Tackling that dreaded junk drawer

I have a confession... Although I love to organize, I have one location in our house that will likely never stay organized, and I'm okay with that. Actually, I'm more than okay with that. I have this need to have a junk drawer in our kitchen where we can throw small odds and ends that may not really have a good "home".

While I'm okay with our junk drawer not always being organized - it is, after all, a junk drawer - I do still feel the need from time to time to de-clutter and organize it. Here's what our junk drawer currently looks like:

Does it look familiar to you? Most of what you can find in our junk drawer probably belongs in our home office, but we don't really have the place for it there, either. Besides, I like having ready access to pens, paper, batteries, rubber bands, etc. Let's get those junk drawers under control!

Step 1: Pull everything out of the junk drawer. This is the only way to see what all is hiding in it.

Step 2: Throw away anything that is obvious garbage.

Step 3: Set aside items that belong elsewhere. Once you have all of these items sorted out, put them away before moving on. I've found that it's frustrating to seemingly get to the end of a task just to discover you still have more to put away. Ugh, I hate that!

Step 4: Wipe out the drawer. Why not? It'll take two seconds and the drawer will thank you!

Step 5: Time to get creative, or not. There are tons of drawer organizers you can purchase to help keep your junk drawer under control. If you don't want to buy more stuff, you can see if you have anything around your house that will do the job. One freebie way would be to cut boxes of various dimensions down to size - short enough to allow the drawer to open and close. I ended up using a small box and its lid to organize our loose batteries, paper scraps, and random odds and ends.

Step 6: Step back and admire your work!

Here's an "after" photo of my junk drawer:

Today's task: de-clutter and get your junk drawer under control