Ask Lemmy

That's essentially the "overflow" drawer. The only solution is to have less stuff... Or just live with it like i do lol

Ah yes, the "junk" drawer. I have three! :-)

Definitely got one of those.

The misc tools drawer? I have one that's overflowing. My parents have multiple drawers and cabinets of this.

Yes, I have a drawer like that. And yes, every family has this drawer.

This is not a junk drawer. A junk drawer has flashlights, pocket knife, some tools, tape, bandaids, pens. This drawer doesn't have anything like that.

This is the food prep drawer.

I have three food utensil drawers. Dining, serving, and prep.

If you have a small kitchen, maybe you would combine serve and prep utensils into one drawer.

Can opener, cheese grater, scale, rolling pin, whisks, mixer parts, and cooking knives, all go into drawer. But like the bread knife and cake knife go into serve drawer, along with ladels, and serving spoons, for example.

Sorry OP, we've got two in our home.

Yes, I have the where-does-this-thing-go drawer, for food prep items that don't fit elsewhere, and also the junk drawer which includes things like

• Lighter
• Weird long plyers
• Twine
• Self-fusing rubber tape
• Random rubber bands
• Twist ties that came with electronics
• A random assortment of sharpies in various states of abuse
• A weird scissor thing with a blade at 90° to a flat piece of steel
• Random Lego pieces
• Batteries that are good but not in packaging
• Hearing aid batteries (noone in our house has hearing aids)
• A single 12"x18" piece of Scotch Brite
• Matches
• A pencil with the tip broken off
• A pair of 1/2" Cast iron pipe 90° fittings
• A key for a car that nobody can ID
• The manual for the microwave
• A bunch of pennies
• ~~Coupons for McRibs that are expired~~ gone thanks for this thread
• ~~Our home insurance policy~~ nope, 3y out of date
• A replacement impeller for the fish tank
• An iPod charger (FireWire)
• An iPhone charger (usb)
• 2 sets of analog headphones
• A dishwasher cleaning tablet

So...there you go.

Team junk drawer. Where else do you keep your used batteries?

3d printed some Gridfinity stuff and fixed a couple of these drawers. The rest are under way.

Every family has that drawer

Every family... I have TWO of them

Families only have one drawer like this?? How do they manage?

every family has this drawer. We have this drawer. The solution to having this drawer is having this drawer.

The only surprise is that your family didn't have this drawer, apparently?

I had way too many of these drawers 🫠

I honestly have multiple drawers like it.

my family has had 2 of these since the 90s and now i have 2 of my own.

Your wife is correct.

At least one. Usually more.

Of course, the junk drawer.

I don't think I've ever been in a home without one.

Yes, every family has this drawer, and every family also has a member who despises this drawer and fruitlessly reorganizes, labels and makes it easy for everyone else but it takes one load of dishes and…

What were we talking about again. Oh yeah, that’s normal.

Empty the drawer into a box. Whenever you use a box item, it goes into a drawer. After a year, donate the box

Wife's right. This is an example of the pareto principle. 80% of your shit fits in 20% of the categories needed to properly organize your shit. 80% of the needed categories account for only 20% of your shit. 20% of your shit (and 80% of the needed categories) are in that drawer.

Of course I have that drawer. Why do you need a solution? What's the problem?

Yep, have one. Its perfectly organised, because those things always go back in that drawer so that's just where they go.

Of course, everyone has this drawer. It's called a junk drawer. Where else would you put this crap. What planet are you living on?

Attempt at organizing said drawer of ours

You guys can open THE drawer?!

Yep, we have that drawer. Ours is much larger and much more full. My wife loves baking, which accounts for a lot of it - there's about 5 pie servers in there, for example, along with various spatulas of many sizes. There are also three ice cream scoops so the odds are good I'll have at least one that is clean when I need it. Lemon zester, spoons, all kinds of baking and cooking-related stuff. The rubber things you use to get stubborn jars open. I can't even think of what else is in there, but there's a lot.

This is separate from the drawer that has rarely-used knives (we have a knife block for the commonly used knives), cake decorating materials, and similar stuff.

And both of those are separate from the designated "junk drawer" that has random stuff like box cutters, can coozies, gift cards, coupons, etc.

My wife has serious ADHD, this is every drawer.

When my daughter was 4, she named it the “Don’t know where go drawer” and that’s how we’ve referred to it since.

I also have a man drawer.

Our catch-all drawer has screwdrivers, pliers and enough other tools to rebuild an engine, plus office supplies.

Aaaah, the "As seen on TV"+drawer! Yes we have that one.

I do not have that drawer. Mine is at least twice as full.

Sorry to say, your wife is right. Sorry to say, even if she is wrong she is right.

Yes, and as others have mentioned, the scale sits on the counter since it's delicate.

I have no drawers that are not this drawer.

Every single organization system will fail. When we try to put things into categories, there will always be some things that don't fit. That is why every organization scheme needs a miscellaneous category. That seems to be the purpose of this drawer, and that's great.