Every home likely has a junk drawer – or two! – in their kitchen, living room or office.

Today’s challenge is to eliminate your junk drawer by reallocating items and replacing the space with a utility drawer.

Here’s how to do it:

Grab your current junk drawer and pull it out, emptying everything possible onto a flat surface. For this I like to set up my ironing board and lay everything out grouping by category.

First category is office stuff:

• pens and sharpies
• tape
• rubber bands
• paper clips
• misc cords
• scissors

These can easily go into your desk or office space. For now, just move “office stuff” to your office space.

Second category is tools:

• glues
• paint supplies
• screwdrivers and other tools
• measuring tape
• box cutter

If you don’t already have a central spot for tools, you can build one with a few boxes. In a previous home I had a dedicated space in my garage for tools. In my current home there are a few shelves in my laundry room.

For now group these items together and you might be surprised at how many duplicates you find.

Third category is general household. These might include:

• scissors
• light bulbs
• batteries
• power cords / chargers
• gum or mints
• chapstick
• hand sanitizer

These are the items which are best for a utility drawer, things that you might need regularly but don’t need their own dedicated space.

In a utility drawer I start by vacuuming out all the dirt and dust and then deciding what needs to go in. I’ll use small boxes and baskets to contain items and play around with it like an adult game of Tetris.

Also, these boxes don’t need to be pricy acrylic versions (does anyone else cringe seeing someone spend $200 on boxes for a closed drawer?!), you can literally make them from Amazon boxes and cut up cereal boxes. Especially if you need to test out how things fit before committing to any purchases.

You may also find good options at the Dollar Store where they sell 3 for $1 in a variety of colors.

When you train your family that tools are kept in the tool spot, office supplies are in the office and general items are in the utility drawer it can be easier to keep things organized. These categories will differ for each household, so do what works for you and then be consistent putting items back when you’re done with them.