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Don't Fear the Junk Drawer


junk drawer

The junk drawer is a necessary evil, a place to stash all those odds and ends that you use but don't really belong anywhere. This area can easily spiral out of control, so here are five tips to keep it functional and fabulous.

1. Designate a shallow drawer for your junk. This will help prevent it from becoming a giant, heaping mess. 2. Keep all items to a single layer. Ideally, you want everything to be visible when you open the drawer. Trust me, the more you have to dig around and move things to get what you need, the harder it will be to keep it all neat. 3. Group like things together. Because there is nothing more frustrating than finding 3 rolls of scotch tape when you are looking for the masking tape. 4. Use dividers. This prevents pens and little things from rolling around and getting lost. No need to go out and buy fancy drawer inserts, though, since you probably have lots of things lying around that could be recycled for this use. Try ice cube trays, shoe box tops, check boxes, jewelry boxes, and electronics packaging. 5. Purge often. Every couple of months (or whenever it gets to a state where you can't find anything) take all the stuff out, rehome things that belong somewhere else, trash any actual junk, and put everything else back in an orderly fashion. What are your biggest junk drawer challenges? Let me know in the comments!

If you found these tips helpful be sure to subscribe to the Pretty Neat weekly email! You'll get a short and sweet message each week with my best advice for a more beautiful and functional home. Click here to sign up, and you'll also receive my FREE guide: How to Get Rid of Stuff!

Make it fab!

Carrie

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