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Guest Post! Learning To Love Your Junk Drawer

My friend Rhiana, with whom I bonded years ago over the lethal combination of designer shoes and wedding planning.  When a friendship begins in such a manner, naturally it's going to thrive.

You can find more of Rhiana's musings over on http://kitetailsplaycenter.blogspot.com/, where she is a frequent contributor of much acclaim.  I invited her to write a post because I know she's crafty (in more of the "makes craft-type things" way than the "she gets around" way, at least for purposes of my blog...) and she and I tend to be of the same mind when it comes to organizing.  As it turns out, she ran into a common organizing conundrum, which she of course turned into a victory.  Enjoy!

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When Kristie asked me to guest blog I was ecstatic.  What you may not know is that I love, love, love me some Kristie B.    I just adore this woman and I jump at in any opportunity to be part of her amazingness.  (Yes, I just made up that word).  

So Kristie initially asked me to blog about my craft/art area since I teach art.  So that is what I started doing.  And then I realized my craft area doesn't actually functioning the way I really need it to function.  So I tore it apart and put it together again.  Still no dice.  So I am going to work on that some more and hopefully Kristie will be gracious enough to invite me back when it is finished so I can reveal that   to you.  Oh, and the moral to that story- just because it is organized doesn't make it functional.

So instead of my craft room I am going to share something else.  Something dark and personal.  My "junk" drawer.  Now I think it goes without saying that if it was truly junk it would be in the garbage so "junk" for me is that miscellaneous stuff that doesn't really have a home but you need to keep somewhere.  I have for you exhibit A:

So I used a bamboo kitchen organizer from either Williams-Sonoma or Crate and Barrel (I can't remember which) to wrangle all of my crap.  In the way back I have my label maker.  Now I don't use it every day but I use it often enough that it needs to be handy.  And if you don't have one you should go get one.  Like now.  Or after you finish reading my very, very important post.

I keep all my charging stuff in there.  All the camera and phone cords are in their own compartment.  I always know where they are and I always know where to find them.  The front left is where I keep my pens and post it notes.  The middle back is where I keep my D batteries.  Why just the D batteries you ask...?  Well, the rest of the batteries belong in the "Man Room" (which is a post for another day).  The D batteries belong in the heavy duty Mag Light flashlight that we keep in the kitchen for power outages so it makes sense that in an emergency we aren't shlepping down the dark stairs to our basement and into the dark, dark Man Room looking for extra batteries.  We also have lighters, a stapler, the camera, tape, and extra wine cork in there.  The key here is the drawer organizer.  This prevents things from sliding around every time you open and close the drawer and also prevents search and destroy missions.  When things are compartmentalized you can see things so much better. (Close your eyes, can you see everything in your "junk" drawer?  If not, go and get your drawer organizer.  And your label maker.)  A place for everything and everything in it's place.  It becomes less of a "junk" drawer and more of a miscellaneous drawer.

To recap, the organizing tips are:

* Just because it is organized doesn't mean it is functional
* Drawer organizers are indeed the best thing since sliced bread
* Get a Label maker.  It will change your life in ways you never thought possible.

Thanks again to Kristie B for letting me guest blog- she is da Bomb!  For reals yo!