Would anyone be interested in telling me where you store certain items which plague me?

[tattoonewbie]

I have loads of cluttering bits that I just don't seem to have a home for and make surfaces look bad. I'll start off the top of my head with :
Kids fidget toys. (Kids older but like a fidget so do t have toy storage now
Guitar picks and kappos
Batteries
Post to be filed (I know I know. It needs filing )
Sports sundries like mouth guards, shin pads
Cycle helmets
That's just what o can see currently

Smallish things (guitar picks up to shinpads) go in one of those things with clear plastic pockets which go over doors, ours is on the inside of the understairs cupboard door. It does need decluttering sometimes as more and more gets shoved in there.

Batteries - we bought a special holder (like a small briefcase) on Amazon, that lives in a cupboard.

Cycle helmets - garden shed but not used daily here.

Letters for filing - in a pile on a shelf but it's upstairs so less in sight. Trying to go more electronic.

Can’t help with all of those (no kids and not musical) but all batteries needed for anything from smoke alarms to computer mice to a vibrator 😁 are all in a drawer in my WFH desk in the spare room. Cycling helmets (x3 in my case) are hung on hooks under the stairs along with cycling outer wear like coats and neck warmers.

Batteries are in a drawer, dead batteries in a separate container in the same drawer to make them easy to recycle. We have a battery tester so if someone leaves one lying around we can test it to see if it's dead.

Post is opened when it comes in. Unless it's urgent we have a stationery box it goes in and the whole box is dealt with once a week.

Cycle helmets go on top of a shoe rack - it's organised but not particularly attractive.

I'd put guitar picks in a decorative box on a shelf if I had any.

Plectrums - I have a little decorative lidded pot that I bought in a charity shop. It was bought as something we wouldn't mind getting broken in the playroom but it's still there now youngest is 16. Capos usually one on a guitar and others in his gig bag.

We have a little basket for fidget toys, tucked away next to a sofa or on a shelf under the coffee table.

Batteries we keep in a kitchen/utility drawer with spare bin bags, candles, torches, keys. If I didn't have that I'd put them in the electricals drawer of the sideboard with spare cables, memory sticks etc.

If you've got a floor lamp or guitar stand - assuming you haven't got wall hooks, which are great for keeping guitars safe - you can get a pick clip; they're designed for mic stands, but they're great for keeping the random ones normally lurking in bags, every pocket, top of the washing machine, in the washing machine, in the sofa, under the sofa, under the cat bowl, in the cat's bed... (I have an adult Guitar Twat in the house) it means there's always a pick to hand and somewhere to put them. Capos just hook over the guitar stand or you make them learn barre chords.

9v batteries go in the guitar cases with spare strings - with all manner of misfortune threatened if they put the exhausted ones back in the case, but make sure they're left wrapped or in the box, as you don't want a capo completing a circuit. Other batteries need to be hidden away from 'I just needed another one for my tuner'.

Cycle helmets hang on handlebars/around the crossbar - no excuse for forgetting or losing them that way.

Gumshields go back in the case and into the sports bag with the shinpads as soon as they're clean so they can't be forgotten.

The key is finding a place where they are used, normally found and/or transported, not where a special trip a whole nine foot away is required.

Dedicated drawer in DS's room for fidget toys and similar. He's probably a bit younger than yours but there's stuff like a rubix cube in there too.

Helmets hanging off the bike handlebars is probably not much help.

Batteries- two boxes live in the garage, one of new, one of spent for recycling or recharging.

In return I will ask where you keep:
Lint rollers
guitar amplifier
Schoolwork when kids are at the age just to have one or two bits eg spellings.

A revelation to me was having, by the front door, a Very Useful Things You Need When Going Out Storage facility. It’s got umbrellas, gloves, hats, small packs of tissues, lint roller etc bike locks. Stuff like that. A game changer.

My two have ridiculous numbers of fidgets - they each have a drawstring bag for them that goes on a hook in their room.

If anyone can suggest where to put various paddle boarding paraphernalia (usually slightly damp) I'm all ears!

I have a Kallax in the living room with baskets in. All extraneous 'stuff' and 'bits' (technical terms for Very Important Items which will inevitably get lost if I put them somewhere safe) live in those baskets, often in smaller baskets to separate them out. Batteries live in the drawers under the TV, with spare bulbs.

I swear by loads of little baskets all over the place - those shelves of the Kallax which don't have baskets in have small 'bowl' baskets which are ideal for smaller bits and pieces and also look attractive, as long as you don't overfill them.

