I’m sure you’ve had your experience with miscellaneous clutter. It’s the tiny collection of ‘stuff’ that doesn’t really belong to any other category but isn’t trash either. You’re just not sure where to put it.

So, it accumulates in various places around your house, your car, or wherever you happen to be using the item. Or you shove it into the miscellaneous clutter junk drawer. Anything to reduce that visual clutter.

Why Miscellaneous Clutter Keeps Coming Back

Before we get to the fix, it helps to understand why this keeps happening in the first place. Our brains work in patterns, routines, and categories. That means clutter naturally attracts more clutter.

If you see a pile of random stuff on the counter, your brain quietly files that counter under “place where random stuff goes,” whether you consciously decide that or not. Miscellaneous items actually do have a category. It’s just that the category is “miscellaneous,” and once your brain locks onto that pattern, that spot keeps collecting more of the same.

The second factor is effort. Our brains are constantly trying to get the biggest result for the smallest amount of work. So if setting something down on the nearest flat surface is the fastest way to get your hands free, that’s the habit that sticks, even when it leaves you with clutter everywhere.

That’s the real reason a junk drawer or a counter pile keeps refilling itself no matter how many times you clear it out. You’re not lacking storage. You’re working against your own brain’s shortcuts.

Now, I’m a strategy girl. In fact, here are some similar strategies on how to kick the junk drawer and clutter hotspots. Don’t give me tips about what to get rid of; I would much rather have strategies I can use regularly. So, I’m going to share 2 very simple strategies to use for knick-knack miscellaneous clutter.

In the future, when you’re looking at that random collection, stop and think, “which strategy would work best for these items?” (Hint: there are only 2).

Strategy 1: Expand On Another Grouping To Absorb Similar Miscellaneous Clutter Items

There are a lot of items that fall into similar categories even though they aren’t exactly the same. For example, batteries. I have a zipper bag for all my batteries, but even the zipper bag has to go somewhere, right?

Batteries are some of those random things that can end up rolling around in a junk drawer somewhere when the rest of the case has been used. But if you think about functionality, a tool bin is a close enough category to absorb the batteries as a home base.

The idea of Strategy 1 is to find a category that already exists (i.e. has a bin or a home spot) and have it absorb items that are otherwise random.

Lighters are another seemingly random item that could be absorbed by a toolbox of some sort. If you think about it, a lighter may not be a screwdriver, but it is a type of tool.

Here are some other ideas:

• Scissors into a craft box
• Super glue with crafts or tools
• Fix a flat with cleaning supplies
• Spare buttons or sewing scraps into a craft box
• Phone chargers and cables into an electronics bin instead of a random drawer
• Expired products into a bathroom or medicine cabinet sweep, since makeup, cleaning supplies, and medicine all expire the same way food does

A good rule of thumb: before you create a brand new spot for something, ask if a category already exists that could quietly absorb it instead. Most of the time, one does.

Strategy 2: Embrace The Items By Forming A Miscellaneous Posse.

There are plenty of entryway or bedside sorters that capitalize on this. Basically, if you have items that you don’t want to be absorbed into a current location, then you can form another category of miscellaneous items.

Our brains love to categorize, so not having a category becomes its own category so to speak: a miscellaneous category. You can choose to embrace this and group those items together in a sorted fashion.

Let’s say you have an entry table or stand that gets all of that pocket randomness dumped on it: a name badge for work, loose change, wallet, keys, earbuds, etc. Obviously, these aren’t things you’re going to be trashing. But they also don’t GO anywhere. It is better to find a home for these things that makes a little sense than to leave them cluttered somewhere making no sense.

In this case, the best thing you can do is give them a miscellaneous home where it is convenient and makes the most sense.

• Hang key holder hooks on the wall at the entry.
• Place a decorated box on the entry table to hold the items you only need outside of your home, like keys and your name badge.
• Get a change sorter for your car.
• If you see a docking station/sorter you like, place one of those by the bed or entry.
• Repurpose small boxes as “junk drawer” sorters (I use cellphone boxes because they’re super stylish and perfect for reuse). It’s comically simple, actually!
• Use a divided tray on top of a dresser for the loose stuff that gets emptied from pockets at the end of the day

The key difference between the two strategies is intention. Strategy 1 hides miscellaneous items inside a category that already exists. Strategy 2 gives them their own dedicated, visible home. Neither one is better, it just depends on whether the item makes more sense tucked away or kept in reach.

That’s the whole system: absorb it into a category that already exists, or give the randomness an intentional home of its own. Every piece of miscellaneous clutter in your house can be solved with one of these two moves.

And once the random stuff has a home, my full guide on what to declutter in any situation can help you take on the bigger categories too.