During my recent errand of mercy to Phoenix, my daughter streamed some episodes of the dark and frequently hilarious television show “Speechless.” The program focuses on the DiMeos, a working-class family that moved to a dump of a home in a good school district. The goal was for oldest son JJ, who has cerebral palsy, to get the education and services to which he’s entitled.
Money is short and the family is overwhelmed by just the activities of daily living so, yeah, the house remains a dump. In fact, it gets even dumpier because of their casual attitude about home upkeep. (Hint: A blue tarp over part of the roof is not a fashion statement.)
In one episode, JJ’s personal care attendant sings a song* about the DiMeo lifestyle, to the tune of “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).” Among other things, he notes that while most homes have one junk drawer, the DiMeos have multiples. In fact, pretty much all the drawers – like their house – is full of miscellany.
Which got me to thinking about the junk drawer in my Seattle apartment. It held stuff like safety pins, key rings (ever notice how those things accumulate?), USB cords (ditto), bits of ribbon, a clutch of shoelaces (which I saved when I tossed worn-out shoes), rubber bands and a tube of powdered graphite to squirt into balky locks (I managed the apartment house).
Tape lived there, too: Electrical tape, duct tape and a spare roll of cellophane tape. (Do people still call it that? I do.)
The junk drawer was also crammed with hardware and hand tools. A couple of former cream-cheese containers held nails, screws, bolts, brackets, washers and other bits of metal I couldn’t really identify. That’s also where I kept my six-in-one screwdriver, my hammer and the allen wrench I used on garbage disposal units – my own and those of other tenants. As apartment house manager I regularly got calls or knocks about a disposal that quit** mid-chew. Usually it just needed a few turns of the wrench.
My favorite thing about the junk drawer: It saves money.
For starters, every time the junk drawer saves you a trip to the hardware store you won’t be tempted to buy something else. Sure, those clearance bins might yield discounted faucets for an upcoming bathroom project. But you might also fall prey to the wiles of yet another unnecessary screwdriver set, or a marked-down animatronic reindeer from last Christmas.
Having the junk drawer saves you gasoline if you’re not close enough to walk to the store. And, of course, it saves you aggravation: I can’t believe I’m driving to Home Depot for two. freakin’. nails.
Junk drawer memories
The shoelaces I saved in Seattle came in handy for tying gloves and mittens together in pairs. It’s been my experience that gloves are as stealthy as socks in the laundry. One will always disappear if you’re not proactive. (I still tie them together in our winter gear crate.)
I found a hanging produce basket set at the dollar store, but it had no hardware. (Didn’t really expect it to, since I paid just a buck.) So I prospected in those cream-cheese containers and found a bracket and screws.
Somehow I’d also come into possession of a few C-hooks. One went under a cupboard, to support hands of bananas (the minimalist/frugalist version of the banana stand). I put the largest C-hook on my bedroom wall and hung my clothes-drying rack on it, to keep it out of the way.
Once I needed to repair my rabbit-fur slippers but had trouble pushing the needle through the tough sole. Since I didn’t have a thimble, I checked the junk drawer and found something that would do: half of a tiny plastic container that had once held a gumball machine prize.
And no, I didn’t pay a quarter to get it. I found the container on the floor next to the gumball machines at the supermarket. While out walking I tend to pick things up on the theory that at some point they’ll be useful; in fact, that’s how I got the electrical tape, a bungee cord and one of my other screwdrivers.
Junk drawer 2.0
The junk drawer in DF’s house is much less junky, because he’s got a well-organized workshop. If he needs a nail or a bracket he knows right where it’s stored, and he also owns a decent selection of hand and power tools. But our junk drawer still has stuff like duct tape, old washcloths (they make good cleaning rags), key rings and one of those tubes of powdered graphite. (Stuff works miracles. Do not spray WD-40 in there!)
If you can’t have a workshop, you can at least have a junk drawer. When something comes loose, you’ll be ready to tighten or reinforce it. If something needs to be hung up, you’ll have a bracket or a long nail that will work perfectly.
Even if you’re not a hardcore DIYer, hardware will come to you. Keep leftover screws or brackets from ready-to-assemble furniture. Watch for small jars full of bolts and washers at yard sales.
And any time you see a nail or screw in the road or in a parking lot, pick it up so nobody’s tire goes flat. That’s a true mitzvah – and a favor to you as well. Having that screw or nail could save you a trip to Home Depot some day.
Readers: Do you have a junk drawer – or, better yet, a junk-drawer story?
*It’s a short parody but a funny one. Watch it on YouTube. And yes, that is the fabulous British actress Minnie Driver playing the mother. I’d say to watch the show if for no other reason than her, but the fact is it’s a great ensemble cast. These folks feel like a family, and kudos to the network for hiring actor Micah Fowler, who actually has CP, vs. an actor who pretends to have it.
** Once I got a unit going again only to hear a scary clattering when I flipped the switch. Oh, man, she’s got a spoon or something down there, I thought. Nope: She had pennies down there. Six or seven of them! After squeamishly extracting the covered-with-stinky-goo specie, I said to her, “You know this isn’t a coin bank, right?” She got all indignant and blamed her cat for knocking the pennies down in there. I really don’t miss that job.
