The other day, we had friends over and the kids were all begging to have temporary tattoos — so without much thought, I grabbed our baggie of temporary tattoos out of our medicine cabinet and let each child pick the one they wanted.
As I put the tattoos on each kid, the other mom questioned why we kept our tattoos in our medicine cabinet.
I guess I hadn’t ever thought of that storage place being so odd (now that I think about it though, it is a little strange!) However, I explained that the reason we keep the temporary tattoos in our medicine cabinet is because they are things I don’t want our kids getting into — just like I don’t want them getting into the medicine, bandages, and other first aid items.
As I put the tattoos away later that afternoon, I started thinking about how they ended up in the medicine cabinet in the first place…
We had originally put the tattoos in with the craft supplies — but since Nora has always had free-rein of everything in the craft cabinet, this ended with lots of wasted and ill-placed tattoos when she tried to do them herself (she was only 2 at the time).
Then I moved the tattoos to the office supply drawer in our kitchen (we don’t really have a true “junk drawer”). This drawer was high enough that the kids couldn’t reach them (at least at that time) but the tattoos kept sliding all over the place inside the drawer, falling out of the bag, and getting in MY way.
When I finally moved the tattoos to the medicine cabinet just over a year ago, they instantly became a non-issue.
They weren’t in the way, they weren’t messy, they weren’t tempting for little hands — they were just there, nicely organized and ready to go whenever it was time for another tattoo.
.
Are you still following me?
Yes, I have a point… and no, it really has nothing to do with temporary tattoos!
.
The point I want to make is that there is NO single “right way” to store or organize anything in your home.
Maybe storing temporary tattoos in a medicine cabinet is super weird, but it works for our kids, our family, our house, and our season of life… that’s all that really matters.
Maybe storing our collapsible step stool next to the kitchen trash is abnormal, but that’s what works for our kitchen storage and our kids’ needs.
Maybe storing my sewing machine in my office seems odd, but that’s what works well for me right now.
Maybe storing our comforter in the bottom drawer of James’ dresser during the warmer months sounds strange, but it makes sense for our needs.
Maybe storing our grilling utensils in the mudroom sounds crazy (yeah, I know!) but it truly is the most logical storage place we can come up with at this time!
I could probably list 20 more examples of things we store in odd places throughout our house — but that’s not really the point. The point is that these strange storage places WORK FOR US RIGHT NOW.
The tattoos in the medicine cabinet work because they are out of the way but still easily accessible.
The step stool next to the trash can works because the trash cabinet is right next to the sink and the island — which are the 2 places our kids use the stool.
The sewing machine in my office works because I can quickly slide my desk chair over and do a little sewing or mending whenever I need to.
Our comforter in James’ room works because he has a huge empty dresser drawer and his room is just a few steps away from our room (we have no linen closet).
The grilling utensils in the mudroom work because they are too big to fit in our kitchen drawers, we don’t like to keep them outside, and our mudroom is right next to our deck and grill.
None of these storage solutions will make it into a magazine, most of them probably won’t work for your home, and there’s a decent chance they won’t even work for our family forever.
As the kids get older and our needs change, I will continually reevaluate our storage solutions and adjust accordingly… but until a particular storage solution stops working, I don’t plan to change a thing!
If you’re searching for the perfect storage solution for your things, just remember there is no “one right way”.
Many storage ideas in magazines, on various blogs, or in your friends’ homes serve as good inspiration, but they might not actually be that practical or functional in YOUR home. Just keep trying different options until you find something that works — and don’t rule out some crazy weird storage options either! (I know this can be frustrating, but it’s worth the effort).
Also, just because a particular storage solution works well right now, doesn’t mean it will work indefinitely. As your needs change, your storage solutions will most likely change as well — this is natural; try not to let it discourage you.
Now I’d love to know… do you have any weird storage solutions?
Roxanne says
I recently moved all of our cleaning supplies from our mudroom/laundry room to the coat closet right by our front door. Our house floorplan just makes it easier to get the supplies I need from that location. I put everything up on a high shelf so that guests can still retrieve their coats, but we recently had some people over for dinner and one of them asked “Why is there Windex in your closet?” 🙂
Pixie508 says
I buy toilet paper and paper towels in bulk, so there’s more than would fit in our linen closet (although I keep a few rolls of both in there, just in case we have an urgent situation) – we store it in my 2yo’s closet. He has a huge closet and almost no clothes in there (his clothes are in his dresser). We also keep all of our wrapping supplies in there.
And our grilling utensils have a case, and we keep them in the laundry room, which is right off the kitchen.
