Project Organization: Divine Drawers
If you're anything like me, you have a "junk drawer," and that junk drawer is full of everything from pens to gadgets you can't define. My junk drawer is stocked with the most useful of items and the things that simply don't have a place to go. I decided this would be an ideal starting location for my drawer overhaul.I started by purchasing some trays for organization. I believe the kind I used are originally from Ikea, but I picked them up at a yard sale for cheap. I liked the simple metal bin idea, but of course things like plastic silverware organizers would work great too! I also had some small round scrapbooking containers that I used for the little stuff.I laid out the containers and started dividing things into like categories: pens/pencils, scissors/cutting tools, tape/glue, etc. You'll notice pretty quickly which items you have lots of-- like batteries, which I had no clue we had! You'll also notice (if your junk drawer is like mine) that you have a whole lot of stuff you don't need! My garbage pile was surprisingly large. Another thing I noticed was that because my junk drawer looked like a pile of junk, I kept buying a lot of the same things over and over again (I had no clue I already had them!). I guess one of the beauties of organization is that you can actually have LESS stuff because you know what you have when it all has a place.Once you have thrown away the stuff you don't need & have the items that you're keeping, you can arrange them in more depth so that everything makes sense for how you use it & what it's next to. Then when you place the organizing trays back into the drawer, put the most used items at the front so they'll be quickly accessible. I put the batteries toward the back since we don't use them on a daily basis, whereas things like scissors & pens are great to keep at easy reach (NOTE: I actually will probably move the scissors/cutting items away from the very front since my little dude has just gotten to the point where he can open up & reach into drawers-- definitely something to think about if you have little ones around!).One of the other things I learned from this project was that it doesn't take a ton of time. One of the reasons I've put off organizing or re-organizing my home is that I felt it would take forever! I was able to fully clean, sort & re-organize my junk drawer in less than an hour. Obviously that's still a little chunk of time, but well worth it, I think! Of course, I still have like 75 more drawers to go, but at least this is a start & I can instantly benefit from the results! My husband is going to freak out next time he opens the junk drawer. Actually, I should probably re-name it (since it's officially been de-junked)! I think it can now just be called the "supplies" drawer-- kinda boring... any suggestions?!
