22 March 2010

you're out!

tissues are used sparingly around here and i don't buy them often. but i do need to keep some on hand for guests, for the little girl, and for the occasional full-blown cold. when i do buy tissues, i get these little cubes because the small footprint works in my tiny bathroom. but the design of these containers drives me crazy. you can't see inside these cubes, you can't tell when you're getting low, and you never know when the tissue you pull may be the next to the last one. or even the last. inevitably, you're faced with this - the empty oval. maybe the tissue people should install counters on these boxes, so when you open the box and pull the first tissue, the counter changes from 130 to 129...and so on down to 1. at least that way you'd know around 15 that you should probably stock a new box.

41 comments:

Riley said...

Those kinds of overlooked ideas turn people into millionaires.

keila said...

or i wonder why the tissues you buy in the store aren't like the ones in the hotel room? i've noticed the past couple of times we have traveled that when you get down to the last few tissues they change from white to a pale yellow color. I guess this way the housekeeping ladies know to go ahead and change the tissue box. so, i wonder if possibly there is a brand out there that uses this same method for us consumers to buy? hmmm...i must now investigate this! :)

ershadsocal said...

There are so many variety of tissue boxes. This is an uncommon one too.

Lady Hill said...

i can't even tell you how many times i have made the same observation.

i have severe allergies and go through tissues like crazy so it can be a real downer to realize a tissue too late that i'm out.

LACKNY said...

My wife has these "idiot boxes".
I refuse to use them, i use plain toilet tissue... that will teach her!!!

J.S.M.

http://wearinmeout.blogspot.com

CrazyCris said...

in my house we usually have a couple of boxes stocked, and when we open up the last one then it's time to go buy a few more! we rarely run out... ;o)

Pat Wahler said...

I'm cheap. I just use toilet paper.

Anonymous said...

we're the favorite customer in the nearby grocery store, because we hoard them.

Jill C. said...

Same problem here. My husband used the last three tissues we had this morning!

Anonymous said...

After writing my comment, I typed in the obligatory "non-word" and wondered, who comes up with those? Will they ever run out of them?
Nance

Anonymous said...

perhaps a cellophane window on the box's side?
Nance

middle child said...

We need kleenex in three different rooms. My man keeps telling me to quit buying the huge tall boxes. Says the tissues always fall back into the box. I will try to be a better wife. HA!

RMb said...

haha, you should write a letter to kleenex! that is a great idea.

Grace Givenz said...

I go through a lot of tissues. Standard on my weekly shopping list, 2 or 3 boxes of tissues. I keep a box in every room of the house, plus the cars. No way am I gonna run out!

Judy said...

I have a feeling that if you counted the number of tissues in one of those little square boxes, which I use for the same reason as you, you would find that you're paying a lot more than you do for a regular box...per tissues. Now, having said that, I'm over analyzing. I can't save money on everything and keep what little sanity I have. Good observation, though. I do like the idea of having the color change as you run out.

Anonymous said...

I love this photo. It's so simple but yet I caught myself starring at if for a while. I never looked at a tissue box so long.

Anonymous said...

This post makes sense to me as well. I think a tissue counter would be a wonderful invention- and something you should perhaps look into! :P

thorns2blossoms.blogspot.com said...

that's too funny! i love it, and the picture made me laugh and made my dull day seem bright. Thanks.

cnewman90 said...

I couldn't agree more, which is why I personally prefer the rectangle boxes, but then the problem with those is that they take up too much space. And I don't know about anyone else but I find that with these square boxes that when they start to get empty and you grab a tissue, the whole box comes along with the tissue, which is not very convenient when you are multitasking.

Anonymous said...

funny. and true. Love the idea of making the last 15 a pale yellow or pink or something...

Irene said...

We buy tissues in packages of five. It's easy to see when you run out.

Mr XL said...

You need to weigh a full box of tissues, and then leave it on the scales, when your running low you'll know by the weight!

Angie said...

We buy the three pack. When the last box gets taken out of the closet, we buy another three pack. It'd still be useful to have a window on the side. Or change color, since I have a "decorative tissue box cover".

Unknown said...

I just stumbled on to your blog and really enjoyed it. I am so impressed that you can say so much in so few words....

Jennifer X said...

I had to comment. It's a post about tissues. Classic. I personally hate the tissues with lotion. I don't feel like they hold anything, and then I have to use twice as many.

Brenda Grolle said...

My FIL made us one of those boxes when he was into woodworking. I'd never bought those sized boxes of tissues before, but I felt I needed to so he could see it out on the bathroom counter when they came to visit. This was several years ago.

Recently I rebelled. My husband and I don't really use those tissues, sometimes certain brands really didn't fit the mold (literally), and I got tired of dusting it off. So I put it away. I don't want things laying around cluttering up my house just to please other people.

Suz said...

Such an ordinary problem
raised to the sublime
good questions

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Kisma said...

What a great point of view on a box of kleenix!

Lanie said...

that's so cool.where did you get that marvelous idea from.thumbs up man.

La Poetic Seamstress said...

I'm in total agreement here! You always seem to run out when you have that really huge sneeze, the one you really need TWO tissues for! You grab one and you halfway there, but then there's Nothing...but you and your hand on your nose! Funny!

http://lapoeticseamstress.blogspot.com

chizlov said...

It is horrible when you use that last one during a cold. It becomes a wide inconvenience because your not well enough to go to the store, and lord knows the civilians dont want you out of the house spreading the germs. The paper towel is too rough on your already sensitive nose, you then must resort to toilet paper which is just degrading! Overall, I get it. Good post!

Patricia said...

interesting. :)

...Summer Burton said...

My 4-year-old daughter somehow took possession of a little charm that used to be on a necklace her grandmother owned - a round ball that sounds like a chime when you shake it. For some reason she's taken to storing it in the tissue box in her bedroom, and it's made it so much easier to figure out when the box is running low. Shake a fuller box - little to no sound. Shake an almost empty box - it sounds like windchimes. Viola!

~ Summer

http://burtonswelcomehome.blogspot.com

chris said...

keila: great idea about the colored tissue toward the bottom of the box! you should contact kleenex, puffs, scott - all those tissue people! Nance: the clear window's a good idea but, as Angie points out, i wouldn't be able to see it with the tissue box cover on! what price bathroom beauty! J.S.M.& K9friend: toilet tissue is too rough when the nose is all red & chapped! Judy: you are right - the square boxes do not hold as many tissues as the flat, rectangular ones, so they are more pricey. i like Summer Burton's idea: a noisemaker in the bottom of the box! priceless!!! thanks, all, for the comments!!

Mitchie P. said...

hmmm... they could just make them with a see through clear box, so u can see when ur running out.

Anonymous said...

i know what you mean but mybe have a spare box and when your first runs out go by another so you always have one in stock>

H.E.P. said...

i couldn't tell you how many times i've been faced with that sad sight of an empty tissue box! though it always takes me monthes to get another one.

Paige said...

This is funny. I was just thinking the same thing today as I pulled out the second to last tissue out of my "cube". I bought the cube because it has lilacs all over it, and my bathroom is lavander themed. And as I pulled out this last tissue, I cursed myself for my ridiculous need to make everything match, for people who never use my bathroom. And I just stared at this cube, thinking of this, and wondering if I was a little crazy. :)

...Summer Burton said...

Oh Paige, I'm just the same... my husband's always rolling his eyes at the fact that if he puts a clashing-coloured box of kleenex in the bathroom I'll sneak in and swap it out for one in blue, so it matches. Don't worry, you're not alone!

Anonymous said...

one of the name brand of tissue, maybe klenex, hve the yellow tissue for the last few so you know when they are running low.