$45.00
Giving the junk drawer a new name!
By
by Megan Spears
We need to come up with a new name for what most people call a junk drawer. Maybe something like “the nitty-gritty drawer” or “the drawer that holds things without a true home drawer”… something a little more meaningful than a junk drawer.
If you ask anyone if they have a junk drawer, almost immediately they will say… “yes of course, doesn’t everyone?” A place to be the catch all of everything small and important. Essential items that we can’t live without, but that don’t really have a specific home.
My junk drawer sits at my desk, top drawer and it holds my cell phone charger, miscellaneous business cards that need to be filed, chapstick, sunglasses, glasses screwdriver, and a few random broken items that need to be replaced, repaired or tossed.
Early on in my relationship with my husband he would behave unusually strange when I would tell him to clean out his junk drawer because it wouldn’t shut. He thought that no matter what, it should never be purged, cleaned or cleared. His drawer sat in the bathroom next to the sink so that as he changed from his work cloths, he could empty out his pockets into… the junk drawer.
About three years ago when the boys were into opening bottles of this and that, we had a little mishap that spilled on the counter and leaked into daddy’s “open” junk drawer. I didn’t see that I had much of a choice, the mess had to be cleaned up.
As I cleaned out the drawer, pulling out paper after paper… I realized that the content of his junk drawer wasn’t at all what I thought it would have contained, it was a place to leave his trash. I thought this was so weird. Why would you put paper trash in a drawer when the garbage can sat two feet from the drawer.
I found receipts, envelopes from old cards (some of the cards too), wrappers… lots of wrappers, old ticket stubs to concerts from years past, shaving gear from razors long gone, pens, pencils, highlighters (all of which didn’t work), old medical supplies from a fingers injury 5 years prior, cologne that he will never wear and so on…
I was intrigued. I had to look up the word junk. Websters defines junk as anything that is regarded as worthless, meaningless, or contemptible; trash. I had no idea he could take the junk drawer so literally.
So, tell me, tell me, tell me… what’s in your junk drawer?
My junk drawer is in the kitchen beside the dishwasher. It tends to get a little warm when the dishwasher runs, so I have to be careful what goes there… lol.
Right now, I have a screwdriver and a set of allen wrenches (for battery changes and toy repairs). DS Pens…. how do all those little DS pens end up in there is beyond me, but at least we know where to find one when they chewed on their current ones too much!
I also have the cups and droppers for giving medicine to the kids. I also store my coupons there and my household cleaning schedule, as well as my weekly menu. Mine is less of a junk drawer and more of a “handy dandy drawer.” LOL! The things I keep in there are things I have to keep handy and don’t want to run all over the house for! If it did not get so warm in there when the dishwasher was on, I probably would have our first aid kit in there too!