Andrea says
that sounds reasonable 🙂
Angela says
Makes perfect sense to me – our little container of tattoos is in our bathroom cabinet too! Just hopped onto your site for a bit of morning inspiration before I tackle the organization of my nemesis – paper piles in my office. : )
Andrea says
oh boy — hope you had a successful day of paper organization 🙂
Jodi says
We keep our grilling things in the laundry room. I’ve gotten some funny looks but since our grill is on a cement slab outside the laundry room door and we have a split level house with the kitchen being upstairs, it sure makes a lot more sense to have it in the laundry room.
Heather Ratliff says
Our grilling utensils are in our laundry room, too! While not terribly convenient to the grill, the laundry room is right next to the kitchen and I have hung them at ceiling level to keep them out of the way but accessible.
Pixie508 says
Ours are in the laundry room too! It’s right off our kitchen, and we have the extra storage in there!
Jen F says
I have 4 cats, so I buy the BIG bags of dry food. I break those down into plastic containers and I put those, plus their canned food, in a double door cabinet next to my sink. The last 1/3 of that cabinet is devoted to my vitamins & suppliments. They’re both right next to the sink (where I rinse out and dry and refill kitty dishes) and since that is one of the first places I am in the morning, it works for me.
Last year I went on a HUGE buying binge of Bath & Body Works stuff. A weird cabinet under the breakfast bar is now home to all my 3-wick candles, and stand alone cabinet in the dining room now holds all my lotions, body butters, bath gel, hand soap and body sprays (not enough room in the linen closet for them). Weird place to keep them, but it was unused storage space and at least I have them organized (by season) and easy to grab when I need new ones.
Andrea says
sounds super organized to me 🙂
Emily says
We store our grilling tools in the mudroom too! Ha! 🙂 My mudroom also doubles as extra pantry space so right next to the shoes and coats is a shelf with all my canned goods and extra boxed mixes.
Heidi says
I had a friend who stored her favorite hammer (for kitchen/household projects) underneath all the kitchen linens/towels so her husband wouldn’t grab it and use it for his projects in the garage. 🙂
Andrea says
haha — that’s great! I know others with similar “hiding places” for things they don’t want their husbands or children to find.
JJ says
I totally relate!
ShellyL says
I have known of people who stored their teeth-brushing supplies and/or hair styling supplies in the kitchen to make mornings easier. I don’t, nor do I think that would work for our family, but it is unique. If it works for those particular families, then so be it. I like your concept here, Andrea. 🙂
Andrea says
I also know people who keep toothbrushes in the kitchen (for some reason, this kind of grosses me out though). They also put their tooth brushes in the dishwasher EVERY day!
Christine from The (mostly) Simple Life says
Love this! Organization is all about what works for you. It’s so personal.
Since we moved into an apartment, I’ve had to put things in odd places because there’s not enough storage in the right places. My biggest pot is in the entryway closet (but at least it’s next to the kitchen). All of our spices and teas are in a dresser in the dining room. I’m not thrilled with these solutions, but we’ll only be here for 9 months, so it’s no big deal and it works fine.
Andrea says
yeah, spices outside of the kitchen would be tough for me too! At least it’s only 9 months and at least you actually HAVE a temporary system. That’s better than living out of boxes the whole time!
Brenda says
We keep the box of bandages, tube of antibiotic ointment and some paper tape on the end table next to the chair I typically sit in during the evening. Then after showers I can re-apply band-aids, as needed, when skin is dry enough to stick. This started as being lazy on my part a few months ago, but then after a while it made sense to keep them near where they were used, so I added a basket to the table and now they belong there. I have 2 accident prone boys who play outside all the time so we use a lot of band-aids. And, now I don’t wander around looking for wherever I left them when they’re not in the bathroom where they used to belong.
Francie says
The faux tattoos are super cute, Andrea!You are completely right there is no right way to organize, I had to learn this the hard way. http://www.supersimpleways.com
Sherry says
Extra boxes of cereal are stored in our mud-room lockers. We have a pantry for all our extra/stock-up food, but it’s downstairs. In the morning, if the kids run out of cereal, NOBODY wanted to go downstairs to get the next box. So, we had an extra shelf in one of the lockers which was the right size for even the largest of cereal boxes and…voila, nobody complains about having to get the next box of cereal! Strange…yes! But, wow, did it save a lot of frustration in the mornings! Thanks for your posts 🙂
Andrea says
This is such a great example of weird storage solutions that work wonderfully for your own home and family!
Carole says
Many boxes of Wheat thins/crackers are stored in bottom of our grandfather clock next to the piano in the living room.
Andrea says
haha — that’s a good one!
Stel says
Our shoe polish is outside on the verandah, in an old-fashioned small tin trunk, so it looks decorative – and because shoe-polishing has to be done outside!
Ann says
I just want to know where you get all the cool temporary tattoos!
Andrea says
we’ve purchased some from the Dollar Store, but we get SO many as little gifts when we do things around town — library, churches, community things, etc.