We have a set of drawers in the kitchen for batteries, pet meds (wormer etc), elastic bands, string and so on.
Basket for letters, anything needing filing etc.

I hate clutter so everything here has a place.
Anything belonging to the kids (teens) lives in their room.
New batteries in a cupboard in the office. Old ones in an old mug in a drawer for recycling.
Post that’s just rubbish goes in the shredding box. Otherwise it goes in my diaries (I have several lol) to be dealt with as and when. Can’t say we actually get a great deal of post these days though, most bills, reminders etc come via email
Anything else that’s small and cluttering up the place goes in a kitchen drawer, or the ‘garage’ box, which is a box on a kitchen shelf of things that need carrying out to the garage at next trip

My children are long grown up but my survival tactics back in the day were:

• Deep ’pan’ drawer in the kitchen kept for sports kit. we actually asked for the drawer when putting in a new kitchen for this purpose. It was great for minimising clutter.
• Ikea Moppe mini drawers for hair bands, crayons, pencils - would have done also for guitar picks if we’d needed it. We still have one of them with children’s sunglasses and mini binoculars- just never emptied it! www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/moppe-mini-chest-of-drawers-pine-80562770/
• An A4 file with plastic pockets and different coloured dividers for keeping communications from school, clubs, homework etc. All kept in one place for easy access and reference.

@AllotmentTime Lint rollers are kept with my ironing paraphernalia.

Most of this stuff is by my front door. I have storage set up around a bit bookcase for shoes and these kids if things in a organisation station/launch pad zone.
Cycle helmets, on top shelf, sports kits bags (mouth guard in case inside) in baskets. Fidget toys are in a hanging thing (with lip balm hairbrush etc)

I also have recycling bin by front door and cast majority of post hours straight into that I have almost everything set up digital only.

Batteries are in a labelled mini drawer on desk but have also been in utility cupboard.

Oh this very exciting. I'm going to add another list shortly of what I can see and am annoyed by in my new location !

My little table by sofa has: tiger balm (sciatica and am applying it often), ibuprofen, a lighter for candles, metabium cream (??? Son spots ???(
Nail scissors and cuticle oolong
3D printed random bits DS2 is practising with
Book
A harmonica
Switch
FFS.

This I can tidy though. Other than the harmonica !

AND by the front door- 4 aftershave options for the boys. I love that they smell nice but hate this

Lint roller is on my bedside table ! 🤣

Fidget toys and Guitar accessories live in bedrooms of their owners.
Batteries go in a holder I bought online in a cupboard in the kitchen
Post to be filed, file it straight away. I used to have a cupboard overflowing with post that needed sorting so I moved our files downstairs. Now the post gets opened and either goes straight in the recycling/for the fire or get put in the relevant file.
Sports sundries go in the relevant kit bags which in turn go in drawers under the stairs
Cycle Helmets, hook in the garage near the bikes

Pretty much all of those items go into the everything drawer here. And many more.

Yes to regular-use mouthguards, shinpads, goggles etc going in the relevant sports bag, these get hung on hooks in the understairs cupboard. But we have always kept spare mouthguards in case one gets lost and we only realise as we’re heading out for a match and there are usually some extra shin pads and goggles, these go in the thing with pockets I mentioned earlier, as do small things such as lint rollers, buff neck things, the thing you put your phone in on your arm when running etc.

Batteries in small box utility room cupboard, post in a pile in study, bike helmets in hall cupboard

Appreciate the question about cycle helmets thanks OP!

Any suggestions for keeping clothes hangers tidy and untangled when not in use?

Cycle helmet needs to be inside and accessible with coats and stuff. We have an impractical coat hook inside the (tiny) porch and a thing over the door for more coats. No space for a pocket thing but agree this could work !
Post needs its own tray.
There's nothing by the door for launching - small drawers with enough room for basket for keys - the drawers house hats, scarves, one full of paper photos
One has "shit" like tape measure - but it doesn't always live here, random keys , small miscellaneous objects.
I'm formulating a plan and think we must be visual storage people as we can only find things we can see

Food for thought

In my last house I got a big tongue and groove board fixed to the wall behind the front door with 16 double hooks on it and a shelf at the top. Bike helmets went on the shelf with gloves, with coats, umbrellas and small sports bags sorted out on the hooks. I don't have it in my current house and I miss it like buggery. Bike helmets currently go on the hooks.