Ask Lemmy

Every family has a junk drawer. Just accept it and move on in your life.

Think about it like Socrates, man. Of course there’s gonna be a category for things that don’t fit in any other categories.

One drawer? We have house full of these, cupboards and a garage XD

I’d say that every house has a junk drawer, but I wouldn’t call this a junk drawer. It mostly looks like random kitchen tools. I guess you’re both right, in a way.

Maybe what you need is a wall-mounted rack to hold some of your other stuff without taking up valuable counter space. For example, I’ve heard people swear by magnetic knife holders. You can probably find magnetic tool holders at a hardware store for less than you’d find knife holders at a store that specializes in kitchen stuff.

Or maybe just get some hooks. Perhaps some little shelves. Whatever. The point is, make the stuff you use most often more accessible, and use the freed-up space in other drawers to clean out this drawer. Then turn it into a proper junk drawer, with shit like loose rubber bands, half~dried superglue, an awkwardly shaped pen from a real estate salesperson, and a tape measure that’s branded with the logo of an NFL team for some reason.

Yes/no. We dont have a designated junk drawer, but theres one specific drawer we happen to throw random things into. I clean it out maybe twice a year during one of my adhd fueled hyper cleaning sessions.

We have that drawer, plus a bowl in a cabinet full of stuff like that.

Yes everyone has this drawer

I wouldn't put the scale in there but yes, miscellaneous drawer.

that drawer is a small scale representation of my home.

This is very common. If you really must "solve" it, the solution world be a shadow box layout. You empty it, lay stuff down where you want it, then take a picture or trace the shapes onto paper. Then model and 3d print an insert to give everything a dedicated cutout or cut it from foam or mill it from wood. This is what folks do in workshops. I've never seen it for a kitchen large utensil drawer, but that's what to do if you must.

At my parents' place, EVERY drawer is like that!

I see enough squish things tools to designate it the squishing drawer.

Consider a spring loaded drawer divider. Keeping everything from sloshing around can make a surprising amount of space.

My drawer in the image used to be a nightmare. Everything used to move around and it would jam when opening sometimes. Adding dividers got it organized enough to leave a third of it free, which is now the rightmost section that's filled with tea.

It's been over a year and I still feel a small sense of joy when I open it sometimes. There's still messes of junk in the back left and right, but they stay put.

Yep, this is a junk drawer at its nascent stage.

My mother got into the pampered chef selling bulldonkey when I was young, and despite the dozens of items we got from them, only four really stood out, and she still has three of them. The ice cream scoop (how hard is it to make a shaped chunk of metal, after all), the kitchen shears (which were actually good quality), the slap-chop before there was a slap-chop brand (the one that is now missing/broken), and the kitchen organizer thing for the countertop: pic related. It was great for the longer shaped things, like some of what you have in the drawer. If the drawer bothers you that much, consider something that goes on the countertop or on the wall (or even a hanging pot organizer, which I love above a kitchen island.

Don't known, but that big green thing with the clamping white blades...do not put your dick in that.

We have essentially the same drawer but with no scale and more ladies, measuring spoons, etc.

I'd probably put that scale somewhere else since it's a precision device, and it can't be too healthy for it to live like that.

I don't have this drawer. I have several drawers organised by use. Baking, cooking, eating, etc. All are barely organised.

At first I was thinking I don't have this drawer, but I suppose I have a version of it. Anything that doesn't get used weekly goes into a misc. box that I store in the pantry to keep clutter out of drawers, e.g. icing spatula, fat separator, some baking items, etc.

My knives are upright on my counter and my scale is in my cabinet though, so that also frees up space. A few trays in your drawer might help?

Technically, mine isn't a drawer, it's a shoebox tucked under the coffee table, but yes.

There are probably houses out there somewhere that do not have one of these, but I have never encountered one. They appear with the same frequency as 10 million dollar lottery tickets.

She's right. Always.

I have 2 of these drawers. 1 in the kitchen and 1 in the garage.

It can be sorted quite nicely if you get an organiser division thingy. Even if you're only going to keep one thing in each section, it's nice to have each thing in its own place. The difficulty with that is remembering where it's supposed to be, and that it takes more space.

A little basket is suitable for keeping most of those things if you simply accept that them being in the same basket is actually the correct placement for them.

I by myself only have a single drawer(don't need/have more) but for my parents this is devinetively true. They have one for metal pieces, one for plastic pieces and one for cutlery. The fourth drawer is for all the stuff that isn't really needed that often or simply to big to be put into one of the other drawers.