The Junk Drawer And Why Am I Keeping That Or What Is That?
By pyewacket
@pyewacket (43903)
United States
September 17, 2011 10:54pm CST
We all have them, at least one junk drawer where we store things for one reason or another; maybe they are things that you save, since you think, "Gee, you never know when I might need this." The thing is one has a tendency to shove more and more things in that junk drawer until the drawer is a bona-fide mess.
I sit long periods in front of the computer, and to take a break now and then away from the computer, I do some "chore" or "task" that I've been putting off for a long time, since frankly, that chore might be boring to do. Well, during a break from the computer I decided tonight was the night to finally tackle really cleaning up that junk drawer of mine.
Well, I surprised myself and was able to throw out an awful lot of stuff, but I did come across things that honestly, I was wondering, why the heck I was keeping them.
Among some of the things I threw out:
1). Two boxes of fuses for the fuse box
Like why am/was I keeping them? Yes, in my apartment I USED to have a fuse box, and if a fuse blew could replace the fuse. But three years ago, our apartment switched over to a switch box instead...one doesn't need fuses. Like duh, why am I keeping them? 
2). Old keys. Haven't even a clue what the keys originally were for...and look like something from the year of the flood
3). Adapters. There were four old adapters that I must have used for something at one point, just can't figure out for what...probably some electronic equipment I don't even have anymore.
4). The mystery finds. These are classified as items that I haven't a clue what they were or were for. I must have thought that someday they would be of use, whatever they were, but since I just plain don't know what they are/were..out they went. 
Now my junk drawer is nice and tidy and only has certain tools and nails, hammers, mini saws, and so forth in it
So folks...do you have junk drawers with things in them you haven't a clue why you're keeping them? It doesn't even HAVE to be a junk drawer, but any drawer or closet where you're storing something and keep for years, then boldly decide to clean it up and discovered you were throwing out a lot of stuff?
2). Old keys. Haven't even a clue what the keys originally were for...and look like something from the year of the flood
3). Adapters. There were four old adapters that I must have used for something at one point, just can't figure out for what...probably some electronic equipment I don't even have anymore.
4). The mystery finds. These are classified as items that I haven't a clue what they were or were for. I must have thought that someday they would be of use, whatever they were, but since I just plain don't know what they are/were..out they went.
Now my junk drawer is nice and tidy and only has certain tools and nails, hammers, mini saws, and so forth in it
So folks...do you have junk drawers with things in them you haven't a clue why you're keeping them? It doesn't even HAVE to be a junk drawer, but any drawer or closet where you're storing something and keep for years, then boldly decide to clean it up and discovered you were throwing out a lot of stuff?13 people like this
25 responses
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
18 Sep 11
only one junk drawer?
Honestly, the tool drawer used to be that BEFORE the jerk just dumped everything in it out and let it rattle around turning it from a tool drawer to a junk drawer and THEN complaining about how dirty the house was... excuse me, I was PAYING his unemployed BU++ to help clean it, I didn't have to and after that I DIDN'T!
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Sep 11
LOL--yes only one junk drawer...also have want could be considered a "junk" closet...it has my winter jackets in it, but mostly things I store since just plain don't have any room for that stuff anywhere else. Mmmm..thinking of tackling the one kitchen cabinet thought...might find stuff in there I just plain don't need anymore either--not exactly "junk"--just might need some of the stuff anymore...might say I'm de-cluttering
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Sep 11
Sounds like a few projects are shaping up for this fall and winter. I have a crafts room/guest room that sometimes becomes the "pile it" room. I like to have company coming so that it makes me turn it back into the "guest room".
4 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Sep 11
I sure as heck didn't want to do projects like this during the winter..now that it's finally cooling down,...oh, yes a LOT of projects to keep busy with
1 person likes this
@allknowing (130066)
• India
18 Sep 11
You have a junk drawer. Here I have a room for that!
which holds even broken chairs but let me hasten to add that this room is attended to periodically. Each time we visit that room not all is discarded always feeling that something from that lot could be useful at some time. I had a tough time the other day searching for a paper which I thought I had safely kept where it should be kept but alas I found it in the junk room!
which holds even broken chairs but let me hasten to add that this room is attended to periodically. Each time we visit that room not all is discarded always feeling that something from that lot could be useful at some time. I had a tough time the other day searching for a paper which I thought I had safely kept where it should be kept but alas I found it in the junk room!3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
19 Sep 11
Isn't it weird how we'll keep things with the idea that maybe "one day" we can use it again? Goodness, a junk room?
