The Old Junk Drawer
Everyone has that junk drawer they’d rather not actually look into. Having a dedicated “misc” drawer starts with good intentions, but for some it quickly turns into a cluttered mess. It’s time to bite the bullet and do a clear-out. Here are 15 things that have no business living in your junk drawer, according to an expert.
Paperwork
We all stash bills, random forms, or letters in a drawer “for later,” but a junk drawer just isn’t the place for paperwork. There ends up being so much of it in there that you can’t find what you really need. Why not try scanning in your most important papers and keeping them digitally?
Gum and Mints
Storing gum and mints next to piles of junk is just a terrible idea. Loose gum and mints may melt, stick to paper, or just end up lost beneath the chaos. Better to stash them in a sealed container somewhere, or grab a tin for your bag.
Excess Cords and Chargers
Admittedly almost everyone has a rat’s nest of cables, but that’s nothing to be proud of. Rather than tossing every cord you once used in a junk drawer, pick a couple of current, functional chargers and store extras neatly elsewhere, maybe in a box specially designed for them.
Old Keys
This is another weird thing almost everyone has. But keeping unidentifiable keys in your junk drawer just adds clutter and mystery to your life. Test them on your house’s locks and throw away any that lead nowhere. Keep only the keys you actually use.
First Aid Items
Storing painkillers, bandages, or any kind of meds in a junk drawer is a no-go. Temperature and light exposure can degrade them, and you don't want to have to shift the contents of an entire drawer around when someone actually needs them. Keep a dedicated medicine cabinet instead.
Old Batteries
Storing random old batteries next to paperclips and receipts is a fire hazard waiting to happen. Batteries degrade and can leak or short out against metal. Instead, toss them at a recycling center if you’re sure they’re no good, or at least store them separately.
Disposable Takeout Bits
Sauce packets, napkins and sporks accumulate fast. Please don’t keep sauce packets in your junk drawer, they just rot in there. And especially don’t keep half-opened sauce packets in there! Ewww! Any utensils and napkins can go in your kitchen.
Broken Pens or Markers
There’s always one pen that’s out of ink or dried up when you try to use it. It’s not going to come back to life. Test out your pens on a spare bit of paper and toss the ones that don’t work. Keep just a few reliable pens in the drawer and relocate any extras to your desk.
Broken Toys
If it’s missing a wheel, an arm, or has batteries that corroded three summers ago, it’s time to let it go. Kids won’t play with broken stuff, and keeping it around just takes up valuable space. Probably best not to mention to your kid that you’re throwing it away, though, even if they’ve long forgotten it.
Foreign Loose Change
Coins from vacations have sentimental value to some, but to most they just add clutter to the house. You can decide if they belong in a decorative coin jar, a travel memento box, or a currency exchange – but they don’t belong in the junk drawer.
Mementos
Maybe your gran went on holiday and brought you back a tiny snowglobe. You didn’t know what to do with it, so you put it in your junk drawer. Get it out of there! It’s not junk, it deserves to be displayed – or if you don’t want to display it, donate it.
Tools
Tools might be easy to toss in a junk drawer, but they rarely belong there. Screwdrivers, pliers, or wrenches are bulky, heavy, and can damage or scratch up other items. Plus, digging through pens and batteries to find a tool wastes time. Keep tools in a toolbox!
Mini Toiletries
Sample-size shampoos, lotions and sprays multiply like crazy in the average home. And you almost never use them. Either finish them up or donate them unopened, but get them out of the junk drawer before they leak and ruin everything.
Expired Coupons
Saving money is great, but expired coupons are useless. They clutter your drawer and clutter your mind. Take a minute to sort through the whole mess and toss any that are past date. For the ones still valid, organize them in a wallet or folder.
Trash
Finally, trash. Gum wrappers, torn packaging, plastic wrapping – you’d be amazed at what can end up in your junk drawer. These messes turn a handy space into a nightmare zone. Keep a small trash bin nearby and toss garbage immediately, and check the junk drawer every so often to make sure your kids didn’t put trash in there either.
