I’m stealing today’s post idea directly from the Girl Next Door podcast. They had a great episode recently where they talked about their habits at home and played a game aptly titled, “Where Do You Keep That?” It was really fun to listen to and I thought it would make for an interesting blog post. The first list is all of the things they talked about on their podcast and then I have a bonus round of some other items that I’m curious about. Feel free to play along in the comments or on your own blogs!
Kleenex
There’s a box under my bathroom counter that I was using the last time I had a head cold, and I also have some travel-sized packets stuffed into one of the bins in my bathroom closet. I don’t typically have Kleenex on hand, though, which means I usually have to panic-buy boxes whenever I have a head cold.
Medicine
I keep my medicine stored in my bathroom closet and I try to go through it once a year to get rid of expired medications. I just reorganized my bathroom closet and threw away almost all of my medications because they were all expired. Damn. I keep it stored in one of my plastic bins.
Bandaids
Bandaids are also kept in my bathroom closet in a plastic bin (my “first aid” bin). I have so many damn Bandaids because for a while, I kept forgetting I had Bandaids at home and would buy a new multipack whenever I needed them. Now I have literally hundreds of Bandaids that I’ll probably take with me to my grave. (Maybe I’m exaggerating.)
Heating pad
I have multiple. The heating pad I use the most is the one that has to be plugged in (annoying) and I usually wrap the cord around the pad and tuck it in this empty space between my dresser and a wall. It fits perfectly! I also have a heating pad I keep in my fridge (it functions as both a cold pack and a heating pad).
Nail polish
I have this beautiful nail polish organizer that stores all of my nail polishes perfectly! I rarely do my nails these days, but maybe one day I’ll get back into it. The organizer sits on a shelf in my bathroom closet.
Winter hats/gloves/accessories
I keep it all stored in a small container that’s on a high shelf in my walk-in closet. Honestly, here in Florida, we don’t need any sort of winter accessories unless we’re traveling out of state. The past few years, it hasn’t gotten cold enough to warrant much more than a medium-weight jacket.
Scissors
This is a funny one because up until a year ago, the only scissors I had in my house were a pair of kitchen shears that came with my knife block. But now I have three pairs of scissors: the aforementioned kitchen shears and two “regular” scissors. I keep one set tucked in my pen cup next to my work desk and another set in an organizer on a counter near my front door.
Tweezers
Hmm… do I even have a pair of tweezers in my apartment? I’m not sure. I don’t tweeze anything, not even my eyebrows (sounds painful and I feel like I wouldn’t be any good at it). If I have a pair of tweezers, they’re most likely stuck in one of the bins in my bathroom.
Slow cooker/air fryer
I store my slow cooker on top of my fridge and my air fryer tucked in a cabinet. I literally cannot have any other huge kitchen appliances because I am out of space.
Dirty towels
I have a laundry basket in my bedroom walk-in closet where I keep all of my dirty towels. This includes all of the washcloths and reusable pads I use when doing my skincare routine as well as bath towels and kitchen towels. I probably should switch out my bath towels + kitchen towels more than I do, but whatever, this is my house and I do what I want.
Tape measure
I have one of those soft tape measures (I guess it’s for body measurements but that’s not what I use it for) that I just throw in one of the fabric bins on my TV stand. I feel like I am forever pulling it out to measure this thing and that, and I need it handy but also stored away when I don’t need it.
BONUS ROUND
Gift bags/tissue paper/wrapping paper
I always save any gift bags I get so I can re-use them in the future and I store all gift bags and tissue paper in a fabric bin in my walk-in closet. (I keep a four-cube bookshelf in my closet for extra storage.) I don’t usually have wrapping paper around unless I’m wrapping Christmas presents but if I do, I store it in my linen closet.
Library books
I usually stack my to-be-read library books on the side table next to my reading chair and books that need to be sent back to the library sit on the counter near my front door so I know to grab them before I leave.
Bookmarks
I have so many bookmarks and I keep buying more. Oops! I keep them all stashed in a mug that sits on top of a bookshelf.
Extra pens
I have a pen cup next to my work desk where I store the majority of my pens, and then any overflow goes into a zippered pouch that I store in one of the plastic bins in my bedroom closet.
Suitcases
I only have one suitcase right now and it stays in my linen closet! I also have some larger bags that I can use if I’m going away for a weekend and I keep those stuffed together on the top shelf of my linen closet.
How many pairs of scissors do you own? Is it weird that I don’t own tweezers?!
This is fun! I don’t think it’s that weird that you don’t have tweezers. I have them but basically never use them. However, they are also good for getting out splinters etc. so I bet if you have a premade first aid kit, they would be in there. For cycling, they are good for getting thorns etc. out of your tires!