@allknowing (130066)
• India
19 Sep 11
It is not as easy as it seems. It is a decision taking process which sometimes is quite complicated. My junk room has items that do not fit into a drawer
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Sep 11
I am ashamed to admit that I have many drawers like that. It is awful. I will, someday, clean them out. I have one drawer that is so awkward to get to that it will never be anything but a catch all. However, last week I got into it and found some treasures. Things that I do need. They are coming out of that drawer. I know that cleaning and tidying is very satisfactory.3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Sep 11
I managed to find some "treasures" that I plan to keep out also. They are old, old spoons, hard to describe actually. Long metal slotted spoons with porcelain handles. I had forgotten all about them. They have sort of a sentimental value as they came from my great-grandmother's side, and one of the few things I have of hers left, heaven knows how old they are!
3 people like this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
18 Sep 11
Yes I still have junk drawers with lots of useless stuff in them. The trouble is that I have trouble throwing things out until I am absolutely certain that I have no use for them.
I mean there have been times when I have thrown something out only to find a use for it later. Unfortunately I also keep too much for far too long. I just recently threw out all my old 3.5" floppy disks. I finally realised that there was no point in keeping them when they were seriously obsolete.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Sep 11
LOL--I'm just realizing I have old floppy discs myself...like duh? Why am I keeping them???
3 people like this
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
18 Sep 11
I sometimes think that if I demanded that my partner empty her junk draws she would fade away and die. I keep old financial records, the Gods alone know why, but every couple of years or so I ruthlessly prune them. Unfortunately, like roses they simply burst into new life.
Lash
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Sep 11
Urgh--don't ask a lot of the papers I still have and don't throw out...some I think for sentimental reasons, like the adoption papers of my very first cat, Babette...uh, got her in 1962--but yes often do "pruning", but yes like "weeds" only more papers sprout up
3 people like this
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
18 Sep 11
I have several junk drawers and a ‘junk cup’ which is a large cups full of a bit of this and a bit of that…I do occasionally tidy them up and throw out an enormous amount of stuff and they look nice and organised for a short while but it seems that before long the drawers are back to messy again! Last time I cleaned out the sideboard drawers I found things that I thought were lost forever too so that was handy! I now have a battery charger which had been sitting under a pile of junk for many months.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
19 Sep 11
Yes periodically I go through a cleaning mania thing to get things organized. I have storage bins with stacks of papers and use my one bureau like a filing cabinets also stuffed with papers. They're all organized for awhile, then somehow MORE papers sprout up..and can't think of anything more boring than going through papers...sighs
1 person likes this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
18 Sep 11
we have about 4 junk drawers one mail goes into I go in once in awhile and go thru it most of it we never needed to save the other ones well clean them about once a year most times I know why we saved the stuff and might not throw to much of those drawers away .
Long time no see welcome back!
1 person likes this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
18 Sep 11
Yes I has a drawer full of stuff but... it is all keepsakes. I know what is in it but there is nothing to throw away!
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (45487)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
18 Sep 11
Hey, girl! Nice to see you again.
I live in a junk drawer! But I know that if I threw something out, I would need it the following week.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
8 Nov 11
*sigh*
junk drawers..
junk basement..junk garage..junk attic..junk sun porch..
only way i get rid of some of this crap is to throw it out when the menfolk are elsewhere..because they'll drag it back in.
if it hasn't been used in ten years,it's probably not gonna be!i still have some WTF's left over from dad too.
literally.i have no idea what the thing is.
only way i get rid of some of this crap is to throw it out when the menfolk are elsewhere..because they'll drag it back in.
if it hasn't been used in ten years,it's probably not gonna be!i still have some WTF's left over from dad too.
literally.i have no idea what the thing is.
@pergammano (7682)
• Canada
18 Sep 11
Let me be another one, to WELCOME you back!
OH BOY...I hate to admit this, but living on this same property for 32 years, I have junk corners...YIKES! I justify it, by assuaging myself, that I live on a small Island..and JUST when you really need something, the Store is closed..or the Lumber yard..OR? Everytime I get disciplined, do a thorough cleaning, a coupla days later..I needed JUST what I dispensed of! My cache is monumental, behind this shed, a storage of lumber, pieces of metal, left-over tiling pieces, etc., etc.! 90% of the amasses are relatively neat and tidy, and usable! Just this spring from my caches, I was able to tile the entrance, bath area, under the wood stove, and kitchen counters from a myriad of tiles...and it actually looks quite attractive...so really did save myself a fortune. (see here I go justifying myself)! SO, pye...a "junk drawer" is a small miracle, in my estimation! If only I could limit myself to that!
