I Was Thinking... The Junk Drawer

No matter what kind of home you live in, almost everyone has a junk drawer. It is a place to put something you don’t know quite what to do with but is too good to throw out. The rest of the house may be immaculate and well organized but there is that one drawer that is a conglomeration of different items. Some things may be related like paper clips, thumb tacks, and staples but it may also have two screws, a nail, a used lip balm, and one die.

On our farm, there were different things in the two junk drawers in the kitchen. One had paper, pencils, (most with no erasers) pens that seldom worked, pieces of string, a pair of dull scissors, an open box of cough drops, some broken crayons, a half-gone spool of thread, some marbles and a couple of random keys.

The larger drawer might have some canning jar lids, a couple of pliers, a small hammer, some spent shot gun shells, a screwdriver with no handle, a spool of wire, some dead batteries, a hook to husk corn, a small pully, a hunting knife and mismatched laces for work boots.

But was our family unique or does everyone have a hotchpotch of materials in their drawer?

I have polled my readers to see what unusual items they found in their drawers. I thank all those that responded and reported the regular and strange items they found and promised not to divulge who had what.

Junk drawers seem to attract some similar things no matter who you are. An odd assortment of staplers, a paper punch, small screw drivers, writing instruments, rubber bands, a flashlight, paper clips, batteries and note pads are usual items.

Not quite so common are a mixture of nuts and bolts, string tied together with string, glue, a clothes pin, a tube of “goo gone,” a utility knife, a golf tee and some long twist ties.

But some people have more diverse collections. Someone admitted having electrical cords to appliances but didn’t know what they fit. Someone else found a compass, razor blades, picture hangers, a propane lighter, an air freshener, ear plugs and a tube of roof cement. Another person found an old Covid vaccination card.

One contributor admitting having more than one junk drawer. I have a feeling one or more were hidden from their spouse. These people seem to have more difficulties throwing anything away. One of their drawers contained a tire gauge, a sponge paint brush, a magnifying glass, several electrical adaptors, a plastic container for film, a plastic coin purse, a rain gauge and a shoehorn.

Some things just hang around for no particular reason. Another drawer contained an old power ball ticket, unused rebate forms, a church bulletin, miscellaneous receipts, old ticket stubs, a sports program, a map, old snap shots and scraps of paper with notations.

But some drawers are depositories of more than the usual junk. These are the drawers that aren’t opened on a regular basis and contain things that mean something and aren’t meant to be thrown out. Things listed by several people included: vintage baseball cards, collector postage stamps, ticket stubs from a special date, a pair of batting gloves, an advertising booklet for a car once owned, a small trophy, a picture of an old girlfriend, and a high school baseball cap. One of the most unique items was a needle for a record player. But one man found a wire item that was round at one end, had a longer shaft and a hook on the other end. The problem was, he had no idea what it was.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions will be to continue to downsize and maybe even clean out one of the junk drawers. But even though some things can be disposed of easily, everyone still needs some place to dump that item that is still too good to throw.

Did You Ever Wonder? — Why are delicate eggs packed in flimsy paper cartons, but batteries are secured in plastics structures you can’t break open?