Currently in our junk drawer (we actually have 2, ha!). The one has some miscellaneous electrical stuff (tape, caps, etc), a dog birthday hat, dog leashes, some screws, our camera, a screw driver with both ends, a tape measure, Basically, it's a catch all for everything I've recently used and haven't put away. I think our spare keys are in there, too. The other we have pens, important mail, ruler, stamps, checkbooks, etc. Basically it's the "desk" version on the junk drawer. Every place I've ever moved, one of the first things I do is designate a junk drawer. We've just always had one.

In the midst of kitchen reno, one drawer became the catch-all for the miscellaneous stuff the contractor left for me (extra drawer bumpers, extra cabinet pulls, installation instructions/applicance manuals, shelf clips, etc). I haven't yet cleaned it out and it has acquired new odds and ends. I am determined to find a different home for most of the contents so the drawer can assume it's original purpose -- if I remember what that was :)

I will lose my junk drawer in the reno. :/ I guess I will move everything to a plastic bin in one of my hall closets, which will be a hassle. What's in there? Oh my, a plethora of things. Let's see:

pens

pecils

markers

ruler

measuring tape

paper clips

hand warmer

rubber bands

magnets

scissors of various sizes

clothes pins

note paper

outdoor temperature gauge

glue stick

screwdrivers in various sizes

wiffle ball

old batteries

medical tape

various key chains

candle

pliers

flashlight

calculator

metal case with pics of hubbies siblings

car coasters

plastic suction cups

miniature dice

crayon

plug adapters

golf ball

set of some sort of tools I have no idea

metal file

twist ties

more tools

lighter

packet of bulb grease

small paint brush

and several items of unknown origin (at least to me = man things)

@Beth Thats not a junk drawer.. that's a survival drawer...lol

Ooh, my pet peeve! I am determined to NOT have a junk drawer in my kitchen. I hate them! I have drawers in my pantry for just this sort of thing. Yet I open the corner drawer in my kitchen, which is NOT a junk drawer...and find junk. Grrrrrr.

My mom (see above, she likes a junk drawer) was in the hospital last week. She's 88 and got dehydrated, it was scary. She's doing better now but nothing in the house got done. I'd much rather have junk in my not junk drawer than the alternative, which would be not having her here putting junk in there.

Huge junk drawer planned to hold bag clips, pens, pencils, small tools, paper clips, scissors, post it notes, tape measure, dh's junk, etc. Found the old magnets for the child locks when I was cleaning out the kitchen - the oldest "child" is 17!

Eric, lol! You're right. That's what almost 29 years in the same house will get ya. ;)

As part of my remodel I want the junk drawer to move from the kitchen to the breakfast room. I took out a desk and converted it to counter and 3 deep drawers and a cabinet, so it's now my coffee station. The junk drawer that I took out is still sitting sitting in the breakfast room waiting for a new home. Actually, confession... there was more than one junk drawer in that desk. I had 3 side drawers and 2 small shallow drawers all filled with... Junk. So I'm not sure yet where all that stuff is going to live. I think I need a small stand alone desk to go in the corner of the breakfast room. And I need to do some purging.

I had planned a small shelf with basket for the junk drawer. When I moved, the things in the junk drawer at the other house was scary and I would have rather just emptied it directly into the trash can.

I forgot a lot of things in there.

I have a drawer in an antique cabinet in the LR for clerical junk--paper clips, rubber bands, labels, hole punches. I used to keep the stapler there until DGS found it, and then I started finding compressed staples all over the house.

In the kitchen junk drawer I have a convertible screwdriver, small hammer, needle-nose pliers, small jars with screws, nails, nuts and bolts. Ziploc bags with cup hooks, super glue/adhesive tubes, small rolls and bits of wire, spools of different kinds of string, package of sticky-tacky putty (which I think has hardened and needs to be jettisoned). Next drawer down, I have candles, matches, and lighters for electrical emergencies. Below that my large flashlight, and light-weight extension cords. The top drawer has a container for all the extra keys, and any part that falls off of something else--that way I can find the piece when (if) I get around to repair. Also in that drawer I keep a Ziploc bag with twist ties, which I reuse often. There is room for cell-phone chargers, but they all seem to have flown the coop.

