Wednesday, January 17, 2018

The Junk Drawer - What's In There And What Can You Toss?


All Nice And Tidy!
    Admit it....we all have one, a Junk Drawer. That's the one that ends up catching all the odds and ends from all around the RV. Eventually, it fills up and you have to figure out what you need and what you don't. How many times have you gone searching through that drawer looking for something you KNEW was in there only to find out (after you've taken everything out and made a mess on the counter) that it wasn't there! During long (and cold!) winters in the Northeast I like to work on the inside of the RV...the furnace works great and I am hooked up to shore power so I can use electric heaters instead. This week I tackled the junk drawer. Wow, I was amazed at what had accumulated there. I found some things I have been looking for that have been missing quite a while. And I found some stuff that I wondered, "What the heck do I need to keep this for anyway?" Decisions, decisions!
The Magic "Junk" Drawer

My junk drawer, which is tiny, isn't really even a drawer. It's more like a fold out storage bin. When I first bought my RV it was a great place to store a reversible bit screwdriver. Then as time went on it became a great place to store anything and everything! Screws, nuts, bolts, stray bits and pieces from projects, pens pencils, Allen keys...you name it, it ended up in the drawer. I even have an extra winterization hose end to attach compressed air to the water system to blow it out. Why it's in there, I have no idea! I'll bet everyone out there has a similar space onboard their RVs. I've written many articles on organizing storage and using smaller plastic boxes to keep things in their place. Why don't I keep up with that advice?

A Bit Better..Still, Why Is The Air Hose Adapter In There?
Probably because I'm a pack rat at heart. I can't bear to toss a part or tool that I MAY use in the future...hey...You never know, right? I know, the first part of solving my problem is admitting I even have one. I don't believe I'm there yet. So many times the so-called junk drawer has come to my rescue (and others too!) with an odd or end that repaired some emergency or annoying problem. It's almost as if the universe is conspiring to make sure, most of the time, you find what you need in that magic drawer. Naaaahh! That's crazy. Isn't it?



For the time being, I believe I will keep tossing random stuff in there and see what happens.

Be Seeing You...Down The Road,

Rich "The Wanderman"
www.thewanderman.com

10 comments:

  1. Rich, this hit home with me. I too am a devoted "pack rat." As you noted, the once in a while reinforcement of finding just the doohickey in my drawer prevents me from getting rid of any of the items. I can't count the countless number of times my wife asked me what an item is for to which I respond with the pack rat mantra of "You never know when I might need that" which is followed by wife rolling her eyes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sure2rain,
      I've received that exact eye roll on countless occasions, just wait until you get to use a whatchamacallit to fix something and you can return the look with the "I told you so" version!

      Rich "The Wanderman"

      Delete
  2. I used to have a junk box, a plastic shoe box with no lid. One day when we were about 20 minutes into our vacation and on the interstate the front left tire blew on the truck. The 5th wheel went up on 2 wheels on one side, came back down and went up on 2 wheels on the other side. It ripped the walls from the frame, the cupboard with the junk box came open, and everything in it including every screw was all over the floor and in drawers against the slide that came open. When we put the slides out screws were caught under them. The 5th wheel was totaled. For our new 5th wheel I bought a toolbox/fishing tackle type box with a latch on it. My point is to make sure everything is confined so if you hit a big bump unexpectedly and go airborne you don't have things all over the place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cindy,
      First off, I am glad you all were OK. Secondly... Why no lid?? :)

      Rich "The Wanderman"

      Delete
  3. The same could be said for the storage area in the nose of our travel trailer. I KNOW there's stuff long lost in there, and I need to crawl in and sort it out. Same thing for the utility bed on our tow vehicle. Six doors of 'stuff', all good (well, I need to sort through all those areas too because I KNOW there's unneeded stuff in there).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MrTommy,
      I'll bet you find A LOT of stuff you can't live without when you go to organize those areas! I maybe threw away 10% of the stuff re-organized...because, hey...you never know!

      Rich "The Wanderman"

      Delete
  4. OMG Rich, you should be ashamed of yourself! Actually I don't know how you even got away with it. What I'm talking about is that little drawer that your using in front of the sink is for all the scrubbing tools & sponges that are used in the sink! LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. davtel,
      Really?!?! If you put wet stuff in there and close it, wouldn't the water run down into the cabinet. Yuck!

      Rich "The Wanderman"

      Delete
    2. Rich, well mine is all plastic with NO drain holes & designed for wet stuff. Looking at yours its also looks plastic! Actually it was the same on our old Winnebago, didn't mean to ruffle your feathers, it was ment to be humorous!

      Delete
    3. davtel,
      no feather russling at all! It is plastic and I've always thought it was a dumb design. There is way more than enough room behind it for an actual drawer! Silly.

      Rich "The Wanderman"

      Delete

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