31 days of organization:: Day 5: What my junk drawer taught me

Notepads and post-it notes, pens,
matches, batteries  and two tape measures
 neatly arranged in the Secretary

different sizes of Ziploc bags, tin foil,
plastic wrap and coffee filters
in what use to be the junk drawer

My junk drawer was just that, unusable and filled with junk. I couldn't find anything in the drawer, frankly, I didn't even know what was in it. It was just an unusable drawer.  A drawer I totally ignored. Why did it take me so long to do something with it? Probably because "organizing the junk drawer" sounds overwhelming, and unexciting, and the last thing I want to do..... and its so easy to ignore. So I did ignore it. Until I wanted a better place to store my Ziploc bags (instead of in the dining room pantry) and looked around and looked around and realized I didn't have a free kitchen drawer. Suddenly my attention turned to the junk drawer and it became very valuable real estate and worthy to tackle. After one Saturday morning and one trip to Walmart, its now a very usable space full of Ziploc bags, foil, coffee filters and plastic wrap. Where did all the junk drawer things go? Mostly in the trash. The very few things I kept  (pens and notepads, matches and tape measures) are now neatly arranged in a very skinny drawer in a small secretary desk I keep in the kitchen but never used. It makes me happy to just look at these drawers now and so proud that I actually did something with them! 

What did I take away from this?

• Projects usually don't take as long as I think they will. It took more mental energy to ignore the junk drawer (for years!) than it did to actually change it.
• Kitchen drawers are expensive real estate and having one unusable is unacceptable.
• I can ignore a problem but it wont go away by itself.
• I'm usually more successful if I start each project with the end goal in mind.
• Even skinny drawers that I think aren't suitable for much, are able to be put in use.
• Even a little bit of success, makes me proud, happy and ready to tackle a bigger project.