Organizing Your Junk Drawer

So I did it, I began the great organization crusades of 2013 in our house over the weekend.  It has begun with the cleaning and organizing of one kitchen junk drawer - but that one project has given me much motivation and energy to take on the chaos of clutter that lurks around the hidden places.  

Here's the thing, it was super easy and cost very little money.  It didn't take that long at all to clean out, purge, organize and make pretty this junky little drawer.  Here's its tiny journey...

The best way to begin a project like this is to start by taking out everything that is packed in.  As I pulled things out I made little piles and gathered similar items together.  I even got organized with this part and made sticky note labels for my gatherings.  We learned in the process that we had a crazy amount of batteries shoved in this drawer, along with a thousand pens and pencils, remotes that don't belong to anything we own and I found the sunglasses I have been missing the past three months - lots of scores here.  Everything I pulled out did not go back in the drawer.  Some things were moved to their rightful spot, some things were just trashed and some things will receive a new space to live in the future (its all a work in progress over here).

This was a sight that hasn't been seen in a while, an empty and clean drawer!

Ok, for my attack plan I found these little bins in the Target dollar section.  Those bigger bins were two for a dollar - so I spent a total of $6 on this drawer project.

After everything was cleared out I decided on my strategy for organizing.  I knew it had to be functional, I knew I couldn't leave a lot of open room for future shoving and clutter and I knew I wanted it to be pretty.  For me, if its pretty I will be more likely to keep it organized.  So I grabbed some polka dot paper I had and measured and cut it to fit the size of my drawer and sprayed a little adhesive to keep it in place.  Next I just adjusted the storage bins for optimal usage - giving a specific place for everything to live.

Then I started filing up the space with what I wanted to keep in the drawer.

As I filled everything in I decided I wanted some labels - I think that will help keep us accountable for keeping things in certain places and not junking it up again.  

I grabbed a label maker and some washi tape I had on hand and made cute little labels for my bins.  I haven't decided yet on labeling every single little spot but for now the larger ones needed it.

And here is what that junky drawer is looking like now....so much better right??!!

Just for fun and because everyone likes a good before and after, here's our junk drawer before...

And after...

I was so excited about how easy and inexpensive this project was.  Anyone of you could totally do this!  I think I might have caught the organizing bug and I can't wait to get more of our spaces looking more like this.  

What kind of organizing projects are you guys tackling?  Share with me!

Have a great week!

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