These drawers are small, and except for the flashlight drawer, are in a stack that sits on the counter. I can't imagine not having a junk drawer in the kitchen--however, as with my cluttered counters, I'm not posting a picture. ;)

Hubby has a way of creating a junk drawer no matter what I want LOL, so I had to plan for one. I did not want to put up with it in the kitchen any longer, so we added 30” base and wall cabinets to a corner in the mud room, between kitchen and garage. Purpose: junk drawer, mail handling, dog feeding station.

We bought Barker RTA, so it was simple to order a base cabinet a little taller than normal. It has a top drawer, and a roll out below with enough clearance for our large paper shredder. I ordered the cabinet with a flush toe-kick rather than recessed, so we added toe-kick drawer at the bottom for dog food bowls. The wall cabinet above takes care of some other items that, for some reason, did not want to stay out of old kitchen: take out menus, postage stamps, self-inking address stamp, key safe, small first aid kit.

Glad to have all of that out of the kitchen, yet still nearby.

I fight creating junk drawer after junk drawer. I have a 36" wide, base cabinet drawer with stuff. Light fixture chains, to cabinet hardware, to all kinds of stuff I cannot, at this moment remember.
I think I'm successful in not creating other junk drawers (at the moment) because other drawers are designated.
1) screw tips, nail gun nails, staples, mending plates, brackets, stuff.
2) a drawer for every kind of screw and nail I come across. Hoarder? Yup, but I use them.
3) Kitchen wooden spoons and big utensils.
4) bottle opener, cork screw, tea bags,
5) pens, pencils, note pads, tape measure,
6) every kind of tape in the Universe: drywall tape, packing tape, duct tape, drywall webbing tape, scotch tape, masking tape, (help me) painters tape...
7) screw drivers of all sorts. Handy tools I use frequently. Scrapers, putty knives, eye glass repair stuff, wrenches, hammers, (small) saws,
8) Wood shims and small pieces of wood I end up using in projects.
Anyway, each drawer has a purpose.
I still have empty drawers because I can't decide what to put in them. Don't worry. Junk is stacked neatly on the counters.

I have a junk drawer and I need a bigger one! Maybe a junk cabinet :)

I scattered my junk. Tools all live in the utility closer, either in one of the toolboxes or on the pegboard side walls. Pens, scissors, etc live in a 3 in pull out hiding behind my double angle corner cabinet (it only comes 12 in deep but is next to my single 15 in upper and I was determined not to waste those 3 in!), and odds and ends are in a small 3 drawer plastic container in the utility closet. I have a plastic tub that we keep packs of batteries in. I do still have assorted paperwork and a small basket in the shallow drawer with the Advantium trays, but it seems to be out of the way and a great place for all the manuals.

i never planned for a junk drawer, but somehow all of my top cabinet drawers end up containing junk!

Our junk drawer is the extra space around the silverware basket. It contains...

- Passports and in case of emergency credit card (please don't break in!)

- Roll of blue tape

- Tape measure and Leatherman, but they belong in there

- Extra sunglasses for that time when you're heading out and can't find the normal pair

- Pens and pencils... too many of them!

- Scissors (1), though there should be both big and small ones

- USB charger (plugs into wall outlet) + micro USB cord

Our current 'junk drawer' is a 28 X 48 barn! I can't tell you the hours I've spent looking for things while we are in transition. Once we officially move into the house, things should gradually get better.