1 person likes this
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
18 Sep 11
Hi there Pye,
It's been quite a while since I've bumped into you on here! Hope all is well with you. Who doesn't have a junk drawer? I toss everything that I don't know what to do with that I know doesn't need my immediate attention in there. I've gotten so that I do clean it out pretty regularly and usually throw most of the stuff away. I would have saved something like those fuses because...who knows, maybe down the road you may move to a place that uses them or maybe you'll find someone that could use them. Surely as soon as you toss them, someone will need them. I've saved adapters (still have a box of them) because often they are interchangeable with other things and I have used them in the past. I have a storage closet that I've been procrastinating on cleaning out. It is way worse than a junk drawer. I am sure that when I decide to tackle it, I'll find that a good amoumt of the stuff in it is going to be stuff that I just don't need.
1 person likes this
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
18 Sep 11
Indeed I have a couple of junk drawers around the house or drawers that are chalked full of things. I think that there are some things that I do throw out but there are other things that I just can't bring myself to throw them out right at the minute. Now granted, its not like I am going to use them any time soon but still there is a certain sentimental value.
Then again, you can find some pretty good things that could be of use that have been stuffed away for a while and promptly forgotten about in the past. There are just some things in there that are useful. But there are some things in there that do not have some good use whatsoever. The upstairs closet can be like this, with books that I have read, that I'll either put in the garage sale or donate when the opportunity presents itself.
2 people like this
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
23 Sep 11
I guess I had a sort of a junk drawer once. I kept all the little gifts that I had absolutely no use whatsoever for in one large drawer at the bottom of a bureau. I think I just felt bad about throwing gifts away. A friend was helping me move and we were going through that drawer. I told her what the stuff was and she pulled out a little picture frame still in its box and said "I gave this to you". I thought I'd die but I was pretty quick on my feet and shot back with "How did that get in there"? lol
Anyway, I learned my lesson. Now, I just donate everything I don't want to a thrift shop or throw things out. No more junk drawer!
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
25 Sep 11
I know your apartment is small but are you really telling us you only have ONE junk drawer? I have at least one junk drawer in every room and one room that is a junk room.
Funny to be reading this now as I do the same as you to get away from the computer and I'm also trying to clear out junk from everywhere. It was the bathroom today...empty tubes, containers of lotions and creams that have gone off, dozens of tampons which I no longer need, old loofahs and sponges and scrub thingys that have been replaced, broken hair combs, worn out scrunchies....gosh, the list goes on. I'm also working on the junk room on and off. Today I filed all the paperwork that has been accumulating in a messy pile. I've also thrown out a few things from my desk drawers which are full of really useful junk.
Hopefully I'll get there one day. Then I'll be able to start collecting again.
@AmbiePam (85496)
• United States
19 Sep 11
If you are like me you'll throw the keys away and then two days later remember what they were for. I have a couple of drawers I throw bills in that I've already paid, and I think if I went through them I'd throw out several. Some are probably over a year old. And by the way, it's about time you came back to Mylot. We've missed you! Annabelle says hi by the way. I still miss my dearly departed Sherlock, but Annabelle is a big comfort.
@Loverbear (4918)
• United States
19 Sep 11
Uhh, you sound like me and my "junk" house. I learned not to throw anything out because sure as shootin when I did I would need it again! Now my house is solid with bear making stuff and jewelry making supplies. I am hoping to get through all of it one day, but there are extenuating circumstances about my getting things done.
I will bet that you also have that problem of putting something where you can find it again and it's lost forever!!! I did that with two receipt books for the jewelry end of the business. I'm still looking and I am NOT going to buy another receipt book...the two have just one or two receipts used from them.
The keys would have been great for making jewelry! The steampunk craze is hot in California and one of the big things is to use old keys in the jewelry. I guess that's why I have so much clutter, I see an artistic purpose for the stuff and won't throw it out. I remember when I was able to move from place to place with two car loads or one pick up truck of stuff. It's sure changed now.
@Nadinest1 (2016)
• Canada
19 Sep 11
We all seem to have junk drawers....and if you don't....I would love to be like you. I am constantly trying to throw out things...and keep a huge garbage bag open and throw things in it for charity all the time. I read about de-cluttering articles....but to me I still seem to have lots of stuff. Once you finished that drawer, i bet it gave you incentive to clean something else. Good for you.
