Where do bits of crap live?

[Flushitdown]

We're currently renovating our bedroom and looking to buy new bedside tables. I've come to realise that the bedside table is where I store my bits of crap - the tool for removing the SIM from my phone, spare rubber bits for ear buds, an Allan key I used to tighten up the bed every so often, a save the date card and a jewellery makers card, ear plugs, a hair bobble, a small brush for cleaning a razor, half empty paracetamol pack for if I need them in the night, a decorative snake(?!), my prescription exemption certificate, the thingy I found under the dresser I've been looking for but not yet put back in the thing it goes in.....and so on.

So where do you store yours?

We have a similar crap drawer in the kitchen - clips for closing good bags, nail clippers, a pencil sharpener, chopsticks, a random washer and a screwdriver bit.

Is it just me?

Same. We have a drawer in every room for this. I am a tidy type and like things put away in a logical way where I can find them. There are always "bits" that don't live somewhere specific, and they go in the "whatnot" drawer.
My DH on the other hand, is a leave stuff out till it gets lost type, and spends a lot of time asking "have you seen". My response is "where did you last have it,/put it". 🤷‍♀️ try the "whatnot" drawer. 😬

I keep things like that in an old tea caddy in a cupboard in the kitchen. Paracetamol in my handbag (and in the medicines box).

Any drawer that has fewer than 3 things in it! I thought moving we had disposed of all the crap but it seems to have followed us!

I’ve got a big tote bag which says ‘STUFF’ on it - paperwork and stuff for upstairs etc gets dumped in there and every few weeks it gets emptied and cleared away

But all of those things are very different…they all have a place in my house
The tool for removing the SIM from my phone- this is kept in my beside locker with my chargers- in a little box
spare rubber bits for ear buds- I don’t have spare ones but if I did I would keep them in the box of phone bits in my bedside locker I think yes.
an Allan key I used to tighten up the bed every so often- all Allen keys are in the tool box downstairs in a drawer.
a save the date card - I would have saved the date in my phone calendar and gotten rid of the card.
and a jewellery makers card,- what is this? 🤣
ear plugs- do you use them going to bed? If so bedside locker
a hair bobble - bathroom cabinet
a small brush for cleaning a razor- bathroom cabinet
half empty paracetamol pack for if I need them in the night- they would stay in bedside locker yes. a decorative snake(?!)- if it’s of no use I would get rid
my prescription exemption certificate- paperwork drawer
the thingy I found under the dresser I've been looking for but not yet put back in the thing it goes in- I simply would have put it back 🤣

Yes, exactly!

I'm also a tidy person, but there's loads of stuff that just doesn't have a home, so it's in the what not drawer!

@Flushitdown my parents and grandparents did the same so I suppose it's just a learned behaviour. I can't stand a mess, I can usually find everything because I habitually keep everything in the same place. Probably as told to put stuff away as a kid. 🤷‍♂️

Surely everyone has a cupboard/drawer/room of doom 😂

In the crap drawer which is usually the bottom draw in the kitchen.

In the bits of crap drawer in the kitchen.

Here it is actually 😅

I think this kind of thing is fine. The approach which changed my life in terms of tidiness/clutter (not that I am at all a tidy person but I am much less disastrous!!) was Dana K White and her question "If I needed this item, where would I look first?" And then the response tells you what to do with it.

So if I needed to remove my sim card where would I look for a sim pin? Well, likely you WOULD look in the drawer next to your bed - which makes it a totally reasonable place to store it. What I used to do was think well, it would make sense to have that kind of tool downstairs, but the problem was I'd never know exactly where I had put it and could never find it. But if I know that there is a specific "misc drawer" then I would look through that first, and ultimately when I need something I'm much more likely to go to more effort to find it, when I'm putting something away that's a very boring job and I'm not going to go to more effort to do it properly, so it ends up in a more mixed or random place but at least I know where it's likely to be.

