I chose to use the KonMari method with my miscellaneous or komono drawer. I chose this drawer mainly because it was the messiest drawer in my entire room. I tend to be very organized, but for some reason this drawer looked like this:
Yikes
Pretty awful. I don’t know exactly how many objects I had in there, but it must have been up there in the thirty or forty range. It was certainly time for a clean-up, so I did what KonMari suggested and took every item out first. I looked at them, and tried to use a combination of her “joy” test as well as whether or not the object had some functional value. For example, somewhere in there is my wallet, deodorant, DayQuil and NyQuil, Excedrin migraine, etc. Some of these things I use everyday (like my wallet), others are saved for a rainy day (like the Excedrin). I decided to start putting stuff back in with some sort of organization, so here’s what it looked like about halfway through the process:
For the record, my SpongeBob Squarepants laundry hamper was not a part of my tidying and is here to stay. Anyway, I thought I was making some significant progress, until I came across a few items. While I could come up with a reason for keeping the NyQuil, the moisturizers, and my apparent soap hoard, there were a few items that had absolutely no purpose being there and even gave me the opposite feeling of joy: anger. For example, one item was a bottle of “special contact solution” that actually burned my eyes when I used it to rinse out my contacts last weekend. Since I am terribly sightless without contacts or glasses I failed to notice the bright orange warning labels with the instructions for use. I just thought it was regular contact solution. It wasn’t, and the hydrogen peroxide in the solution burned my eyes. Another item I found was a LifeProof iPhone case that I bought when I first got my iPhone 6s. It worked really well in that it effectively protected my phone from breaking. However, it had a cover over the headphone jack, so I could not use my favorite headphones without prying the phone case completely off. This is hard to do, since the case essentially seals and locks shut when you put it on. It got annoying, so I stopped using it. It wouldn’t be so bad if the thing didn’t cost me almost $70. Yes, okay, it “technically” works, which is why I’ve kept it, but I can’t even listen to music, the one thing I mainly use my beautiful iPhone for! The fact that I paid money for such a useless item is super irritating.
The other two items were a plastic bag and a New Paltz ID card case. The plastic bag was annoying because I had absolutely no use for it and, in general, I hate plastic bags due to their negative environmental impact. The New Paltz card case doesn’t give me nearly as much anger as the other items, but it just kind of gets in the way and I don’t really ever use it.
The annoying items, excluding my TV and remote
Maybe I am a bit petty or over-dramatic for being so angry at a few items. Nevertheless, I left these items out while I put the others back in. It was quite nice to have a clutter-free drawer without these useless and annoying items! I honestly didn’t expect the project to go the way it did. Seeing the items I had bad experiences with and the emotional reaction I had to them made me appreciate the things I do like/use a lot more. Although I’m not quite sure that was what KonMari intended, I think I ultimately got to where she would want me to be: finding joy in the items I keep. I decided to get rid of the contact solution, as this project prompted me to give it to a friend who uses it. For now, the others are okay sitting in the back of my drawer. Perhaps one day I will need that LifeProof case or plastic bag. Overall, I did not find this process to be too difficult, but I did find it interesting that the KonMari method can apparently work backwards – in finding anger, you can also find joy.
Not the most beautiful tidying job, but good enough for me
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
I know many of us might hate to admit it, but I think we all secretly have a “miscellaneous” drawer somewhere in our house that gets way too messy. I know for me, whenever I have spare change in my pockets, or an old piece of paper I think I might need later on, I throw it in the top drawer of my bedroom desk. For me, if the mess is out of sight, it’s out of mind.
I totally understood your “anger” at the few items you mentioned. I experience the same thing with many items that slowly accumulate in my desk drawer, for whatever reason. I think it’s interesting how we ascribe emotions to the objects around us, and how a simple plastic bag or old phone case can make us angry or embittered.
I’m glad you got your mess in order though, I might need to dig through my “komono” drawer and do the same soon!
As Andrew noted, we definitely all have that one messy draw that just gets that way.
I like your statement about the reverse KonMari method. I find it interesting that, even though the bag and headphone-proof case caused not joy but anger, your reason still stopped you from discarding them. I think it’s for the best, though, because I predict that you’re going to go do some kind of water activity (like kayaking or something) and will then use the case to protect your iPhone and the plastic bag to keep other valuables dry. Or I could be wrong and you could never use them. It’s definitely one of those two options.
And I swear, that New Paltz velcro wallet haunts my life. It always pops up in different places with no apparent connection to the last place it was.
I must agree – all of us have similar drawers, boxes, spaces, etc. Where I found that the book overreaches is in examples like yours. Though the contact solution, plastic bag, and of course, the New Paltz wallet that all of us kept far too long (if we don’t still have it), should actually be thrown away based on the KonMari lesson, it sounds like you got what you needed from tidying. Marie Kondo tried to avoid the feelings you’ve had about the solution (I’ve been there, I had soapy fingers and put them in and was just miserable for the next hour even though I’d been able to stop the burning) because she wanted a more positive message, but it works exactly the same, so I’d say good job, especially because objects are supposed to evoke an emotion which is more than some of us could say. Lastly I’d note that you were able to experience the overall concept, the catharsis in tidying up, as I’m sure you walked away from this much more happy, relaxed, and just proud of your “Komono drawer”.