Junk in the Drawer
Who doesn’t have a junk drawer in their kitchen? Seriously, who? All while growing up we had a drawer that was totally set aside to collect the junk that you didn’t have a specific place for. It was one of those things that I was looking forward to when my husband and I got our own house. Although space is limited in our kitchen, I’ve sacrificed one small drawer for just that junk.
Now what is the point of such a drawer? It’s the place you can throw things when they don’t have a home. Or when they used to be part of a group and are now a single item. Things you may use one day, but don’t need today or tomorrow. The only rule of having a junk drawer is you never clean it. Ever. That would defeat the point of having one. When you’re in someone else’s house you can always look through their medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Who hasn’t done that? It can tell you a lot about them. But the nice thing about a junk drawer is that no one but you knows where it is.
My husband had some organizational bug tonight. While fixing dinner I found him taking everything out of our spice cabinet and combining things. Meanwhile I’m trying to get our house back into just a livable state from the past week. I worked 12-16 hour days last week because we had a guest speaker in town for several events. His diva-ness needed constant attention and I was a glorified taxi driver. On Friday morning we only had ice water to offer our son with breakfast, completely out of milk, juice and diet coke (three staples in our household). My husband had apparently forgotten where the grocery stores are located in our town. So I spent today getting things back in order on the surface - you know clean clothes, clean floors, clean toilets, etc…
I asked him to help me put away the clean dishes and you should have heard the “UGH?” sound he made. Two minutes later he’s asking me if I want to keep birthday candles and coffee filters. After dinner I thought he’d surely be done with “helping” for the day (hell, for the month). Then it happened.
The drawer I spent 6 years in this house filling was completely cleaned out and organized. He’d thrown away all the extra things that I may one day need. The single white shoestring, the nails, the old batteries, the broken night light, the rubber bands, the thumbtacks, the fingernail file, the screw driver, the matches, the wooden knobs from an old cabinet, the instruction book to our ceiling fan, the outdoor thermometer, the loose change, the plug-in air freshener, the rubber chicken, the ink pens, the 5 year old Lifesavers…….and the list goes on.
It’s not a junk drawer anymore. I’m not sure what to call it. Any suggestions?
My name is Emily. I’m 30 years old. I have often been told that I ask a lot of questions, but I think I have more to say than ask.
It could take months, if not years, for you to build your junk drawer back up to the way it was again!
i am immediately going go clean out my bathroom! all these years and the thought of how many people have nosed in my bathroom things.
I, too have had the organizational bug these days. Too bad most days I’m too tired to do anything about it other than take mental notes.
Oh my! We have the same problem. Every so often my beloved junk drawer becomes the ‘Neat N’ Tidy Utility Drawer’ - my husband just cannot stand the clutter in that damned drawer. Never mind the rest of the clutter around the house….
Kate1976 - can you imagine if I went out & organized the garage & all his tools? If only I could get him to be this organized on his half of our closet!!
Oh, I wouldn’t pick a new name for it….I’m so sure it’ll be a junk drawer again soon. It’s just inevitable.
I am a junk drawer purger extraordinaire. It feels so therapeudic … but in a few months it becomes a junk drawer again so I never rename it
Sorry can’t help you with naming your new drawer, I have four junk drawers. Four. I think I may have a problem.
Mrs. Chicky - I’d seriously have more than 4 if we had enough drawer space! I think we’ve got more cabinets in our bathroom than our kitchen….actually, I do have 2 junk drawers in our bathroom with that bathroom type junk. I’m glad I’m not the only one with a problem!
People walk in my house and always think it’s so clean. Fortunately no one ever looks in the drawers. I have four junk drawers in the kitchen alone and who knows how many in the bathrooms. I think that’s why I can never find any scissors other than baby safety scissors. They suck for cutting hair.
Dude, the best thing about a junk drawer is when you need some random plug or twine or something and your junk drawer provides it, like a fairy godmother. Your husband has cruelly reduced the magical power of your junk drawer!