Why Everyone Needs a Boyfriend Basket

My partner’s most confounding habit is his tendency to leave coffee cups in the bathroom. Another ELLE editor says hers loves to leave mechanical pencils around their apartment. I’m not here to solve these mysteries, but I am here to provide a solution: boyfriend baskets.

For the uninitiated, “boyfriend basket” is a catch-all term that refers to any basket, tray, or other receptacle where you place the things your partner leaves around the house, so all items are in one hidden, yet easy-to-locate spot. In the end, one person gets to have a clear space, and the other always knows where their things are (i.e. in the basket).

And while we are using the term “boyfriend,” because we love an alliteration, please be assured that this can apply to all people and all relationships—married, newly dating, non-binary, queer, messy friend, what-have-you—in which two people are living together while contending with different expectations for cleanliness. As one ELLE editor put it: “I don’t know how anyone cohabitates without baskets.”