I used to have probably five pairs of scissors. One for the kitchen, one for the garden, one for hair, one in my junk drawer (also where one of my tape measures lived) and one in my office supply drawer.
I am curious about the medicine category. What answers did other people give? How many medications do people have? I only had (and still have) Advil and maybe a couple of blister packs of Tylenol and maybe an old DayQuil, so my stuff doesn’t really take up much space!
Ohh, I totally forgot about the scissors in my bathroom that I mostly use for cutting my bangs. D’oh! So I technically have five pairs, too!
I always have Advil on hand and my prescriptions (both of which I forgot to mention; those stay in the kitchen). And then I usually have some sort of cold medicine on hand from the last time I had a head cold. But those usually expire by the time I need them again!
I love this post! Let’s play along at home!
– Kleenex – this is mission critical and I will never ever run out. I keep a box in the downstairs powder room so that guests can see it and get to it easily, and another box by my bed.
– Medicine – what Kyria said, I don’t have much.
– Scissors are also mission critical. Kitchen shears, another kitchen pair for non food use, a pair in the downstairs office that the kids use, a pair in the living room, a pair in my office upstairs, and a pair in my bedroom. Heaven help any fool in our house who uses scissors and doesn’t put them back where they came from!
– Tweezers – bathroom plus I use the tweezers on my Swiss Army knife that is always in my purse fairly frequently.
– Old crock pot and Instant Pot are kept in the basement and brought up to the kitchen when needed. The air fryer has earned a permanent place on the kitchen counter.
– Dirty towels – non issue, we use our towels for the entire week and they go straight into the wash when I clean the bathrooms. I hang my wet washcloths in the shower where they get mostly dry and then I hang them on the side of my hamper in my closet to finish drying.
– Tape measure – dresser
– Gift bags – a big ol’ mess in the attic.
– library books – next to my bed with my kindle on the rare occasion when I check out a physical book.
Thanks for playing along! How often do you end up using your crockpot/Instant Pot? I feel like I would never feel like lugging them up the stairs to the kitchen, HA. I am so lazy.
This was so fun to read! I am nosy and love organization so it’s the perfect post for me. We have many scissors! Kitchen, craft, mechanical, other buildery ones… and that’s not weird. If you don’t use them, you don’t use them!
I forgot two pairs of scissors that I keep in my bathroom – for cutting my bangs! I would love to know how many scissors you have – if you ever feel like counting them up, haha.
Your house is so organized. Around here, things get put where makes sense at the time, but later generally cannot be found. I’m not blaming anyone for this, because when you point a finger, you have three pointing back at yourself. (Me. I’m the problem. Or at least 1/3 of it.)
Organization is my love language! It just makes me feel so good to have a SUPER organized home. I’m basically ready to be hired by The Home Edit ANY DAY NOW.
Wait, you don’t have tweezers???? God, my eyebrows would be a cross between Bert from Sesame Street and Martin Scorsese without them. Not to mention I’d be the bearded lady, with a handlebar moustache. I keep them in my makeup bag in my makeup table.
Kleenex are in each of the three bathrooms, with the backup boxes in the laundry room and pantry. We have a cupboard that I keep my vitamins in, plus a rubbermaid container of medications. My husband also keeps some of his many prescriptions in our bathroom. I always have multiple kinds of Advil (nighttime, regular, cold and sinus) plus allergy, plus sleeping pills, plus…I don’t know what else. Tylenol, I guess.
I keep scissors in the kitchen in a drawer and one pair in the knife block. I also have a small pair in the office.
Bandaids and heating pad are in the laundry room, air fryer in the pantry, nail polish in the downstairs bathroom. Dirty towels – everyone has a laundry basket in their room and dirty towels go in one of those.
Gift bags/ wrap are in the office.
What else, what else. Library books on the side table in the living room, bookmarks in a tin that has QEII on it, in a drawer in the kitchen. Suitcases in the furnace room!
I am very lucky to have light eyebrows that don’t need to be plucked frequently! If I did, though, I’d probably just get them waxed more regularly. I don’t think I would trust myself to do it! I also have developed the weird chin hairs (sigh) but I just shave them off because plucking them sounds v painful!
I forgot about my prescriptions! I was just thinking about cold meds/first aid stuff. But I keep my prescriptions in the kitchen.
Thanks for playing along!
This was so fun to read! And you are so organized! I don’t know if I have any idea where my heating pad is… it’s floating around somewhere, I assume it’s enjoying itself.
I may have to steal this post idea.
