5 Products to help you Organize Junk Drawers
The junk drawer, we all have one somewhere in our home. Maybe it’s in the kitchen or the front hallway. Maybe it’s in your office or a bedroom. But it’s there and it’s getting worse month after month.
What’s in the drawer? Do you even know anymore? Is there where you toss packs of batteries? Perhaps tape & scissors? Maybe loose change, pens, rubber bands, expired coupons, keys that you have forgotten existed? Maybe it’s filled with utensils in the kitchen? Maybe it’s filled with clothing you forgot you had in the bedroom?
Step 1: Pull out the drawer, dump everything out and separate into piles to figure out what’s in there. Step 2: Check out these products that will help you kick off this month with a little organization and reduce the clutter in your life.
1. The Battery Organizer
This has been one of my favorite purchases for organization. After I discovered my hallway junk drawer was 50% packs of batteries, I snagged one of these. Now I know exactly how many batteries I have and when I need to purchase new batteries. It also comes with a little battery tester so I can check the quality of old batteries that I’m replacing.
While I keep my organizer in my junk drawer, you can also wall mount it. The majority of brands hold triple As up to D batteries in addition to including a compartment for flat batteries. Most brands retail between $15 to $20 on Amazon. In my house, it will pay for itself since I won’t have to guess when I need to buy batteries.
2. The Utensil Organizer
Probably my 2nd most hated drawer in the house is the black hole that seems to be my utensil drawer. While I did move the majority of my most frequently used utensils (spatulas, wooden spoons, etc) to a holder on the counter, I still have to go digging around to find vegetable peelers, wisks, wine openers, etc…
I like this specific design because it’s adjustable to the size of your drawer and offers lots of sizes for different types of utensils. It also forgoes including the standard silverware slots, which you will find in most kitchen organizers. While this retails around $50, you can certainly DIY your own as well some cheap lumber from Home Depot and a couple hours of work. Here’s a great tutorial.
3. The Socks / Underwear Organizer
Considering the state of my sock drawer, you might as well call it a junk drawer. Not only do I have to hunt for a specific pair of socks, I often have to do it twice if I forgot to pair up the socks after washing / putting away in the drawer.
What I love about this organizational tool is how it can be custom fit to different drawer sizes and how each item has it’s own place. You can also use with for underwear / scarves / gloves / basically anything small enough to fit. Usually less than $20 as well. You can also find more box-like designs (like this) if you want to move everything out of the drawer and into the closet / under a bed.
4. The Office Supplies Organizer
Obviously, there are a ton of different organizers for office supplies. However, I like the options that come in pieces rather than a full tray that fills up your entire drawer. Why? You can pull out individual bins when you are working on something and you can buy as many as you need.
My personal favorite are seen above, specifically because you can assign colors for specific types of items. This is great for kids, as you can tell them the pens always go in a specific color bin. Of course, there are a wide array of options to choose from if you want clear bins or something more permanent that never comes out of the drawer.
5. The Personal Care Organizer
Ideal for anyone that has smaller drawers in the bathroom, these skinny organizers are great for stuff like makeup, tooth care stuff, shaving equipment, etc… Similar to the office organizer, it can be handy to have a small try to pull out and put away to keep clutter off limited counter space. These are typically $10 each (or less if you buy in bulk).
Bonus Round: Cord Organizers
If you have a drawer filled with loose cords, that can be a time-wasting nightmare when trying to find a specific USB cable or even just untangling the mess. An easy DIY tip is to save up your old toilet paper rolls and use each to store a single cord. Those can be stored vertically in a drawer, side by side. The only drawback is the tubes often tip over.
Alternatively, you can go with one sock organizers to store individual cords or just move everything out of the drawer into a tote bag designed to store cords. I like the one pictured above (and linked below) due to the focus on cord storage, but you can find a large number of options depending on what you need for storage.