The interesting thing is when you can't answer the question with a set place. Or when you realise actually, I wouldn't bother looking for the sim pin, I'd just use a paperclip or a sewing needle. In which case do you even need to keep the pin?

Likewise for the decorative snake. Is there a situation you can imagine thinking "Now where did I put that decorative snake? Hmm let me check..." - and TBF, if you genuinely would go looking for it, then it makes sense to keep it in the place you'd look first, but when we moved I did end up relocating a lot of the misc decor stuff to a box which I put in a cupboard and when I want something decorative to fill a spot, or need a picture frame for example, it means that I can go and look in one place and I'm not trawling through a bedside drawer, the kitchen drawer, the toyboxes, under the beds etc.

I have drawers in every room full of crap but I eventually find a use for the crap😂This thread has now prompted me to sort my crap out! The problem I will have is that my memory is shit these days so I will forget where each piece of crap is !

I have a ceramic plant pot in the bottom of the wardrobe for small bits. And I have a decorative storage box under the bed for larger bits. It’s like the Mary Poppins bag at this stage.

I HATE miscellaneous stuff! I really like to have a place for everything.

I don't have the answer to it all but:

the tool for removing the SIM from my phone, spare rubber bits for ear buds

These should go in the 'gadgets' drawer, with charging cables, your ear buds when they aren't in use, and accessories that belong to your phone/laptop/tablet.

an Allan key I used to tighten up the bed every so often

Does it need tightening now? If so, do that first, then it goes with your tool kit, screwdrivers etc

a save the date card

Pinboard, fridge (with a magnet) or write the details on the wall calendar and bin the card

a jewellery makers card

Take a photo, dispose of card

ear plugs

Do you use them? If so, keep them there, preferably in a cute little case (order one off Amazon if you don't have one). If you don't use them routinely but there's a chance you will use them for travel put them in the zip bag you have your passport, plug adaptors etc in. If you never use them, bin.

a hair bobble

Do you tie your hair back? If so you must have more than one. Where are the others? Repatriate it! I have a cute decorative tin with all mine in that lives on my dresser. If you don't tie your hair back, bin it.

a small brush for cleaning a razor

Again, do you ever use it? Presumably you don't shave in the bedroom, so have it wherever the razor is!

half empty paracetamol pack

I have a cute zip bag that I keep the packet in, that lives in the bottom drawer of my bedside cabinet.

a decorative snake

He's not decorating anything in your drawer! Does he spark joy? If so, pop him on a shelf or somewhere on display, if not, charity shop or bin.

my prescription exemption certificate

In a flimsy in a ring binder marked 'Important certificates' with birth and marriage certs etc

the thingy I found under the dresser I've been looking for but not yet put back in the thing it goes in

Put it back where it goes RIGHT NOW! If you struggle to do stuff like that set a 2 minute timer on your phone, or play a motivating song, and challenge yourself to beat it

Sorry, I realise you're meaning generally, not asking what to do with these specific things right now! The fact is though that if these specific things have 'a place' then maybe all (or nearly all!) the other random miscellaneous bits can do too? I have little storage tins/boxes/folders/decorative zippy bags for nearly all my little bits and bobs. They're not always in them, mind you, but at least they have somewhere they officially belong. My random uncategorized stuff goes in a plastic 'Really Useful Storage Box'. The smaller things go in tiny little ziplock bags (again you can get them off Amazon) first.

OP, you are motivating me to have a look at my things and see if they can be better organised! I'm going to get to it now! Thank you!

Oh I love organising I wish I could be there and help you all!! It’s so much fun!! (Yes! I’m crazy 😝)

All of those things would have specific places in our house, I have an incredibly low tolerance for ‘stuff and clutter’ though so stuff like the card and invites would be photographed and the physical thing recycled.
hair bobbles go in my hair bobble box in the wardrobe, sim remover in my bedside drawer, Alan key in the pot of tools in the utility room. I don’t have ear plugs but if you need them nightly for sleep then top drawer of your bedside table etc etc
I don’t really do decorative anything - unless it performs a function! Like a candle or something.