We have SO MANY SCISSORS because they disappear so easily. My husband has a pair in his desk that no one else is allowed to use because otherwise they won’t be returned to the proper place. I think my kid has at least five pairs. When I was growing up, the scissors lived in the Junk Drawer in the kitchen island. My mom would get SO ANNOYED when my brother or I (usually it was me) removed the scissors and forgot to put them back. I used to get so annoyed at her annoyance, but NOW I UNDERSTAND.
Organization is my ~passion~! Haha. I just love being ridiculously well-organized. It does wonders for my mental health.
Ooh, an interesting blog post idea: The things my mom would get annoyed about that I now understand. 😉
Yes, I listened to that podcast! I also just re-listened to last year’s “Fall Extravaganza” episode (yes, I’m longing for fall.) I thought of you, because you were the one who turned me onto GND, with that episode.
Anyway- your house is organized! My comment is like a cross between J’s, and Nicole’s (you don’t have tweezers???!)
I don’t have tweezers! I’ve never felt like I needed them?! IDK. Maybe if I needed to get a splinter out.
If there’s anything that breaks my brain, it’s disorganization. It really just makes me angry, lol. I have to be ridiculously well-organized for my mental health.
Hi Stephany! We own three pairs of scissors and they all live in the kitchen “utility” drawer. The utility drawer is really a “catch all” drawer: batteries, pens, pencils, a wine opener, twist ties, markers, a stapler (??), and scissors. Oh and post-it notes… I loved reading about where you keep things. How about the water bottle? Ours lives in the kitchen pantry.
My everyday water bottle is always by my side – or on my bedside table/work desk. Additional water bottles live in a cabinet in my kitchen!
I love to learn these random things about other people’s lives, so thanks for sharing! I have tweezers (two pairs actually) but I very rarely use them… sometimes I have a stray hair on a mole that I plug out, LOL but I have never plugged my eyebrows. Haha.)
I am not surprised by your number of bookmarks. I maybe have one or two and never know where they are when I need them LOL (I mostly read digitally these days, so they’re not imperative to find either).
Plucking eyebrows just seems like a very dangerous thing, haha! I would rather just get them waxed if I needed to.
I was having the same issue with my bookmarks so that’s why I opted for the mug of bookmarks, haha.
Oh this is so fun. I will do my own post on it as I like it this much.
I am amazed you don’t have wrapping paper unless it is Christmas. I love that little desk space with your pen cup and the plant. It looks very cozy. Ad I feel you on the bandaids. Never not running out of them (ever again).
I usually use gift bags for presents, UNLESS it’s Christmas and then it’s all wrapping paper, all the time! Haha.
Thank you! I love this little spot next to my desk. It does make me feel cozy. <3
We own a lot of pairs of scissors. I am not sure how many but probably 8+? We have 3 kitchen shears and then we have scissors in multiple places throughout the house, like my basement office, in our kitchen, in our bathroom, etc.
We have SO MANY BOXES OF KLEENEX. That is something that has changed since having kids. We have them all over the place because you never know when a kid will need their nose wiped.
I’m guessing people with kids have Kleenex everything. It reminds me of working at a daycare and having, like, at least three boxes of Kleenex in easy reach in every room! Ha.
I’m 100% doing this as a post because our lives are very, very different, my friend. We have Kleenex in EVERY ROOM. Because we are nose blowing people. Also, scissors in literally every room except the primary bedroom and dining room. We each have a fabric tape measure (like for measuring bodies) in our desks, there’s one in the sewing room, one in our downstairs desk, and one in my purse. There’s also hard tape measures (like for measuring floors and walls and such) in the basement, the living room, and there’s one in my husband’s desk upstairs. There are multiple tweezers in each bathroom and we each have one in our travel kits. And I tweeze something almost every day. A girl with moles TWEEZES.
Oh yay – I can’t wait to read your post!
I guess I’m just not someone who blows her nose that often? Only when I’m sick! If I sneeze, I just sneeze into my hands and then wash them…? I assumed it was people with kids who had Kleenex everywhere, but apparently I am mistaken!
Well, if we WANTED roommates, we could live together. I don’t have so many of the things you have (nail polish, slow cooker, wrapping paper) but I do have things you don’t (tweezers, lots of meds [SIGH], kleenex [though not a ton – but I do buy it about every year in a four-pack]….). I have 3 pairs of scissors – a pair in my desk drawer, one in my desk top thingamabob that also has pens and things to be filed and random stuff, and a tiny pair of manicure scissors that lives in my bathroom drawer. Bathroom = meds (even though everyone says not to, whatever). I have 2 sets of the same towels – so tomorrow, when I clean, I will wash one and put the other out, then fold the other. So. Much. Fun.! Thanks for doing this!