Unless you are incredibly tidy and organised most households have a place, which nine times out of 10 is a drawer in the kitchen, that accommodates all the ‘stuff’ that no one’s quite sure what to do with. An old mobile, used birthday cake candles and some odd cake decorations, a variety of sticking tapes, a few pens, emery boards, stamp books, takeaway menus, pieces of wrapping paper and gift wrap ribbon that have been saved to be re-used, a couple of small note pads, a few random batteries, old phone chargers, a broken watch, an ancient lipstick and a pair of old sunglasses, to be used in the case of emergencies, are just some of the items that one might find in this black hole.

It’s usually the last resort when you find yourself holding something that you have no idea what to do with, or when your child asks ‘What shall I do with this?’ and you haven’t got time to think – you just stick it in the drawer and then forget about it. When you go into the drawer looking for something, then you might see an item and think ‘I really must deal with that’, such as arranging to send your old mobiles and chargers off to a recycling scheme, but then the drawer gets closed and it’s forgotten about until the next time.

Over time, the contents in the drawer build up until it reaches a point where you don’t want to open it in case you can’t close it again. That’s the time when you have to deal with all the stuff and have a grand clear out and afterwards, you feel so much better even though you know that all you’ve really done is pave the way for the whole cycle to start again! Continue reading →