In our old house, we had a junk drawer in the kitchen, one in our Hoosier cabinet, and I had yet another one in my dresser. I'd like to get better organized! Although I have every tool known to man in the barn, I'm going to keep a tool chest in the attached garage with basic tools for household repairs- screwdrivers, wrenches, a hammer, typical household fasteners, etc. I don't want to dash 150 feet to the barn in a rain storm when I need a screwdriver. I'm not sure where the other stuff will go yet. There will be plenty of space in the tool chest for various things, but there are always those unclassifiable things that refuse to be properly sorted. I think the one rule we will start with is no junk drawer in the kitchen. There are plenty of other places- mud room, closet, basement, furniture pieces.

I intend to be tough when we move into the house. I have boxes and boxes of stuff I haven't touched in YEARS. It needs to go. Yard sale, craigslist, ebay, Goodwill, dumpster, but it needs to go.

I had 3 junk drawers in my old kitchen - down to one teeny drawer now.

I love the term "junk drawer!". LOL. I can remember my mother calling it that probably 60 yrs ago ( yup, I am that old). I guess some things really do get passed down from generation to generation. But, if I need somewhere to put that one weird item that has no other place to call home, it goes in the junk drawer to be forgotten until I am looking for something else in there and discover that's where I put that ##!!%#' thing I looked all over for and had to go out and buy one.

We had the food equivilent of a junk drawer for dinner tonight. The Pioneer Woman's 7 Can Soup. It was great. Easy, economical and really good. Probably nutritionally a fail but you can't have everything!

It's been an up and down week. Still waiting to hear from the insurance company. We kept asking them if we needed to fill out any paperwork and they kept saying 'no.' Then on Friday they were all indignant that we hadn't filled out the required paperwork. Typical insurance company run around so far. Thank God it's been unusually dry this last week.

*googling soup*

Typical indeed Christina. Thankful also for dryer weather where you are. If you were here, you'd be in BIG trouble.

I built the his and her caves to handle the misc items. We can each fill our drawer however we want. Mine has a stapler, index cards, markers, tape measures, small tool kit, scissors, stickies, flashlight and the "thank you" box.

Growing up, mom had a small candy tin with change in it. The original box said Thank You on the top. If we needed a little change, we could snag a penny or a dime. I have one of the later tins and still keep change and possibly a few bills to use as needed.

His and her caves. Mine is on the left. The top drawer is the junk drawer. In addition, we have a place to store our bicycle helmet in the pull out shelves.

Great topic Texasgem!

Am I the only one brave enough to post a pic of what a really bad junk drawer looks like? Lol!

Romy, your junk drawer is perfectly staged just like your beautiful home. Loved your reveal!

Even Christine has her "junk" organized into separate drawers. And Christina222 that "junk" soup looks delicous!

I wonder if the junk drawer is a reflection our minds at the moment. Yup, this is what my mind feels like right now....like a bomb exploded! At least I have cabinets now (after 2+ years into DIY kitchen reno) with nice soft close drawers. Love them, but my junk drawer would not work yesterday because the scissors were catching. Aaaahhhhhh!

Monday's to do list...#1 organize the junk drawer!

rebunky - that looks like my old junk drawer(s).

Christina - i am going to google that soup also.

A2gemini - pretty nice cave.

"Growing up, mom had a small candy tin with change in it. The original box said Thank You on the top. If we needed a little change, we could snag a penny or a dime. I have one of the later tins and still keep change and possibly a few bills to use as needed."

a2, what a sweet memory/tradition. :) And I like your caves!

rebunky, that looks like our junk drawer. I quit trying to organize it, because inevitably it ends up looking like that again. :/

Pictures are fun, I'll try and do one when I get home.

I had a junk under sink cabinet! There were stacking bins that collected all the above sort of stuff-- pliers, screwdrivers, candles, flashlights, bags, cleaning supplies, tape of various kinds etc. Some of it stuff that had been used but never put back in the basement. Plus my lone drawer held not only the cutlery, silverware and utensils, but also twist ties, matches and rubber bands; and the little desk that served not much purpose there had a drawer full of miscellaneous spare parts and odds & ends that seemed like they should be held onto -- like extra foam pads for the bike helmet. Always a mess!

