Does organizing your kitchen junk drawer seem like a daunting task and maybe even a waste of your time?
I too have more important things to do with my time!
Honestly, if you’re like me, throwing a bunch of random stuff into a drawer so you can find it later makes sense and feels sort of organized.
Sound familiar?
I think most of us have what we call “junk drawers”, and I think can we agree, having an organized kitchen junk drawer would be a big step in decluttering and organizing your home.
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Obviously, what’s in your junk drawer is up to you and may look way different than mine, but my plan to get it all organized and looking good will be the same.
Hidden in my junk drawers is important stuff with everything from batteries to scissors, post-its, keys, you name it.
I want to keep that stuff in my junk drawer, where else am I going to put it?
But eventually, the day comes when you can even shut the drawer because it is too full and you really have no idea what is lurking on the bottom.
You find yourself wasting a lot of time rifling through things that don’t even look familiar. Cords are twisted together, batteries have fallen out of their packages and you are sure there must be scissors in there somewhere!
Well, we recently moved to a smaller home which meant I was forced to declutter like never before and that included my junk drawers. Yes, it is plural.
I gotta tell you, I was shocked, even embarrassed when I had to admit to myself that I had created two large junk drawers just in my kitchen and two more in our basement!
I’m sure you’ve heard the statement,
“There’s a place for everything and everything is in its place?” – That’s my dream, and it was time.
So I did my research and came up with a plan that I think will work for you too.
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Dump the Junk
Before you start, let’s be clear, I am not talking about just cleaning out your drawer by taking out what you don’t use or need and then closing the drawer. We have already proven that doesn’t work.
I started by emptying all the drawers onto a table in the same place because I needed to see what I was dealing with.
Step 2: Throw Real Junk
As you look at your pile of stuff it will be pretty easy to decide what to purge or throw away, which by the way includes unrecognizable stuff you forgot you had.
It also includes cords for devices you don’t even have anymore.
In a nutshell, get rid of all the stuff you know you won’t use and it is just taking up space.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you should save something in case you need it someday, you won’t.
I promise at some point you will say “Oh, that’s where that was, I’ve been looking for that!”
Step 3: Sort Stuff Into Piles
Relocate Pile
I don’t really know what to tell you to put in a relocate pile except there will be things that didn’t belong in a junk drawer in the first place!
For me, it was bandaids, stamps, candles, shoe polish, and grill thermometer, and even lipstick.
Duplicate Pile
It gets a little more complicated when you have duplicates of good stuff.
I had six scissors! I’m not making that up.
You gotta wonder why we could never find a scissor when we needed one!
No one needs six bottles of Elmer’s glue, two bottles of Gorilla glue, and 6 rolls of scotch tape.
No lie, that is exactly what I found along with four staplers and piles of pencils and markers.
In my defense, I was trying to combine junk drawers from one house to another, but still a ridiculous amount of stuff.
I didn’t want to throw it all away so, I decided to designate one drawer in the basement for just tape and glue because I had so much!
It would make sense if I was crafty, but I’m not!
Junk Drawer Pile
Take a look at everything you have left. That is what is going back into your junk drawer.
Start putting things that are alike together into little piles.
There are no rules here and we don’t have the same junk, so, just put things together that kind of make sense to you.
Step 4: Kitchen Junk Drawer Organization
Now the fun part.
At this point, I was starting to feel like I was really accomplishing something, and I wasn’t going to give up and just throw everything back in the drawer!
First, with your drawers empty, you need to measure your drawers’ Length, Width, and Height.
If you want, this is a good time to put a liner in your drawer.
By now you kind of know what is going to go in each drawer, you know the dimensions, now you need the actual organizers.
Kitchen Junk Drawer Organizers
Time to shop! Now you can start shopping for drawer organizers to hold your stuff.
Personally, I wanted mostly modular pieces so I could rearrange them.
So like in one drawer, I have… battery holder, a long container to hold scissors, and long stuff like rulers and flashlights
You can go with a one-piece organizer or build a custom solution with modular pieces.
Once you decide on the type of organizer, it’s time to consider what it’s made of. I personally chose metal mesh because I didn’t want to have to clean little bins later on.
Here are some of the items I bought from The Container Store, but maybe you already have some organizers like muffin tins, silverware holders, make-up trays, etc.
Anyway, it really took no time at all to decide what to put where once I had a plan,
Family Junk Drawer Tutorial
This is final step, but such an important one.
You need to take your family on a small tour and show them where everything goes, and that you are expecting them to help keep everything organized.
We all have our own style of training our families, so I’ll just say good luck!
Now if your really feeling ambitious you can tackle
Paper Clutter or
Let me know how it goes for you in the comments below!
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