The junk drawer evolution that took 4 years to complete

I finally cleaned out my kitchen junk drawer last weekend and found a fossilized granola bar from 2019. The before picture had exactly 47 loose rubber bands, 12 dead pens, and 3 mystery keys that never opened anything in my apartment. The after picture shows 3 neatly labeled compartments with actual useful stuff like a screwdriver and some AAA batteries. What changed is I bought a cheap plastic organizer tray from Target for 8 bucks and forced myself to toss anything I hadn't touched in a year. The drawer still looks clean 6 days later, which feels like a miracle. Anybody else have a drawer that turned into a time capsule?

3 comments

3 Comments

piper7791mo ago

Join the club. I found a takeout menu from a Chinese place that closed in 2017, right next to a single AA battery that was so corroded it basically fused itself to the drawer. My big success was finally admitting I don't need 14 pens that don't work, just one good one. The $8 organizer trick is a lifesaver though, I did the same thing and it actually stayed neat for almost three weeks this time.

wood.eric1mo ago

Three weeks is actually pretty good honestly, most of us can barely keep any drawer neat that long.

charles_mitchell1mo ago

Man, that dead pen situation hits hard. @piper779 I had the same realization with my desk drawer last month, tossed out 9 pens that just had no ink left and kept one that actually writes smooth. My drawer relic was a pack of gum from 2018 that somehow still had flavor, which was equal parts impressive and gross.