I’m currently in that sweet, quiet time between books. The manuscript has been turned in. I’m still waiting on the edits. Work on the next book looks mostly like me leaning back and gazing out the window. The story is simmering and getting closer to bubbling over onto the page. But for now, I’m taking care of long overdue household tasks, tidying up my office…and cleaning out my junk drawers.
We all have them. Don’t we? (Please tell me I’m not alone.) Some of us, and I’m raising my hand here, have more than one. Those drawers that catch everything that has nowhere else to live. What is this thingamabob? I don’t know but I might need it someday. Stick it in the junk drawer.
We have the “official” junk drawer in the kitchen. I did a major cleanup of it during my last between-books phase. I knew it was necessary when the thing wouldn’t close. So far, while it’s slowly gathering more gizmos that we can’t quite toss…yet…it’s still in fairly good order. What’s in it? Let’s see…
Assorted tools so we don’t have to run out to the workshop for simple repairs. Rolls of different sorts of tape. Matches and lighters (we don’t smoke, but you never know when you might need to light a candle). A spare catnip mouse? Even Kensi Kitty has odds and ends she wants kept in there.
My office junk drawer is a bit more cluttered, but I can still close it. I keep three old money pouches from my Avon Lady days in there. They hold everything except money. Okay, there’s probably a few ones in case I need change, but mostly they hold receipts that need to be recorded and properly filed.
Under the money pouches is a wealth of office supply stuff.
Magnifying glass, scissors, a couple of staple removers, packets of batteries for my wireless mouse and keyboard. Pencils, pens, paperclips, and a multi-head screwdriver. You know. So I don’t have to venture ALL THE WAY to the kitchen junk drawer for those tools. (It’s probably a whole 18 feet to the kitchen).
My husband’s junk drawer is off-limits. Our marriage survives on boundaries.
What about you? What’s in YOUR junk drawer? And do you have only one or multiples?
Enjoy your little book vacation, Annette. That's truly a sweet time.
ReplyDeleteA major kitchen junk drawer for charging cords, stamps, and my fabulous collection of return address labels. And a secondary kitchen drawer for tools I keep handy (needle nose plyers, hammer, picture hooks).
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your book vacation.
Thanks, Linda and Margaret. And in the brief time since I wrote this post, the new book has burst forth from my brain and is now taking shape on the page. Back to work!
ReplyDeleteThat is the most organized junk drawer I have ever seen!
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend has a junk she’d. He keeps every scrap of wood and piece of pipe in case he needs them for a project. Every few years he pulls everything out and sorts it.
ReplyDeleteHA! Ramona, I wish I had a "before" photo.
ReplyDeleteSandy, my husband is a self-proclaimed packrat. He has a workshop, a shed, PLUS our basement filled with all sorts of scrap. We just built a new garage, and I hope to keep the clutter to a minimum in it. I may be deceiving myself. ;-)
ReplyDeleteJunk drawer? We have a junk closet. That spills over into the room. That's my computer room!
ReplyDeleteIn anticipation of ultimately moving, we have begun to declutter. Where did this stuff come from? Every last bit of it was at some point deliberately acquired (even if it was a gift, somebody acquired it) and brought into the house. What were we thinking?
I had a friend who, in her 80's, decided it was time to clean up so her children would have an easier time of it. She lived on the farm on which her husband, in his 90's, had been born. They no longer farmed.
She opened the barn door and took a look at it, packed to the rafters with old farm equipment, etc. She decided, "We inherited it like this. They can inherit it like this," and closed the door.
I'm not sure your organized drawers count as junk drawers! I'm certain there are by-laws for this sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteHubs has the sole junk drawer in the kitchen. I have been banned from sharing that one. I'm not complaining. My office has two rolling cabinets that have three junk drawers each. I tell myself they contain "office essentials." That's my story. I'm sticking to it. Sometimes I even find useful stuff in them. Other times I wonder if I really need unused checks from accounts closed four moves ago. Then I put them back in the drawer and resolve to shred them when I have time.
Screws,nails,string,plastic bag ties,miscellaneous stuff I don't know where to put anywhere else. Even though I have a sorter it's still not as neat as yours!!
ReplyDeleteKM, you made me laugh out loud with the barn full of junk story! Sounds all too familiar!
ReplyDeleteMy current office used to be a junk room. Once I decided to set up shop in here, we started cleaning it out. Before then, you couldn't walk through it.
Decluttering is a constant and ongoing project around here. Closets. Drawers. Sheds. The basement. We brought in a HUGE dumpster a couple of years ago and filled it up. We could stand to do it again, and even so, I'm sure we'd put a dent in it. As you said, someone intentionally acquired all this stuff at some point. WHY?
Kait, I think I still have some of my mom's old checkbooks around here. She died two years ago.
ReplyDeleteUnknown (whomever you are!), you've struck on the main reason we all have junk drawers. Maybe we should rename them "miscellaneous drawers." Makes us all sound less like hoarders!
I have moved to junk laundry baskets. Once things start overflowing on my desk, I sweep it all into a laundry basket so I can clear up and move the basket next to a comfortable chair so that I can sort it out. Unfortunately, those junk laundry baskets are multiplying.
ReplyDeleteHa! I was about to say that was a fabulous idea...until you mentioned the multiplying baskets. That would be my problem too, I'm afraid!
ReplyDeleteWe call it the “Everything Drawer” but it serves the same function. We have one in each of our kitchens (north and south) and another in each of our laundry rooms.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to know I'm not alone in having more than one!
ReplyDeleteHeh I have a junk drawer, a junk shelf and a junk cabinet.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to junk drawers, I have white dish pans. Great for emergency filing and filling. I also have boxes from our last move. And not enough space! Not enough space!
ReplyDelete