Organize It: The Junk Drawers

So I don’t really know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that we have not one but two junk drawers in our kitchen.  No matter how many times I’ve tried to condense the contents down to just one drawer I’ve failed miserably.  I’ve decided to raise the white flag and just surrender to the fact that we’re just junky people.

organized junk drawers - before

The truth is though there is a little bit of a method to this madness.  One drawer has been designated as the tool junk drawer and one is more of an every man’s normal junk drawer.  That makes total sense right?  These drawers weren’t really terrible looking, but in my quest to decrapify I hit them up while making my rounds.

And in the process I realized something about the way my family works.    ———  If it’s not labeled it won’t be put back where it belongs! ———-  Is this true in your house too?  I mean, so many of my friends tease me about my label obsession.  But it turns out if I don’t put a label on the spot where the scissors are supposed to go  – they won’t ever make it back to the right spot.  And I’ll be forever searching for a pair of scissors to cut the package of bacon open……and we all know I can’t live like that!   So you see – labels keep my life running smoothly.  So my mantra will continue on……..despite my teasing friends…….put a label on it!

Enter this pack of brown paper stickers from the Target dollar spot I picked up over the summer.

labels for organizing

Sometimes you bust out your fancy label machine and other times you find a pack of brown paper stickers stuffed into the drawer you’re trying to organize and you just roll with it.  

organizing the junk drawers

I bought these drawer organizers a long time ago, and let me just tell you  – they are game changers!  SO perfect for all those tiny little itty bitty things.  They bring back memories of Hello Kitty pencil boxes………..and all the little compartments inside for your pencil sharpener and erasers.  I lived for those cute little plastic boxes……some things never change I guess.

organizing the junk drawers

To give the drawers a nice clean look I lined them with a heavy card stock.

organizing the junk drawers

lined scrapbook paper as drawer liners

And then I put everything back inside.

organizing the junk drawers

organizing the junk drawers

I know, I know, it’s not the greatest before and after you’ve ever seen.

Junk Drawer Organization

The before doesn’t even look that bad. The thing is when people shove things wherever they want instead of putting them where they belong simple tasks become a project.  Streamlining these drawers by pitching all the stuff we don’t need and labeling each section so that everything has a designated spot makes things so much easier.  Now it’s just as easy to put things away as it is to find them.

Organize It: The Junk Drawers

And the angels are singing once again!

Are you doing any little organizing projects in your home right now?  I feel like these little projects are the calm before the holiday storm that is coming very soon.  Streamlining, organizing and decrapify-ing will hopefully help to make the hustle and bustle of the holidays feel less hustle-y and bustle-y.

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  • I must admit that your before looks pretty much like my after! We also have two junk drawers, one of which is that "drawer of randomness". Wish I'd spotted those little stickers at Target – they are great! It's nice to see that you don't use a label maker for everything. I thought I was the only one to hand-write on nice stickers and was starting to feel inferior. 😉 Sometimes I find it to be more time-consuming and just need to label the stuff and get 'er done.

  • We have two huge junk drawers in our living room. One has all the electronic stuff in it and the other has…well…random junk. I organize it, turn around and it's back to looking horrible. I think the drawer is just too big. Time to condense to small plastic tubs. Yes…that's the answer. 😛

  • Love! The junk drawer is my ongoing nemesis! Gotta get some of those cute little labels. Things like that make organizing a space like the junk drawer so much more bearable 🙂

  • I cleaned and purged all our closets and junk spots a few weeks ago. And wow, what a difference. The biggest change was the shelf of meds that I keep in the kitchen. Instead of my stuff, mixed with the kids stuff, mixed with the Hubby's stuff… it's all seperate. I have a bin for mine, kids is in a second, pain stuff in a third and adult cold/flu stuff in a fourth. It's amazing how clean and neat the shelf looks. I still want to label it. Hubby tends to pull it all out to look for what he needs, so I know a label will help. Just need to find a label maker. 🙂

  • We have two drawers too, for the same reasons. They stay a little neater now that the girls are home to dig through them. I am a labeler too.

  • I love what you did with your junk drawer! Ours is currently looking a lot worse, I can feel a new organizing project coming up! I loved your idea of using labels to label everything into the container, will definetely use this idea myself! 🙂

    Style playground

  • wow ~ it's amazing how adding the dark card stock helped make the drawer just Look more organized and dressier…..I love that idea…thanks!!

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