Junk Drawers and Their Hidden Agendas: Do They Really Serve a Purpose?

Ahhh, junk drawers. The very foundation of drawers. We all have them. Whether you live in an apartment, a house, or even a trailer, junk drawers exist. They’re like the skeletons in our closet; we don’t want people to look in them, but end up becoming such a part of our lives, we just can’t let go.

My junk drawer is full of the usual suspects: pens, tape, lighters, headphones, business cards, manuals to electronics I don’t even own anymore. It seems like this “handy drawer” serves a purpose, as we all need these items at some point. Whether it is everyday, tomorrow, a week from now, junk drawers certainly do come in handy. But are they worth keeping? Is it beneficial to us? Is having a multitude of options of stuff really worth it? I liken junk drawers to life, in the very way that someone may SEEM to have their shit together, but then they actually DO NOT.

The skeletons in our closet, they always come out, don’t they?

The clutter in our life, it eventually slows us down.

Too much of one thing, can become a bad thing.

The junk in our drawers, it adds up.

Hear me out, junk drawer fans. Yes, they can absolutely be beneficial and again, we all have them. But, where does it end? Do you have a junk “clothes” drawer? Does one drawer in the kitchen hold all of your plastic bags? Guilty and guilty. I can’t imagine what everyone’s bathroom looks like. I’ve been bald for years now, what the fuck am I doing with shampoo? Do you save almost anything, at random, and while putting it away say to yourself, “I don’t really want to throw this away, but I also don’t want to look at it ever again.” Lock me up and throw away the key on this one.

In researching for this article (LOL researching junk drawers) around my condo, I realized I don’t need almost anything that I save. I have so many funeral home or insurance company pens saved, you’d think I was their salesman. I keep notepads upon notepads saved, you’d think I was an employee of Dunder Mifflin (points if you get that reference). I just have so much… stuff.

Stuff, that at the end of the day, I have no use for.

Now, what else are drawers for, you ask? I agree, they are there for a reason. To hold. To conceal. To carry. To be easily obtainable. All of our household inventory is to be kept in drawers, never to be seen. Which is great, until it becomes too much. Next thing you know, that one drawer turns into two drawers. And then a closet (or two). Before you know it, there’s junk monsters under the bed. I know this from experience.

In trying to find myself and find what truly makes me happy in life, I need to declutter. I need to minimize. I need to ask myself some tough questions and face the reality, that what I’m holding onto in a physical sense, is just stuff. I don’t need 40 pens sitting in a drawer. I don’t need need chargers of phones that won’t work with mine. I don’t need three separate staplers. I don’t need multiple junk drawers. Just one. One is all we should need in this world. One car. One room. One love. One.

It’s amazing how, when you limit your options in life, the stress goes away and you live life doing things that actually bring you happiness.

Some people look at things in terms of two. For backup, they say. Hoarding, I say. Greed. Fear. Junk drawers can tell me a lot about someone. The more junk drawers they have, the more likely they are to hang onto something, or someone. The more likely they are to value the little things in life. And of course, the more likely they are to hide.

We shouldn’t be afraid to let go. After all, the only way to move forward in life is to do that very thing: move forward. Don’t look back. Don’t save unnecessarily. Sometimes, keeping those memories or reminders can become a hindrance, holding us back from what we really want to do in life. Junk drawers, I tell ya.

Imagine having such a simplistic and stress free life. One that consists of not hiding things throughout your place of residence. Imagine a clean, open space, to beholden a clear mind, body and soul. Now, imagine having just one junk drawer. A simple life, indeed.