Last summer, during my 20 Weeks of Organizing project, I organized two of my three junk drawers, with the promise to organize the third one the following week. But the next week I had my hands full with this:
And it’s taken me a while to get the last few items crossed off of that original list. But last weekend, I tackled the last and worst of the junk drawers in my house. The one in the kitchen. It’s a big drawer, 26.25″ x 16.5″. Too big really. It collected all kinds of things. Things we needed, things we didn’t, useful stuff and… junk.
Something had to be done. But it was overwhelming and one of the projects I put off the longest. There was way too much in there. The bottom of the drawer kept slipping out of its slots. It nearly broke one day, so I finally took care of the problem.
First I took the drawer out and emptied and sorted its contents.
There were FOUR broken watches in there. Four, people. A dead cell phone. Two empty calling cards. A recorder flute and a bird whistle. I’m not kidding.
And YES that little blue thing really is a bird whistle. You put water inside of it and blow through the little spout and it makes a sound like a bird singing. I know what it looks like, but it’s not that. My mom always kept it in the junk drawer of our house when I was growing up and I loved it, so she passed it on to me (and my junk drawer). Unfortunately it’s gotten a little chipped in the years of getting tossed around with all the junk in the drawer. But it still works and I still love it.
Anyway.
There was a lot of stuff in the drawer that didn’t belong in there. And I wasn’t sure what to do with it either. I emptied the drawer, and I grabbed some wood glue and started fixing the drawer. I enlisted Rick’s help to reinforce its huge bottom, which he did with a scrap of wood from the garage.
And then I bought a drawer organizer – the biggest one that I could find that would fit inside. It was $20 bucks. And totally worth every penny. I also used three little wooden baskets from the kids’ wooden play food set.
And I put the stuff we use back into the drawer.
The empty space is for Rick’s things, like his wallet. Since the garage door-opener is in this drawer, it’s the last stop before leaving the house and the first stop when coming home.
Yes, I know there are still things in there that some people would not hang onto. The flute is in the way back and the whistle is still in there. And you never know when you’ll need a puzzle ball. But it is mostly organized, and I’m really happy with it. What I really need now is some of that non-slip stuff to keep the organizer thing from sliding around.
I still don’t know what the heck to do with the watches. Do I just throw them out (not the guitar one)? Can they be repaired?
There are only two items left on my 20 Weeks list. I’m loving that this challenge is almost over, no matter how long it took me. Are you organizing anything in your life/home?
The Lazy Homesteader 
I am in absolute awe that you organized your last junk drawer. If I don’t do something around here soon my *house* is going to become a junk drawer…
Wow! That was amazing. I can’t even imagine finding anything in my junk drawer, let alone making it organized.
Cora looks so much like the boys in that photo.
And what about giving the watches to a watch repair shop to see if they could use the parts?
I found your blog via /r/Homestead, and I’m so glad I did. You’re doing a great job, thank you. 🙂