Is it possible to NOT have a junk drawer?

[milovany]

We moved into a new house about a month ago, and I'm still trying to get the kitchen (well, the entire thing) organized. Is a junk drawer a "must" in today's home, do you think? Part of me thinks, "A place for everything and everything in its place." But what if a junk drawer IS the best place for something? All those little bit odds-and-ends.

 

On another note -- is there anyone who would like to come organize my kitchen for me? You can send your resume to desperatehomemaker@helpme.com. :lol:

[Parrothead]

If you have a place for thumb tacks, the tape measure, chip clips and every single thing that goes in the junk drawer then nope, one isn't needed.

[Mergath]

I think it might be possible to not have a junk drawer if you also don't have a kitchen or do any home repair. Otherwise, they're quite necessary.

[Tutor]

We don't have a junk drawer, and I LOVE it! Forces people to put things away... in theory, anyway... now they just put it on my desk. :glare: They think, "Mom (or wife) will deal with it." Unfortunately for them, my response has been to throw the item away or ask them to come deal with it. :D

 

I'd happily come organize your kitchen! I love organizing stuff... just not *my* stuff. :001_huh:

[Daisy]

What is contained in a junk drawer?

 

I don't think I have one. Though I'm willing to bet my son has several in his room. ;)

[rwjx2khsmj]

I prefer the term everything drawer/miscellaneous drawer/catch all drawer. Junk I throw away but there are other things that need a place and I'm just not sure where else they should go.

[LauraGB]

I have two junk drawers (possibly 3), two junk cupboards and a junk closet.

 

I refuse to clean out any of them.

 

They scare me.

 

But the rest of my house looks fairly clean :D.

[Mary in GA]

NO!! Well, maybe for these really organized people who are diligent about a place for everything and everything in its place. But it's an ideal I've never achieved! (And some of my very neatest friends actually still have-dare I say it-JUNK DRAWERS!)

 

Mary

[Daisy]

I have two junk drawers (possibly 3), two junk cupboards and a junk closet.

 

I refuse to clean out any of them.

 

They scare me.

 

LOL. That would drive me CRAZY! I'm such a neat freak.

[DarlaS]

I don't have one, but I only have 4 (tiny) drawers in my kitchen.

 

Junk gets piled everywhere else though, and I can *never* find my thumbtacks, measuring tape or chip clips. :glare:

[LauraGB]

LOL. That would drive me CRAZY! I'm such a neat freak.

 

But my house is not well designed. The only reason those places are filled with junk is because I don't have enough real stuff to fill them. There is a lot of storage space here.

 

As a testament to my crazily designed house, I offer to you that all of my bathrooms have a phone jack :001_huh:. Now, who the heck wants to use that twice?

Edited July 16, 2010 by LauraGB
wording

[fairfarmhand]

Ummm...I have three junk drawers....but it is improving. I used to have FIVE!

 

(I've been blessed with a huge kitchen and tons of drawer/cabinet space.)

[katemary63]

No.

[WTMCassandra]

I am a neat freak, and I do have one small "junk" drawer that is in the laundry room. You might indeed need a drawer for some odds and ends, but it doesn't have to be in the kitchen. Try to determine what really needs to be there and categorize. Be firm about what belongs there and clean it every three months or so, and you can keep it from becoming a black hole.

 

In ours: batteries, marker and scissors (this drawer is near where I prepare packages to mail), extra keys, utility razor blades, birthday candles, matches, and a couple of screwdrivers.

[aggieamy]

I don't have one. I've got a little "mission control" area where I keep a few office supplies that I need on a regular basis like stamps, envelopes, tape. I also have a notepad, a jar of pens, and a place for car keys and cell phones in the area. Everything else gets put away where it belongs. I have a tiny house so I can't use a drawer in my kitchen for junk - they are all needed for kitchen items.

[KidsHappen]

All of our junk ends up in the garage which suits me just fine. I hardly ever go out there and I certainly don't worry about the junk because it's not my territory.

 

I have a basket in my room with small individual containers that hold all the household supply kinds of things. I have my very own tool box. I have a drawer in the bathroom for little things like tweezer, nail clippers, a tiny screwdriver, etc. I have a utensil drawer in the kitchen. But if there is no home for something, it goes to the garage.

[Heidi7Sue]

I prefer the term everything drawer/miscellaneous drawer/catch all drawer. Junk I throw away but there are other things that need a place and I'm just not sure where else they should go.

