Cleaning Up the Junk...Basket

As I mentioned earlier this month, I'm half attempting to follow some of these blogs that are working on decluttering and purging this month. Today, I decided to take the advice and tackle the junk drawer. But I don't actually have a junk drawer. I have this basket on the counter that collects junk.

I spent maybe 15 minutes on the actually decluttering. I checked pens to see if they were working, six were not. I found business cards, grocery lists and coupons that were no longer needed. I found things that needed to be put elsewhere. There were also quite a few things that needed action. I could have stopped after the 15 minutes and it would have looked very similar to the picture below, but I continued on to take care of some of those things that needed attention.

I wrote a donation check, and stamped and addressed the envelope. I did the same with a rebate offer. I took pictures of an item and listed it on eBay. I added some appointments to my online calendar, so I could toss the reminder cards. I shredded papers that had sensitive information. It seemed like there were quite a few other items that I just took care of so I could really clean out that basket and counter top. So much better don't you agree?

I even found that screw up there. I was sure it was to my washing machine when I attempted a repair months ago. I couldn't find it when I was putting things back on. Later I did find it and threw it in the basket. Today, I went to put it on, and the one I couldn't find was actually there...just not on quite right. Very strange! So for now, I tossed this screw into the tool box in the garage. A much better place for it. I was proud that I went to tackle it and get it put where I thought it belonged. 

The next task on my list, is that gift bag below. It is nearly half full of college mailings and items received while at college visits. We don't need it all. I'm very sure of that. I will attempt to create some order out of it very soon. I hope more than half can be recycled and the rest put into folders for each specific college my daughter is still considering. 

It seems that most of the stuff we throw junk drawers and baskets is likely not needed for the long term. If it were, we probably have a place for it somewhere else in our home. Many of my items were just things that needed to be taken care of and I had just set aside for another time. 

I will say that some of the items in the basket and on the counter did move to the basement desk. I did take action on most of them, but some of them still need to be attended to. I will also need a little time soon to declutter my desk. I'll let you know when I take care of that.

Do you have a junk drawer or basket you need to declutter, purge or take action on?