The easiest way to get started with the four-box method is to gather four boxes, and with a marker, label them:
- Give Away, Recycle, or Sell: This is the box for items that work, are useable, or are functional, but that you no longer use or want.
- Move: Use this box for items that you want to keep but belong somewhere else in the home.
- Store Long Term: This is the box for items that you rarely use, such reams of paper, second monitors, duplicate printers, and similar items.
- Throw Away: Finally, this is the box for items that you find that are trash, such as dried up rubber bands, broken electronics, telephone books, and the like.
Now, locate a junk drawer in your desk, everyone has at least one of those, and get to work (hopefully you have already been through this drawer, throwing away anything that was trash, but if you haven’t, that’s OK too):
1. Pick up every item in the drawer, one at a time, hold it in your hand, and give yourself no more than 60 seconds to think about which box it should go in.
a. If you don’t use it or don’t like it, and it still works, put it in the Give Away, Recycle, or Sell box.
b. If it should be somewhere else in the home, and not in this drawer, put it in the Move box.
c. If it’s a seasonal item or something you rarely use but have to keep, put it in the Store Long Term box.
d. If it’s trash, put it in the Throw Away box.
e. If the item actually belongs in the junk drawer (scissors, tape, pens, pencils, a screwdriver, eyeglass cleaners, batteries), leave it on the counter.
2. Once the drawer is empty and you’ve gone through everything, decide how you want to replace the items that go back into the drawer. Consider these tips:
a. Purchase inexpensive drawer separators by Rubbermaid or use short, plastic Tupperware bowls or other organizers that you already have to keep things separate.
b. Spend $5.00 on a junk drawer organizer and put everything in its place. Many of these organizers even come with stickers that allow you to label where each item belongs.
c. Recycle take out containers, plastic tubs, metal tins, candy boxes, or even old jewelry boxes to organize the drawer.
d. Put the items you use most toward the front of the drawer.
e. Consider making a place in the drawer for your keys and cell phone, or, consider creating a larger, designated place by the entryway for these items and purses, briefcases, backpacks, and wallets. You’ll always know where they are. (Continued in next article in the series.)
