts of clever organizing ideas.
Tell me, what does your junk drawer look like?
I'm loving your blog!! I wanted to share that my grandpa was a pro at re-using things. His old shed had tobacco cans with whatever nail/screw it was holding punched through the lid. He had babyfood and peanut butter jar lids screwed into the bottom of shelves to receive the jar with whatever do-dads in. AND he built a holder for several muffin tins that served as drawers. Because he always took the hardware off of whatever it was before disposing of it, he sorted these screws, nuts and bolts in these muffin tins. He made a handle pull on the short end of each one out of a large screw and 2 nuts. I wish I had a picture to show you. It was one of my favorite storage "creations" he made!
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