Day 18: The Kitchen - Junk Drawer/Junk Counter

Everyone has a junk drawer.  If not for the junk drawer, where would you keep all of your pens, paper and loose change? 

When I moved into my house, the drawer under the phone outlet was the only drawer near the oven.  So, for me, it made the most sense to keep my oven mitts there.  It's a pretty big drawer, which my mom suggested that I make into a whole "baking station," pointing out the useless drawer in the laundry room around the corner for the junk drawer. 

And so it was.  My junk drawer has been in my laundry room ever since.

Before - The junk drawer.

After - I rotated the junk-organizer 90 degrees so we could access everything easier.

The problem with this amazing idea is that the phone counter ended up naturally collecting clutter.  I tried organizing it for years, but it was constantly a family dumping zone. 

Then last fall, I resolved to spend less time on the computer, which resulted in creating a space in the kitchen for our laptop. (so I could have easy access to recipes at mealtime without going up to the office and getting lost in my emails for an hour)

For the most part, this counter stays clean, but sometimes, it looks like this...

Before - The command center/old junk counter - it's not supposed to collect clutter anymore!

And I need to take a few minutes to make it look like this again...(sorry for the shadows)

After - Ahhh, much better.  This is how it should look.

One of the biggest reasons it stays neater now is that my purse has a new home in the back hall coat closet.  After five years of living in this house, I finally like this system the best!!!

The dumping station in our back closet. (picture taken in December, hence the Christmas cards...)

So go get started on today's assignment for the "31 Days to Clean" Spring Cleaning Challenge.  If you take before or after pictures and post them on your blog, be sure to link up below!