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5 Things Every Kid Had in Their Junk Drawer

Ah, the infamous junk drawer. You know the one—it’s that magical place where everything seems to end up when you’re not quite sure where else to put it. As kids, our junk drawers were often a treasure trove of oddities and forgotten memories. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and explore five things every kid had stashed away in their beloved junk drawer.

Photo by Kit Yarrow

1. Broken Crayons

If you grew up with a box of crayons, chances are you’ve got a collection of broken ones hiding in your junk drawer. Maybe they snapped during a particularly passionate coloring session, or perhaps they just got tossed in there after you lost interest in your latest art project. Either way, those little bits of wax were like the sad puppies of the art world—still waiting for their chance to shine. Who knows? Maybe you thought you’d melt them down someday to create a masterpiece. Spoiler alert: that never happened.

2. Mismatched Batteries

Ah, the battery graveyard. You could always count on finding a bunch of mismatched batteries lurking at the bottom of your junk drawer. Some were half-used, some were fully charged but didn’t fit any of your toys, and others were so old they might have belonged to a dinosaur. It was like a game of “guess which one still works,” and let’s be honest, most of the time, you guessed wrong. But hey, there was something oddly comforting about knowing you had a backup plan for when the remote control decided to die mid-movie.

3. Random Lego Pieces

If there’s one thing every kid can relate to, it’s the endless accumulation of random Lego pieces. Somehow, those tiny bricks always ended up in the junk drawer, like a secret stash of creativity just waiting to be rediscovered. You might have even found that one elusive piece you needed to complete your epic spaceship or castle. Or, more likely, you’d dig through the pile, only to realize that you’d lost the instructions ages ago. But hey, who needs instructions when you can create a fantastical world from a pile of colorful plastic?

4. Outdated Coupons

Remember those little slips of paper that promised you a great deal on a pizza you never actually ordered? Yep, the junk drawer was also the home of outdated coupons. It was like a time capsule of your family’s shopping ambitions. You’d sift through the pile, chuckling at the expired discounts, wondering if you ever really planned on using that “buy one, get one free” ice cream coupon from three years ago. At least it made you feel like an adult, as if you were actually keeping up with your grocery shopping like a pro!

5. Mysterious Keys

And then there were the mysterious keys. You know the ones—those random keys that had long lost their purpose but somehow found their way into the junk drawer. Each one came with a story, or at least you pretended it did. “This one must unlock a treasure chest,” you’d think, or “maybe it’s the key to a secret garden.” In reality, they were probably just remnants from a long-forgotten padlock or an old bike lock. Still, every time you opened that drawer, there was a flicker of curiosity: “What if this key actually opens something amazing?”

In Conclusion

So there you have it—five classic items that every kid had stashed away in their junk drawer. It’s funny how these little treasures tell the story of our childhoods, a collection of memories wrapped up in broken crayons, mismatched batteries, and mysterious keys. Maybe it’s time to take a trip down memory lane and revisit your own junk drawer. Who knows what forgotten treasures await? Just be careful of the dust bunnies; they seem to multiply when you’re not looking!

Whether you’re a parent now or just reminiscing about your own childhood, that junk drawer is a reminder of the little things that made growing up a bit more colorful, chaotic, and, well, wonderfully messy. So, the next time you open it and find a jumbled collection of odds and ends, take a moment to appreciate the stories they tell. After all, every item in there holds a piece of your past, and that’s something worth keeping, even if it is just junk.

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