Junk Drawer

I'll bet almost everyone has a junk drawer somewhere in the house.  Mine is in the kitchen but I see no reason yours couldn't be in the bedroom or the bathroom.  Maybe it's not an actual drawer but a closet shelf or the top of the frig.  The principle is the same.

The junk drawer, wherever it may be, reveals a lot about us: what we save, what we forgot we saved, what broke but can't be thrown out, what we can't find any other place for, how thrifty we are, even how optimistic or pessimistic we are.  The optimist saves things knowing deep in her heart that she will be glad she did so; the pessimist saves the same things, knowing deep in her heart that if she throws it out, she will regret it within the week.  How nice that, for once, optimists and pessimists can agree on at least part of something!

In a typical junk drawer, people stash: frequently used tools and things, like scissors, bag clips, twist ties, magnets, letter openers, pens and tape. Most small objects, such as safety pins, thumbtacks and toothpicks, things that might get lost in the big wide world, get rescued into the junk drawer.  Mine is also home to receipts, shoelaces, stray items of plastic cutlery, a few straws, post-it notes, felt pads for cupboard doors, a stapler, decks of playing cards, scraps of paper with phone numbers not attached to any names, and corners of envelopes with addresses that I'm sure I will organize someday soon.

Were I to tackle cleaning it out, I know I'd be delighted at some discoveries, amazed at others, and likely feel pretty foolish when I realize what I all thought worth keeping.  And isn't cleaning out the junk drawer one of the tasks we dread most and put off more frequently than any other?  It certainly is in my house.

When I actually do achieve some order in my junk  drawer, I know three things will happen.  I'll agonize about choices: am I choosing new homes for some of the items I find or will I actually throw some things into the garbage!?  After enough vacillating and after too many items are returned to the drawer, I'll grow uneasy, wondering if my OCD tendencies, those intense desires to keep everything, are within the range of normal, or do I need professional help?  Is my inability to make these simple decisions a sign of declining mental health, or just a normal human response?

And the third thing, you ask?  Within 24 hours, the squire, in search of that particular doodad that he knows is in there, will be upset that I tossed something so important.  And in his rummaging search for that critical item, the whole drawer will be a mess again within five minutes!

Hmm, maybe I'd stand a better chance cleaning out my purse .... God help me!