Does chaos reign in your junk drawer? Time to get it sorted
Marie Kondo would have a field day if she encountered Joanna Davis’ junk drawer. She gets some tidying tips from the experts.
It’s time for an honest inventory of my junk drawer. Admit it, you have one too. Contents of my kitchen junk drawer include: A round purse mirror, two mice (is that the plural?) for a laptop, which don’t work but possibly only because the AA batteries are flat. Seven AA batteries, unclear whether they are new or used. An old iPhone, probably a 3 or 4, several iPhone cases, for unknown models.
Also: $9 worth of Australian coins, some printed photos from 2020. A headlamp that I bought online and can’t find the right size battery for, two unopened knock-off N95 masks. A blank Mother’s Day card that I bought myself, for myself, and neglected to give myself.
What would Marie Kondo say?
In her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organising, she says: ‘‘I recommend you dispose of anything that does not fall into one of three categories: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely.’’
Well, clearly, ‘‘must be kept indefinitely’’ is the correct designation for broken hair ties, keys that fit unknown keyholes, and a miniature felted sloth of indeterminate purpose.
I fear Kondo would despair. None of this crap sparks joy. And yet, I can’t bring myself to get rid of it. I sought solace in professional advice.
This is not hoarding, says Wellington clinical psychologist Annie Talbot. She says she likes to think of the junk drawer as a ‘‘defender drawer, a waiting place in between or a bridge to somewhere’’. That is provided we ‘‘use it wisely and engage with it’’.
‘‘However, what we often do is mindlessly use it: Stuff it full of all the junk, feel shamed by its presence and then only when it’s so stuffed full it pops out like an unexpected jack-in-the-box do we re-arrange it, pushed by guilt and shame and with high unrelenting standards.’’
It’s a never-ending cycle.
But we can break it by using it ‘‘intentionally, with curiosity and with openness’’ about what it does for us.