Now I have one 15" drawer and a narrow pullout bin under the sink. Under the sink lives my tape measure, ONE dust cloth, flashlight, an extension cord and a spool of packaging tape (which gets used to remove pet hair from stuff). In the drawer I have notepads and pens, screwdriver, scissors, batteries, another flashlight, bandaids, rubberbands and twist ties, and the pets' flea drops. I put an inexpensive freestanding cupboard at the bottom of the basement stairs for the cleaning supplies and candles. I threw out/recycled a whole bunch of stuff including most of the oddsnends that were in the desk drawer.

Now I need to do something about the "junk" shelves in the basement (really not junk -- tools and hardware-- but completely unorganized and messy!)

My problem is deciding which drawer to describe. After three years of remodeling, they all pretty much contain junk. Rebunky's drawer would be a good example.

How many of you do this? You have maybe, I don't know, a thousand pens in a drawer. You take one out, it doesn't work, you put it BACK in the drawer and get another! Repeat until you find one that works. Does anyone actually throw out a pen that no longer works?

Mine is more of a tool drawer, and I planned for it in the new kitchen (in this pic, the counters aren't even in yet). Most of my tools are in the basement workshop, but it's handy to have a few things upstairs:

Also in the kitchen I have desk drawers - but not a desk. One the left - phone book (yes, I still have need of this), address book, stamps, checkbook, calculator. On the right - pens, markers, scissors, tape, stapler, paper clips.

Bins help me keep my junk drawer organized. I am failing at keeping the pull out board clear- I keep tearing out recipes and hiding them there.

Also, the rest of the house is still a disaster. One step at a time.

mushcreek, so good to know I'm not alone, though I "have" gotten better about pitching. lol

Mine looks a little like rebunky's, whereas I'd like it to look like romy's and ann's! Hmm, what have I found in there? Tape measures, rulers, screw drivers, sometimes a hammer, take-out menus, small pads of paper, pens & pencils, chip clips (although I actually use the little black and silver kind you find in an office), scotch tape, packing tape, duct tape, flashlights (only one now, because I found a fabulous LED flashlight and got them for everyone last Xmas) -- and that's what I can think of offhand while at work!

We have a small junk drawer and then right above it a junk cabinet. Junk drawer contains small screwdrivers, paperclips, ruler, pens, pencils, pencil sharpener, loose change, bus passes, lots of scotchtape and various sizes of post-it-notes. The junk cabinet has the stapler, scrap notepaper and the felts for the chair feet (?), flashlight and the sticky rollers for getting cat fur off the kitchen chairs.

When it comes to getting rid of old pens, my DH does put them back into the drawer to be recycled, I throw them out because I'm pretty sure that he is never going to take apart those used pens and recycle them into all their proper bins.

The big tape measure lives on the dining room table in case I need to measure something big (currently we're planning a deck reno so I'm measuring deck stuff) and the small tape measure lives in my purse.

When we redid our kitchen I did plan a small junk area unlike the junkyard we had in our old kitchen and it's helped in keeping the junk down.

Per Eric, mine is more of a survival drawer. The "claw scissors" and pencil sharpener are in a designated location in the junk drawer and anyone who does not return them is subject to harsh penalties/punishment! I have pens (which if they don't work in 3-4 scribbles are garbage!), mini flashlight, screwdrivers (though I'm missing my 3 favourites and I think they are somewhere in the disaster of the sunroom), elastics, magnets, clips, tape (I can't find my stapler, I think it's at the computer desk in the basement that no one uses), tape measure, and a bunch of other miscellaneous items. I have a two level plastic bin thingy that holds quite a lot and allows it to be fairly organized.

Junk drawer: twine, old keys to who knows what, local restaurant menus for takeout, clips, old candy (I'm so not a sweet tooth -- this stuff is old -- I just threw it out), instruction manuals for gadgets past and present, random papers, cleaning wipes, the missing meat thermometer (thank you for making me look)!