Mental Clutter & the Overwhelmed Mom: What My Junk Drawer Reveals

What My Full-On Monet Junk Drawer Revealed

This is my junk drawer moment… the kind Cher from Clueless warned us about.

Let’s talk about junk drawers. I assume everyone has one. It usually lives in the kitchen… the official home for all things random. Over time, what starts as organized chaos turns into just… chaos. Eventually, it needs to be cleaned out. Then sure enough, the cycle repeats.

When I look around my kitchen and living room, I usually see the clean, minimal version of my home. This is the space I feel most compelled to keep tidy. But when I open that drawer, I can’t help but feel like I’m staring into a window of my life.

Before I go further, I think Cher from Clueless says it best: “She’s a full on Monet. It’s like a painting, see? From far away, it’s okay, but up close, it’s a big old mess.”

A post shared by Melissa White Boyer (@melissawhiteboyer)

That’s my junk drawer amidst my clean kitchen. From a distance, everything looks nice and put together. But open the drawer and there’s the mess. And honestly? That’s how I feel on the inside many days compared to how I come across on the outside.

What My Junk Drawer Says About My Mind

You’re walking through the kitchen feeling good until you open the drawer and see the most random things scattered around. On the surface are the constant thoughts:

“What are we having for dinner?”

“What activities do we have tomorrow?”

“Do we have enough food for lunches?”

“Do we need to go shopping?”

“What’s happening this weekend—who has sports, who has birthday parties?”

Even if these things are written down somewhere, they still play on a loop in my head.

Digging Deeper Into the Drawer

Dig a little deeper and it’s the budgeting thoughts, the emotional weight of everyone else’s needs, the invisible labor of planning for futures I can’t predict. Then, buried at the very back of the drawer—under the tape rolls, expired coupons, and broken crayons—are my own wishes, dreams, and unmet needs, shoved behind everyone else’s priorities.

I wonder sometimes—if people really knew how messy my junk drawer was, would they still think I had it all together?

I feel the same way when someone compliments me for being so organized, or for managing so much. I smile and say thank you, but inside I wonder… do they have junk drawers too?

Do their minds race like mine?

Are they holding it together on the outside while unraveling just a bit on the inside?

Or am I really just a full-on Monet?

Clueless reference explained
https://www.buzzfeed.com/michelleregna/clueless-quotes