The Junk Drawer Challenge

trailhugger

trailhugger

Human Resources
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Joined
Mar 19, 2005
Location
Raleigh
We all have one... a junk drawer, or three, usually in the kitchen. My youngest brother recently celebrated buying a house and getting to choose the location of the junk drawer himself. :lol:

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This one frequently won't open because stuff gets jumbled, especially when the kids go looking for markers or a screw driver. In the name of fall cleaning, I decided to tackle it. It contained, among other things, 4 5 BIC lighters, 5.5 screw drivers (bc that Kobalt ratcheting POS doesn't really count), a bullet level, a stud finder, two digital tire gauges, 3 head lamps, a flashlight, 3 4 razor knives, all the Sharpies, and a fistful of collar stays. šŸ˜³

Post yours up and then throw your :poop: away!
 
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Ron said:
Do I see a roll of 35mm film?
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Yes. It's B/W and most definitely dates back to Architecture school... which means it has moved with us at least five times. :rolleyes:

See what I mean about the :poop: we don't need? I doubt that roll of film is holding us back but still...

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Ā”Mas mejor!
 
willness33 said:
I cant open 1 of the 2 so I refuse to participate. Wife decided my junk drawer needed bins. They are the cause of it getting stuck, not the actual junk. The one with the bins is mine, the one without is hers.
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Not to salt the wound, but you'll have time and she'll be at work, so...

:beer:
 
trailhugger said:
Yes. It's B/W and most definitely dates back to Architecture school... which means it has moved with us at least five times. :rolleyes:

See what I mean about the :poop: we don't need? I doubt that roll of film is holding us back but still...

View attachment 356546

Ā”Mas mejor!
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Was going to say ā€¦I remember when yā€™all bought the place and you certainly had moved digi way before
 
trailhugger said:
which means it has moved with us at least five times. :rolleyes:
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Our junk drawer mainly consists of loose nails, screws, markers and batteries.

But if we're talking about stuff making moves...two walls of my garage are still stacked with boxes of stuff that were packed up when the wife and I moved out of mommy an daddy's. That's 12 years ago, and 7 moves...and we've lived in the current house for 4.5 years. About every 6 months I threaten to get a dumpster, then we decide to go through the boxes 'this weekend'...we make it through a box, maybe two. At this point though, I think we're down to 'memories' boxes...ya know the broken Hotwheels from when you were 7 and thousands of out of focus, crappy pics of BFF's that you haven't spoken to since high school, and crap our parents didn't want that they just knew great aunt Priscilla, twice removed, absolutely wanted us to have. Edit...there's also some 'rustic chique' stuff we purchased early on, which basically translates to, we were too broke to afford nice stuff.
 
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I get it. Our parents saved all our old toys for our kids. I get a group text from my mom about once a week about toys, exercise equipment, gaming systems, and all sorts of furniture either from childless friends who are downsizing or that we don't even remember the grandparents having. I'm always grateful when something is damaged from being in the attic or otherwise easy to turn down. I have a relative who is storing the belongings of children who moved across the country a decade ago (they did ask her to hold onto it). Even if it still fit, they almost definitely don't need or want any of it. Even stuff with actual sentimental value* is weighing you down. Get that dumpster and toss it. It affects your mental health and ain't nobody got time for that.

*Car parts probably don't count.

:lol:
 
mbalbritton said:
I had a 110 roll for a long time that I kept threatening to develop. I found it above the door in the exposed frame work of the closet in the garage. Left by the previous owner.

I was very curious but at the same time, scared to know what was on it.
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That Tmax is almost definitely thesis project-related photos.
 
When we emptied the house after it flooded I realized I had several dozen m-80s and snap poppers( the big ones the size of m-80s). Miranda asked what they were for and I told her it was for the neighbors/ neighbors dogs when they shit in my yard. Also a lot of batteries
 
We have a ton of stuff to 'go through' from our poorer college years, craft ideas that didn't turn into hobbies, and just in case. I've helped go through the possessions of relatives and even the relatives of good friends. When we bought our house six years ago, we inherited 50+ years of the previous (original) owners' crap the family left in the attic, basement, and two sheds.

Baby girl just pointed out the next drawer to tackle. :laughing:

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Wife just went through ours about a month ago. Yep, in the kitchen, the scriptural location.
Basically, about aveyr 3-4 years it hits critical mass, where we can't open it or I get so frustrated trying to find "that one thing I just know is in here somewhere" one of us hust says "ok it's time... now." and it gets emtpied out, 85% either properly filed/organized or thrown away. Then withi na month it starts to get messy again, and just acculumates until the next critical mass event.

We ended up getting a bin system in one drawer just for batteries. Its seems an increasing number of things are either coin cells, none of ehich are ever exactly teh same, or 18650s or 16650s (which are annoyingly close) etc.
 
We have four. Four separate junk drawers. Full of batteries, misc picture hangers, nails, my wifeā€™s tools(all pink) and cords for chargers etc.

I hate it. Plus side is she is currently going through de-cluttering so hopefully we can morph down to oneā€¦
 
The junk drawer in my house happens to be a basket on the shelf above my washing machine. It's just me, my dad, his lady friend(s) and occasionally a guest that ever wash clothes in my house. Anything that gets left in a pocket gets put in it. Whether it's picked out prior to washing or the machine finds it for us.

It's entertaining at times.
I literally just emptied the damn thing too, but normally it's lighters, change, dollar bills $1-100, uncountable selection of pocket knifes, flattened coins found on RR tracks, zip screws, candy, receipts, 2032 batteries, .22LR rounds, safety pins, poker coins, 6-10mm sockets, spark plug gap tool, nails, wire nuts, fingernail clippers, caps/lids to who knows what, tooth picks, drill bits and pecans.
 
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YJJPWrangler said:
Cords for chargers etc.
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Oh yeah...We have a separate bin just for power plugs.
I don't mean usb chargers and cables. A tangled mass of wall wart AC/DC converters that all have different plugs on the end, different voltages, amps etc.

Every once in a blue moon I'll find some old thing that's missing the plug, and actually find a matching mate in the bin. When that happens I feel like the planets have aligned and I have managed some kind of rare magical feat that should be on the news.

IMO one of the most magical things to happen in the works of electronic gizmos is so many things switching to USB plugs for charging.
 
RatLabGuy said:
Oh yeah...We have a separate bin just for power plugs.
I don't mean usb chargers and cables. A tangled mass of wall wart AC/DC converters that all have different plugs on the end, different voltages, amps etc.
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Same. My wife did not understand the importance of all the old chargers and DC power supplies until she needed one. The bin got moved to the shop but she stopped asking me to throw them all away.
 
We have 2 in the kitchen, some tools, some screws and such, batteries and the WHY trap bait packs.

I have a 4 drawer filing cabinet in the shop full of nuts and bolts and such, had it since my days as a tech. I call it the Magic Bolt Box, if you dig enough youā€™ll find what you need.

In one of the 2 Snapon tool boxes, I have a box width drawer full of more fasteners and such, another with cables, chargers, plugs and assorted stuff.

I usually can find what I need without a trip to town.
 
We have two junk drawers in the kitchen plus 5 cloth cubbie baskets or whatever in the mudroom. The cubbies started out organized, but the longer we live in this house the more random they become. My wife is great about keeping the house clean, but when she gets a wild hair across her ass or people are coming over she does a big "sweep" and all the little odds and ends that me and the kids have left around get randomly stuffed in drawers and cubbies. That's were 90% of our junk drawer material comes from lol.
 
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