The Junk Box - An Accessible Organization Strategy for Busy People

Do you feel overwhelmed when you think about getting organized?

Organizing a space can be hours, days, or even weeks of work. Tackling it all at once IS overwhelming. There’s a million things to do and you don’t know where to start… so you don’t start.

You’ve started many organization programs only to end up burning out within a few weeks.

And since you’re so busy, you find yourself just throwing things in random places as you rush out the door, to pick up the kids, or for your next meeting. Clutter builds up so easily.

You may have started with good intentions on organizing, but just don’t have the time to implement those strategies daily. That’s okay.

I’m here to help with a strategy I like to call the “Junk Box.”

No One’s Perfect

You see those pictures online of GORGEOUS, well-kept homes and save them to your Pinterest boards. But here’s a little secret: what you see in the photos is very often staged. The lighting was tweaked. Things were put out of sight, then added back in afterwards. The homeowners adjusted the room to actually be used once the photos were taken. That coffee cup from this morning that was still sitting out - it got moved to the sink.

NO ONE’S house is 100% perfectly organized all the time.

(Keep in mind that NO ONE’S house is 100% perfectly organized all the time. Not even the Home Edit’s houses.)

As our lives change, so do our needs and desires for our home.

So if you’re too busy or exhausted to organize every single day, that’s okay. You need an easier way. So try the junk box!

What’s the Junk Box?

The Junk Box is an idea I implemented in my home with my stepkids.

Things would often accumulate on the stairs - socks, toys, water bottles, jackets, books, random odds and ends...

Eventually, I’d get frustrated by the mess and carry the stuff back upstairs. Some days, I’d be so busy running around and working, I’d forget about the stairs until they reached a super messy point. And with kids going back and forth to mom’s house, they weren’t always here to clean up their things.

So I got a little creative - and a whole lot more flexible.

We got a plastic laundry bin that was fairly large and put it on the landing of the stairs. From then on, that bin was called the “Junk Box.”

Here’s How It Works

We told the kids that instead of placing their things on the stairs, they would now just put them in the junk box.

That kept clutter in one location - and off the steps, meaning no one would be tripping over toys anymore! And I wouldn’t be staring at a messy staircase all week.

We knew that dealing with the Junk Box daily wasn’t a great option for us, since we have such busy schedules. So we set Sundays as our day to go through the junk box. Just once a week.

Both kids got to go through it with us and together, we’d put those things away until - voila! - the junk box was empty again.

If they chose NOT to look through it, the items left in the Junk Box would get donated or thrown away. This sense of urgency (Oh no! I might lose my favorite toy!) really helped motivate them to be proactive about putting things away.

Now, you try it!

This strategy is great for anyone with a super-busy lifestyle. Plus, I find it’s very helpful for people with ADHD and ADD. Just choose a specific date and time for emptying out the junk box. Note that the time and date should be the same every week.

I hope this tip helps you in your organization journey!