We have four drawers in our kitchen. I don’t know if this is an average number of drawers for a kitchen as I’ve never really looked at other peoples kitchen drawers. I suppose some kitchens would have more drawers depending on the size of the kitchen, but I really can’t imagine having less than the four we have. Each drawer has a specific purpose and items that go in that drawer. God forbid the person who puts something in the wrong drawer.
One of the drawers is for the kitchen towels, dishcloths and hot pads and there is definitely a specific order, hot pads in back, two rows of towels and the wash rags on the side. Another drawer contains the silverware and small utensils, like the ice cream scoop, the lemon press, the measuring cups, some small spatulas and small tongs. The third drawer contains the larger utensils, the soup ladle, the mash potato masher the grill tongs and also the knives which are contained in their own special holder.
The fourth drawer is known by everybody in the house as “the junk drawer.” It seems to be the drawer that everybody throws stuff into if they don’t know where it goes in the house or if the item doesn’t already have a specific place to be put. I once mentioned to my wife that perhaps if we cleaned out the “junk drawer” we could get rid of the “junk drawer” and then use that drawer for something else. She responded that everybody has a “junk drawer.” I casually pointed out that we did not have a “junk drawer” when I was growing up, that everything had a place and everybody knew where things were without having such a drawer. My wife did not respond to that comment, instead I received a look that told me I should not bring up the idea of cleaning out the “junk drawer” again, and perhaps it would be best if I not mention what we did or did not do when I was growing up. Since that short discussion I’ve tolerated the “junk drawer.”
The other day I was rummaging around the “junk drawer” as this is the only way to actually find something in the drawer. For what I was looking for, now I can’t even remember, but I decided to take an inventory of the drawer, and I must say I was quite surprised how much stuff is crammed into this drawer. So much stuff that occasionally the drawer will be difficult to close, or even worse difficult to open as something has gotten pushed up and jammed the drawer from opening.
There are two main containers that hold the majority of the items. The first one is a small plastic container that holds tape. We have scotch tape, masking tape, electrical tape, duct tape, double sided tape, packaging tape, packaging tape on a roll that has a perforated edge to cut the tape and black athletic tape, which I think is from when my son was playing lacrosse and he was taping his sticks. Like a lot of items in the “junk drawer” the black athletic tape was probably purchased for a specific one-time use, but now is not really needed and was never thrown away.
The other container is a metal type tray with many small compartments holding an odd assortment of items. There’s safety pins, staples, clothes pins, paper clips, gorilla glue, a utility knife, rubber bands, metal hooks for hanging pictures, plastic hooks for hanging I don’t know what, a bottle opener, a potato chip bag clip, krazy glue, a small candle, a small measuring tape, a bag full of washers and many, many screws and nails of various sizes. This is not a complete listing of items in the metal tray but it is an exhausting one.
Behind the containers and crammed in between the containers are other items such as a kitchen lighter, a lint brush, a lid for the dog food once its been opened, a letter opener, 3 packs of playing cards and a plastic bag containing small birthday candles and a number 8 birthday candle. My son is now 16 years old and I can only surmise that this number 8 candle was from his 8th birthday party and somehow this candle and the other birthday candles were saved and no realizes they’re crammed in the back of the drawer. I didn’t realize they were back there until just now.
In the front of these containers are probably the only two items anybody really opens the “junk drawer” for, the envelope containing the coupons for grocery shopping and the batteries. We have a half open package of 9 volt batteries, for the smoke alarms, and a half open package of triple A batteries. Each package started off as a 12 pack, so there are about 6 batteries in each package. We also have a sandwich bag containing some other loose batteries. A couple of D size, one C size and 3 or 4 double A batteries. Of course you never really need 1 or 2 of the C or D size, you always need like 4 or 5, so these have probably been in there for god knows how long.
Like I said before, the only items that are used regularly out of the “junk drawer” are the coupons and the batteries. I’m sure most of the other items could be found a home some where else in the house, probably in the tool box or in the drawer of the work bench in the basement.
I suddenly realized that the drawer in my work bench in the basement is much larger than the kitchen drawer and would hold at least three times as much junk as what’s currently in the “junk drawer” so maybe its not a good idea to suggest a cleaning out and re-purposing of the “junk drawer.” After all, according to my wife “everybody has a junk drawer” and sometimes its just best to leave well enough alone.
Thought for the day:
Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die tomorrow
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