 

:iagree:

Junk should get thrown away as fast as possible. And I don't have an everything drawer b/c I'm short on drawers. I have several miscellaneous boxes, though.

[Celia]

Oh my goodness, I just can't imagine my kitchen without one!

[Ellie]

That depends.

 

My junk drawer includes miscellaneous things that I use right in the kitchen: directions for the microwave pasta thingie, matches (because sometimes the blasted auto-lighter on the cooktop doesn't work), corkscrew, and so on. Office supplies (scissors, tape, etc.), jewelry, extra keys, the dog's collar...all of those things go in their own places.

 

If I didn't have an office, I'd find some place else to keep tape and scissors and whatnot.

[Nestof3]

We don't have a junk drawer.

 

In the kitchen, I have a drawer that has little shallow plastic containers. They hold measuring cups, measuring spoons, a funnel, ramekins, corn-cob holders, clothespins (we use these as chip-clips and to hang up washed zip-loc bags from the curtain), and those little bags of floral preservative.

 

My desk drawer has plastic organizers. One section holds scissors, one small screw drviers, one paper clips, one nail trimming items, one rubberbands, one staples and remover, one thumbtacks, etc. It stays very organized.

 

The closest thing I have to a junk drawer is one drawer in my desk. It holds things like: rebates I'm waiting on, copies of items I have returned (I throw these out as I am refunded), an envelope we keep any receipts documenting items we may need to return, an ongoing list of Playmobil pieces to order because of loss or damage, and a few papers marking things to do when I have time.

 

I do not like junk drawers. :D

[Joker]

We have no room for a junk drawer inside our house. My dh calls our garage our junk drawer at times though.:D

[kalanamak]

It is not junk. It is a short-cut drawer. Reading glasses, a pen, a pad, a small hammer, pliers, chapstick, string, screwdrivers, batteries, a combination lock, tape. Gad, I love that drawer.

[keptwoman]

I have a junk bowl. It's a wooden bowl that DH got in Fiji a few years ago. When it starts to overflow I know it's time for a cleanout.

[Ginevra]

No. :001_smile: I am considered very neat/organized, but I have miscellaneous item drawers in more than one place in the house. I think what happens is that you start with a drawer that is meant to house a lot of small items that don't go elsewhere: the 2-cent stamps, an unnecessary key, rubber bands, thumbtacks, a Sharpie, Krazy Glue, an eraser, safety scissors, and then it attracts like things because better in a drawer than in the way. So, in goes the extra pair of shoelaces, broken Hot Wheel that Daddy is supposedly gong to fix, and so on until it gets pretty junky in there.

[angela in ohio]

We don't have one. We had one growing up, and I hated it. :D Everything that my parents put into it I have organized in either a desk drawer (scissors, rubber bands, etc.,) a kitchen drawer, or a file.

 

Since dh put the dishwasher in, I only have 5 drawers in the kitchen, so they are precious. One holds equipment for the mixer and food processor, one holds measuring cups and spoons, and three have utensils (organized by amount of use.) The desk had two drawers and one holds pens and pencils and one holds scissors, rubber bands, post-its, etc. We have drawers in the school room for glue, tape, markers, etc. We also have a utility room with orangizers dh put on the wall for batteries, tools, etc. If anything doesn't fit into one of those areas, I toss it. :001_smile:

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I have a junk drawer in my kitchen, but it contains all the practical miscellaneous stuff, like birthday candles, a lighter to light the candles, band-aids, screwdrivers, chip clips, scotch tape, etc.

 

I use the stuff in my junk drawer frequently and it's nice to know that those things are right there when I need them.

[MamaT]

I have a junk drawer in my kitchen, but it contains all the practical miscellaneous stuff, like birthday candles, a lighter to light the candles, band-aids, screwdrivers, chip clips, scotch tape, etc.

 

I use the stuff in my junk drawer frequently and it's nice to know that those things are right there when I need them.

 

Me too. I honestly never thought about the possibility of NOT having a junk drawer, and I am considered very neat and organized.

[Nestof3]

See, I wouldn't call your drawer a junk drawer. You have purposely chosen items that you want within reach. My parents had lots of junk drawers. 75% of what was in them was never used. They just held things that no one wanted to put away. Trying to find a pen in their house was very difficult.

 

I have a junk drawer in my kitchen, but it contains all the practical miscellaneous stuff, like birthday candles, a lighter to light the candles, band-aids, screwdrivers, chip clips, scotch tape, etc.

 

I use the stuff in my junk drawer frequently and it's nice to know that those things are right there when I need them.