This journey to minimalism is definitely a process – a LONG process. For years, since before I even knew there was an actual term for it, I have been incorporating minimalist principles into my life. And yet, everywhere I turn, there is unnecessary junk.

For instance, The Junk Drawer.

No, really. That’s the actual official name of this drawer in our home. It is a catch-all for whatever scraps of paper and knick-knacks are lying on the island that we don’t feel like dealing with when we are “tidying up.”

[As if hiding the mess in the drawer is actually making things tidy…]

The drawer gets so stuffed full of junk that by the time I clean it out, the drawer will barely close.

Well, I decided to take the advice I found in New Minimalism [by Fortin and Quilici] and give everything in this drawer a permanent home AND redefine my concept of “full.”

[This book is FABULOUS for the aspiring minimalist, by the way.]

Rather than viewing this drawer as full only when I can no longer cram anything else into it, the drawer should reach capacity when everything can still be easily seen and grabbed AND when it contains only the things that actually belong there.

So I took everything out and sorted it by like type and determined what we actually use frequently and want to reside in the drawer permanently. Then I put everything else where it truly belongs.

Now The Junk Drawer looks like this:

Ah. That feels much better.

I guess now I need to change the name…

Karis