Organize + Energize: 7 Easy Steps To An Organized Junk Drawer

Organize + Energize: 7 Easy Steps To An Organized Junk Drawer

You can’t tackle a big organizing project if you can’t organize a drawer. If you are stressed and overwhelmed due to your disorganization, start small. Choose a disorganized drawer in your home. Once you have mastered organizing a drawer, you can move on to bigger projects. Take notice of how you feel after you organize the drawer. Working with your hands for at least 10 minutes will clear the mind, which will release that mental clutter.

Here are 7 easy steps to organize a junk drawer.

1. Head over to the junk drawer.

Is this making you stressed, overwhelmed, or anxious? This isn’t going to be painful, trust me. Have a trash can close by.

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2. Begin to take items out of the drawer one by one.

Do not worry about where you are going to store the items. The minute you stop to think about where items need to be stored, you will lose focus and get distracted and either your project will take you twice as long or you will not finish.

3. Throw away anything that is no longer useful to you.

Do you really need to hold onto pens that don't work or old business cards from people who are no longer in business? Do you need that pocket calendar from 2006? If it's not longer useful to you, get rid of it.

4. Put the keep items into categories as you take them out of the drawer.

For instance, you may have pens, batteries, matches, paper clips, etc. Make categories on the table.

5. Make a pile for items that don’t belong in the drawer.

You may have items that need to be moved to another room. Don’t transfer those items while you are in the middle of organizing. Once you leave the room, you will immediately get distracted and again, your project will take twice as long and you may not venture back into the room you were working in.

6. Your drawer should be empty.

Clean the drawer. Take a look at the empty drawer and then look at the categories of items you have on the table. Think about how you want to function with this drawer going forward. Think about how you were functioning before and what was working and what wasn’t working.

7. Now you are ready to purchase drawer organizers or re-use and re-purpose containers that you have.

Choose a container that is going to fit what you need it to hold. Everything in your drawer should fit like a puzzle. Maximize the space in the drawer by utilizing the correct organizing product. The number one mistake people make is choosing the incorrect product to fit what needs to be contained.

Your drawer is now organized! How long did it take you? How do you feel now? Do you feel energized to move onto other projects in your home?

Remember, getting organized is a process. It’s about creating working organizing systems that will not only get you organized, but will keep you organized. The organized systems will create routines and from those routines, habits will form. If you take something out of that drawer, you will put it back when you are finished using it. It now has a home and instead of throwing it in the drawer, it will go back into its designated container.

Start small, get your feet wet and then move onto larger projects.

 

Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, the founder and owner of Organizing in RI, has always enjoyed finding creative ways to streamline the environment around her. She has appeared on air on Patricia Raskin's Positive Business Radio and her articles have been published in the Rhode Island Small Business Journal and New England Home Life. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to start. She is also available for organizing workshops. Tune into her weekly radio show, Organize, Energize! on Mondays at 8:30am on www.talkstreamradio.com.