Dumping grounds

[myusernameisnotmyusername]

We live in a small house. I manage to keep it relatively clutter free but dp dumps his keys, Work pass and wallet on the stairs. He says it's because I filled the bowl in the hallway with pot pourri when he used to put his stuff there when he comes home. It's for pot pourri not dumping! Anyway what are your storage solutions for this kind of thing? All my stuff stays in my handbag so I don't have this issue.

We have a large ceramic bowl by the back door which is where dh dumps his stuff. (We use our back door much more than our front door). My stuff always stays in my bag too!

What’s wrong with the stairs?

It's dangerous and looks untidy. DD trod on his keys and hurt her foot the other day. I'm wondering though if one of those baskets you can put on the stairs would work?

Put a basket on the stairs then all his stuff has a place to be.

Cross post. I have a stair basket and it works well. We don’t use it for keys etc but anything that needs to go upstairs (other than clean laundry) goes in there; easy to grab the handle and go.

He used to contain it in a container (the wrong pot pourri one!) so that obviously works for him. Can’t you get him another bowl?

Well the bowl is in a kind of alcove on the window sill downstairs. You walk in the front door and it's the first thing you see so I put the bowl, photo and air freshener there so I just wanted to make it look nice rather than a dumping ground.

It doesn’t have to be in the same place - no other surfaces in the hall where you can have a bowl or basket?

No not really. We've got one of those radiator cover things but it's too narrow.

Maybe he can figure out a solution to this problem?!
Although to be fair, a bowl with keys etc in doesn't seem too heinous to me, but that's probably because pot pourri makes me sneeze so I am biased against it!

We have an intray each as soon as you get in the door for keys/phone/unopened or undealt with post.... very useful. Not pretty but we don't care

Where does he keep his jacket?

Sorry if I'm not explaining this properly! Jackets go on hooks at bottom of stairs. Next to that is a window and a little alcove thing but I wanted to make it look nice. Doorbell thing is on there and a flower decoration, bowl of pot pourri and an air freshener. He just wants to dump his keys and wallet and work pass on it. We also have two car keys. I keep my stuff in my bag. Narrow hallway with cat litter and shoe storage under the stairs. Radiator cover thing along the wall.

Thinking about it I probably don't need pot pourri AND an air freshener lol

We have a key box on the wall could that work?

It probably could although we rent so I'm trying to avoid nails but I suppose we could fill it in after?

I think maybe you need to find a dumping box for the alcove that you are happy with? (Although a window sill is not the most secure place for keys and wallets really...)

How about a pretty box or tin to keep stuff in on the alcove? He gets to dump where he wants, you keep the alcove looking nice..

If that's the obvious place to put things then I agree with him. We have a small tray that keys go in as you come into the house. I don't keep my house and car keys in my handbag as it's easier to find and pick them up from the tray. You can still have your flowers and the doorbell ringer thing on there.

Tbh I'm with him ... it might not be pretty but it's functional and that gets higher priority (in my house at least!)

You have an air freshener so you don't need the pot pourri you just want it because it looks nicer that your husbands stuff ... if you want it to look nice and be functional why not remove the pot pourri and add a box, small drawer unit or something that your husband can dump his stuff in but that us contained so that you don't feel it's on show?

Definitely ditch the pot pouri in favour of a nice basket with a lid where your DH can dump his stuff.

Houses (especially small houses) need to be functional.

Thank you all for your very helpful comments. The window is frosted so no worries about leaving keys in view. I think I will get a nice basket or something for the keys.