It is so much easier to organize your home if you give yourself manageable tasks. Suburbs 101 contributor, Maura Fitzgerald is making organizing less overwhelming with her monthly column: How to Tackle Your Whole House Throughout The Year Without Becoming Overwhelmed. This month, Maura shows us how to organize your junk drawers.
We all – even organizers (sometimes!) have those cringe-worthy drawers in our home offices and kitchens. Junk Drawers are magnets for items that do not have a permanent residence.
And so, of course, they become a dumping ground making it impossible to find what you need when you need it. The tip for drawer organization are inserts and dividers. Always. Purchase those and follow the steps below and spare yourself the rummaging.
How to Organize Your Junk Drawers
Below I will show you how to organize your junk drawers. Remember, the trick for organizing drawers are inserts and dividers.
Empty Your Drawer
It is important to empty every item out of the drawer. Make sure you reserve enough time (and energy) to complete the project of organizing your junk drawer. Purge loose and crummy hair ties and other items that have gotten dirty by floating around in no man’s land.
Buy Inserts and Dividers for Your Junk Drawer
As mentioned above, inserts and dividers are a must when organizing junk drawers. That said the first step is to measure the drawers and then purchase your inserts. Buy according to what fits the drawer- not the junk that’s currently in the drawer.
Dividers and inserts come in a variety of sizes, colors, and materials for every budget. Acrylic, bamboo, metal and pretty colors. My go-to for the most variety in dividers and inserts for drawers is The Container Store. Be sure to check out dividers and inserts in both the Kitchen and Office sections of the store to view the most options and make the best choice for your drawer.
Secure the Drawer Inserts and Dividers
To prevent your inserts from sliding around and spilling over, I recommend museum glue or putty. Museum glue or putty are non-residue substances that adhere to the bottom of drawer inserts and keep the drawer inserts in place during everyday use.
Museum glue or putty can easily be removed from your drawer inserts at any time. I consider museum or putty my secret weapon for successfully organizing junk drawers. It has a ton of other uses but securing drawer inserts is the primary.
Use Binder Clips to Help Organize Your Junk Drawer
Binder clips is another secret weapon to help keep your drawer organized. Binder clips are excellent for coiling cords and keeping them more neatly stowed in drawers.
Organize You Junk Drawer by Categories
When you put everything back in your junk drawer, make sure you sort and organize by categories. You’d be amazed at how easy it is to organize your junk drawer with the inserts in place.
Loose change has its very own space separate from the chapstick and the hair ties. Nothing gets mingled or slides around and it becomes so easy to maintain order.
Label Inserts In High Traffic Areas
I often label the inside back surface of drawer inserts in high traffic areas like the kitchen. This ensures business cards don’t get mixed up with receipts and menus, for example.
Even the kids realize that pens go with pens and not with the keys. I just launched a new label business, Labelize It, click here to check out my labels.
Final Thoughts on How to Organize Your Junk Drawers
Once drawer inserts and dividers are purchased Junk Drawer organizations should take 30 minutes or less. This is an easy one to tackle!
About Maura Fitzgerald
Maura Fitzgerald was born in NYC and raised in Bronxville, NY. She holds a BA from Georgetown University and worked in Print and Digital Advertising Sales for 20 years at Forbes and Time Inc. Now Maura is the founder of Fitz Just Right (FJR), a Luxury Organizational Design Company servicing Westchester County September through June and Annapolis, MD in summer months. She recently launched a new label business, Labelize It. Offering Luxury, Custom Cut Vinyl Labels that keep your home and business organized – one label at a time! Maura and her husband love working for the weekends where they have non-stop action and fun with their 3 children….and everything isn’t always organized. She lives in Bronxville, NY with her husband and three children. Website: www.fitzjustright.com Instagram: @labelizeit and @fitzjustright
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