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lela burris junk drawer

It All Started With The Junk Drawer

February 5, 2016 · In: Organize

Is your junk drawer organized chaos? If you have cabinet liners and storage baskets, that mess can easily and cheaply become a success.

Organize your junk drawer with some baskets from the Dollar Store

The junk drawer. We’ve all got one. It’s the secret hiding place for all the little homeless stuff we don’t know what to do with. You know it’s true. Nowhere else can you find matches, tape, chopsticks, a pecan cracker, and an orange highlighter all in one place.

 

Does your kitchen junk drawer look like this- Here's how to fix it.

And it looks a little something like this. I’m having a neat-freak panic attack just looking at this picture. How did I let this happen? And why did I wait so long to fix it?

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Empty everything from the drawer

I told my husband, “I’m going to fix this drawer.” “It will only take me five minutes,” I said. I took everything out and threw away all the nonsense I didn’t need, like little packs of condiments and takeout menus for restaurants (which thanks to technology, can be found online and take up no space in the home at all).

 

Insert Drawer Liner to keep things from sliding around

I cut a piece of cabinet liner to size and put it in the bottom of the drawer. This will keep the organizer containers from sliding around and becoming a Stage 3 disaster again.

Organize your junk drawer with some baskets from the Dollar Store

Then I put the things I actually needed to keep back in the drawer in a much neater manner. I bought these baskets from the dollar store for $2 total. One dollar for a three pack of the narrow ones (I already had one) and one dollar for the big one. And that liner was a dollar, too. In case you’re wondering, this is the cheapest project ever. And I was right. It took me five minutes.

As I stood in the kitchen proud of the quickest project I’ve ever done, I almost walked back into the living room to sit down with a glass of sweet tea and watch the new Property Brothers, but my mind kind of went crazy and somehow I ended up reorganizing my entire kitchen. Yeah, five minutes turned into about 3 hours. Sorry hubby.

 

Store paper napkins in the back of the utensil drawer for easy table setting at dinnertime

I put drawer liners in every drawer, and I put the napkins in the back of the silverware drawer, which I actually think is pretty genius. Now setting the table is even easier.

Store lesser used kitchen gadgets in the back of drawers

I put rarely used gadgets in the back of the drawer that houses my paper and plastic products. There was always a big gap of nothingness back there just wide open, waiting to catch some junk overflow from the disaster drawer next door.

 

Organized kitchen drawers

I straightened up the cooking utensils drawer and made it a little more functional, and again, that non-slip liner made a huge difference. No more pulling everything out to find the little knife that wiggled its way to the back.

Organized baking cabinet

I could have stopped there. I should have stopped there, but I didn’t. I got in my car, drove back to the Dollar Store (it’s only five minutes away from my house…it’s not as bad as it sounds), and picked up these baskets and containers.

And then I started on the cabinets.

 

Organized kitchen baking cabinet

Okay, so maybe it’s not that pretty, but it is organized, neat, and clean.

Baking Dish and Pan Organization

The worst part of this whole project? I moved everything around, and when I say everything, I mean everything. Now I spend a good two minutes opening every cabinet door trying to remember where I put the slotted spoon. I’ll get it all down soon.

Hang measuring cups and spoons on a cabinet door for easy access

Now I won’t lie, my kitchen was already pretty organized, minus that outlaw junk drawer, but now that I moved things around and put more thought into where they are and why they should be there, it’s even more organized, and it just makes more sense. Totally worth the extra two hours and fifty-five minutes. And it all started with that jerk junk drawer.

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By: Lela Burris · In: Organize · Tagged: baskets, budget, cabinets, cheap, clean, decor, drawers, home, junk drawer, kitchen, neat, organization, organize, spring cleaning, tidy

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Comments

  1. Christin says

    January 15, 2018 at 10:05 am

    Yep, it always starts with just one thing. Well, in my case, two.

    A few days ago I was at The Christmas Tree Shop to look at rug prices (uh huh, just *one* thing, I swear) and came out with a crate for empties, a mat for wet shoes, and a bamboo organizer for one of my kitchen drawers. Now, the project has begun.

    From just two drawers – regular utensils and the “all the other kitchen tools” – it’s now the entire room! I just can’t look at it without cringing! The nice, neat communication center and then… blech. I know, it’s not visible, but it’s there, the mess. And my nephew (who’s just recently moved in) can’t reach everything.

    Am I justifying? Yep. OCD justification. LOL! Now I just have to decide which dollar store to go to first.

    Reply
    • Lela Burris says

      January 16, 2018 at 12:48 pm

      Hahaha! I can totally relate Christin! That’s so funny! Good luck with your many kitchen projects! Sounds like you may need a chaperone when you shop. My husband always says I do. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Carol@TheRedPaintedCottage says

    February 5, 2016 at 11:10 pm

    Lela, You won’t believe this, but I’m in the process of doing this now and I’m writing a post about it for next week! Can’t wait to show you what I’m doing, but with a smaller kitchen and fewer cupboards, drawers and pantry space than we had in our other house, I have to be as organized as possible.

    Reply
    • lela says

      February 6, 2016 at 8:13 am

      That’s great Carol! I can’t wait to see the post. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for it.

      Reply
  3. Angie @ Project Patrol says

    February 5, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    I’m loving it all! I need to do the same. I keep things pretty organized too but, I know there’s always room for improvement to make things easier especially with having a kitchen on the smaller side.

    Reply
    • lela says

      February 5, 2016 at 2:33 pm

      Thanks Angie! I thought mine was working just fine for me until I moved everything around. Now that I’ve put more thought into placement, I don’t know I functioned before. It’s so much better now.

      Reply

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My name is Lela, (say it like LEE-luh) and I'm so glad you stopped by my blog! Whether you're into organizing, home improvement, crafts, or you just think my pets are cute, you'll find all kinds of inspo here.

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Sometimes we get busy, maintenance tidying gets pu Sometimes we get busy, maintenance tidying gets pushed aside, or another family member accidentally sabotages the entire area you organized last month.
Instead of stressing over it, take it as an opportunity to redo it better this time. Maybe the way you organized that space before was too complicated and hard to maintain. Or maybe it wasn’t categorized enough so things piled up.
When you find a space that lost its Organization Mojo,  empty it out, try something new, and see if that works better.
You’ll find your own signature organizing style through experimentation and get your home Organized-ish one drawer at a time. 😉
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Were you here when we converted this non-working l Were you here when we converted this non-working laundry closet into a custom pantry?
Today on the blog, I’m sharing the exact plans and steps of how I designed this pantry and how my handyman helped me bring it to life.
And if you want a full tour of the pantry, head over to my YouTube channel to look inside all the drawers and cubbies. The pantry starts at timestamp 21:14. 🥰
#pantryorganization #pantrygoals #pantrymakeover #kitchenorganization
This tray and these canisters were “supposed” This tray and these canisters were “supposed” to be used in a kitchen. The packaging literally said “kitchen storage canister” and “kitchen turntable” and they were in the kitchen storage aisles of the store. But don’t let those labels feel like you’re stuck with only certain types of organizers for each room.
Next time you’re shopping for organizers, look in other aisles and you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find. Bathroom organizers are great in craft rooms, garage storage is perfect for a home gym, office storage is good for kid’s rooms, and kitchen organizers can be used in bathrooms.
If you’ve been struggling to find the right organizers for your home, it’s time to think outside the box. 😉
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Anybody else get 20 seconds in and immediately reg Anybody else get 20 seconds in and immediately regret your decision? 😂
#organization #organizinginspiration #cleaningmotivation #homeorganization

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