Justifying the Junk Drawer

We all have one - the infamous junk drawer. Full of items without a home, like rubber bands, scissors, pens, stamps, crazy glue, sewing kits, missing buttons, safety pins, WD-40....

I'm here to tell you it's OK to have a "junk" drawer - provided you follow these guidelines:

Rule 1: You may only have ONE junk drawer. If you have too much stuff for one drawer, that's a sign that you have things that need to be given a home somewhere else. Or discarded.
Rule 2: Nothing that has a home elsewhere goes into the junk drawer. This is not a place to lazily toss stuff in when you are in a hurry.
Rule 3: No trash in the junk drawer. Don't drop in receipts, dead batteries, broken electronics "to be dealt with later."
Rule 4: Organize and review your junk drawer periodically (see below). It's pointless to toss things into a junk drawer to keep them if you have no chance of finding them again.

Organizing your junk drawer can be a quick and easy project that can get you in the groove for organizing other areas in your house. Here's how:

Step 1: Empty the junk drawer entirely. Wipe it out if necessary.
Step 2: Sort the loose items into categories. Put "like" things together in little piles, like all pens/writing utensils; sewing supplies; tape/glue; electronics/batteries; etc.
Step 3: Discard any trash, broken items, or excess/unnecessary items.
Step 4: Measure your drawer and select a drawer organizer that will take advantage of as much space as possible. If the drawer is deep enough, consider a two-level organizer.
Step 5: Place items into the organizer compartments, keeping "like" items together.
Step 6: Repeat annually.