Doesn’t EVERYONE have a junk drawer? 🙂
Mine isn’t big enough to hold jars of screws – I keep those in a sectional container (that I picked up somewhere along the way) in my tool bag. My junk drawer holds key rings (those things multiply!), free sticky note pads, pens, and chap sticks that I get in race goodie bags (haven’t bought a chap stick since I started running!), a small screwdriver set from a long ago out of business hardware that was my Mothers and I refuse to part with, kitchen scissors, bread “twisty” ties (always useful!), the small square plastic bread bag holders (GREAT for holding iPhone type cords in place when you roll them up for storage), matchbooks (getting harder to find the free ones!). I try to clean mine out when it gets too full to close easily — “stuff” seems to accumulate in there quickly!
At this point, the house is a junk drawer. But I am working on it.
When you click on the YouTube parody, imagine that Kenneth is singing just for you.
Here’s mine, but if my 40 year old son reads this, I might not make it to my next birthday. I felt that keeping kids’ bedrooms clean was not the hill I wanted to die on, so I just closed the doors.
When DS was a teen, we built on an addition so he could have more privacy (actually it was mom and dad who needed more space–he snored horribly).
Things were fine for awhile, but then things started disappearing ie every screwdriver we owned, plates, silverware, extra light bulbs, batteries, towels, pens, pencils, and even dog treats. We could not buy stuff fast enough to keep any extras. My husband thought I should be tested for Alzheimers. DS moved out at age 18, so I gamely offered to help him pack. Wellllll, yep. There was more junk in his room than at the Goodwill. He admitted that if he could not find a clean plate or fork (dishwasher not run), he dived into my good china and silverware. We found 12 screwdrivers (not kidding), shoelaces, enough loose money to fund a year of his education,padlocks, cookbooks (?), glue, glitter, sprinkles for cookies, and yes, even the dog biscuits among other things. The list would fill a dictionary. He admitted to playing with the dog and found it easier to hide the biscuits than go upstairs and put them away.
Husband apologized, daughter cleaned her room and found more stuff, and I felt exonerated. I refused to enter his apartment for years.
I did get revenge, however. When he married, my DIL was a neat freak. I prefer to think of her as a good housekeeper. She keeps him honest and also keeps track of everything. I love her!! Plus now I do have a junk drawer that I guard from marauding husbands, kids, and grandkids.
The words “I told you so” probably never sounded sweeter. Exoneration!
I have to chime in here and say I’m much more prone to hang on to junk drawer type items since reading your blog. Now I tend to think in terms of opportunity to save money through quick fixes or just generally being more organized. One of my best junk drawer items is a baby comb, the small plastic kind. It works great for cleaning Velcro closures on shoes and the like. It combs out the thread and hair that always seems to get caught by the Velcro. (Gross, I know.)
Inventive! And yes, sometimes just the right whatever-it-is can be found in there.
Since my dear mom had a well supplied junk drawer, I have always had one. I have been on a purging binge, but the junk drawer is mostly off limits when it comes to purging.
Some of the stuff you purge from elsewhere just might wind up in the junk drawer. Looking at you, key rings and tape measures and bouncy balls and pieces of ribbon…
1. I love the show Speechless. 2. I have a junk drawer and junk rubbermaid box (a small one) that houses tools, tape, and a mishmosh of things that has come in very handy. Always good.
Your mentioning powdered graphite made me remember something that happened to a co-worker. We worked at a store and the front door lock was sticking a bit. She found a can of the stuff either in the junk cabinet out front or on the junk shelf in the bathroom. She took it upon herself to spray that lock. Well somehow she managed to have the nozzle facing the wrong way when she sprayed and sprayed her clothes. I still don’t know how. She ended up with huge black streaks on her white culottes she had worn to work that day! She was so mad! She ended up going home to change because she didn’t want to work looking like that!
Yikes! I’ve never seen it in a can before. I just bought a small tube of the stuff that you puff into the lock.
And that mishap sounds like something I’d do.
I have a junk drawer but there’s not much in it. Hammers, screwdrivers, nails, etc. are mostly to be found in my toolbox.
I was an apartment manager in my late twenties when I lived in a real dump, but at least I didn’t have to fix garbage disposals. We didn’t have garbage disposals. I had to move out after the maintenance crew stole what little I had of value – a small tv set, clock radio, piggy bank with 45 cents (really), half pint of rum, costume jewelry. I still don’t understand why they even bothered?!?
Frugal gift idea! I once visited a friend who moved into an apartment after a stint in temporary housing. He had no junk drawer (gasp)! I made him a joke gift of a “junk drawer starter kit”. I culled my junk drawer for all those things you mentioned–key rings, twisty ties, paper clips, pencils, scotch tape, scissors, etc. I made a “recipe card” that said something like “Put in a dark drawer and feed occasionally with loose change and bits of hardware. Very soon you’ll have a full grown junk drawer”. He loved it, and next time I was there he proudly showed my his healthy, growing junk drawer that saved him money and frustration. 😛
I. Love. This. What a great idea!
Maybe you should start selling these on Etsy? Of course, that will mean going to lots of banks and hardware stores and conferences to pick up pens, measuring tapes, paint-stirring sticks and the like…