My sister used to hide empty chip packets packets under ornaments when we were kids. My mum would also find empty packets under sofa cushions and in books. Why she didn't use the bin is beyond me.

Oh yeah the oven is a savior to me at times. I have also used the tub/shower to hide stuff when I have surprise guests who call 3 minutes before they arrive. You'd be surprised how easy it is to throw clothes that were lying around your bedroom into a tub! Of course...I also use the standard go to-a closet!

The closets and the basement!

My friends sister stores dishes etc. in her broken dishwasher.

Never did that. Either I like you well enough to trust that you like ME, warts and all... or you aren't invited into my home! If I have advance notice, I try to tidy up, but I LIVE fairly tidily, so it's never very complicated, and having a place for everything and everything (usually) in it's place works for me.

(Of course, the dirty dishes thing is easily solved if you always find a place with a dishwasher! As I cook, I move everything into the dishwasher the minute I can -- measuring cups as I empty them, pans when I dump the contents into dishes, plates, immediately after the last bite is eaten... I rarely have stuff on the ocunter or in the sink.)

My cousin's kitchen burned down because she left plastics in the oven and her kid turned it on.

One of my old boyfriends used to keep his jeans and other clothes in the fridge. Aside from clothes I remember only codiments being in there.

When I was a kid my mom stashed some unopened mail in the oven before we had someone over for a BBQ. That guest was so nice to help clean up afterward and went to put a freshly washed baking sheet in the oven for storage... My mom was mortified.

Under the bed. But follow the rule to get it back out in less than 24 hours of putting it there.

My old roommate (before he lived with me), would hide dishes in his bathtub and pull the curtain closed when people would come over!

I have a very fluffly duvet, so when I have clothes everywhere and someone comes over, I just lift the duvet, put it all under. It only makes it look bigger and fluffier.

I also have a friend who will stash all her clothes in the dryer.

Other than that, my apartment is very clean and there's rarely something that needs to be hidden so I don't mind people stopping by randomly.

I will admit that I use my oven as a last minute forgot-to-clean-this place, but only for dirty pans!

I would never put medicine or flammables in the oven, though. You may think you never ever use it but all it takes is just *once* of a kid or friend visiting to turn it on and tragedy will strike.

Don't tempt Murphy so!

I pile junk mail and other odds and ends into laundry hampers and then pile them in the bedroom. If it's the type of friend who wants to see the bedroom, they go in the closet.

I've also stuffed things under the bed, under the desk (it faces the room, so the leg space isn't visible unless you're sitting at it), and really anywhere else I can find. I tend to avoid the kitchen because we usually have someone over for food, so there's a higher chance we'll actually need the appliance we've stored things in.

kmbieker - I once had to pull the exact same trick with the dishes in the tub when our kitchen water broke. Talk about embarrassing.

I keep an empty drawer in the credenza for the mail that I haven't yet sorted through...

...but it only takes two minutes to load/unload the dishwasher and another half-a-minute to toss clothing into the dirty clothes hamper.

I keep those HUGE (i.e. 30 lb) bags of animal food (opened and unopened) in the trunk of my car. From that stash I fill smaller containers in the house. The car is a great place for the surplus and the ants don't come there.

The clothes hamper - for just about anything lying around the bedroom. Also under the bed. Definitely have used the oven for dirty dishes. And I do have a tendancy to stash stuff on the balcony when it's in the way. I used to use the second bedroom for everything, but that got really out of hand, so I decided to get a boarder, which not only helps financially, but forced me to clean it out!

yeaahh, once i put an empty pizza box into my oven to get it out of the way. id say about a week later, i remembered it well after id turned the oven on and something didnt smell right. kinda scary being that it was a CARDBOARD BOX!

Last year, my neighbor sprang a combined apartment party on me at the last minute; since many of my friends are allergic to cats, I put everything I didn't want the guests to see in the bedroom with the pets. Along with a threatening "Beyond this point there be cats" sign on the door, no one dared snoop.

It was a real wake-up call! The week after the party was spent decluttering every room. '^_^

One of my sister's friends lived in a studio apartment in a very desirable Chicago neighborhood. She literally used her entire kitchen as storage. Clothes, shoes, books - everything she didn't want out in the main area went into the kitchen nook. She had folding closet doors in front of it and always kept them closed. Since she didn't own any dishes and never once cooked the entire time she lived there, it worked out for her. But I always thought it was hilarious.

@ mei-ling - do you know that keeping the extra weight in your car affects gas mileage?

Oh yeah, I have definitely stashed stuff in the oven. We once had a huge Mother's Day brunch at our house, and I had put off washing all of the huge baking dishes. When we found out that someone was dropping by to pay a visit, I shoved all of them in the oven -- and then forgot about them. That is, until I preheated the oven to cook a few days later. The "aroma" of bits of food burning onto all of my pans quickly reminded me!

Under the sink! Everything goes under the sink. There's no way under the bed would work for me, though-- I already consider that space my biggest closet and have all kinds of stuff stashed there permanently.

@mei-ling --

So if you need to leave your car at the garage overnight for repair - or if it gets towed away for some reason - the poor dog/cat has to starve that night?

How about the freezer? Not so much to hide clutter from guests but because I heard if your house burns, your freezer has a better chance than a file cabinet. Now, granted, you can't stuff the thing full of every important paper, but I do keep my passport, my marriage liscence & my birth certificate in there. Not stuff a thief would get too excited about, but stuff that I'd have to replace should my house were to burn, plus, I know where those papers are...

You know, I hate to say this,but I'm guilty of the same thing. Afew years back, I had some substantial water damage in my kitchen which took forever to repair. As a result the gas was "off" for many months. When, I was home during the construction process (which wasn't much), I made do with my Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice steamer, Hamilton Beach crockpot & indoor panini grill. You'd be surprise how well you without the use of an oven. It forced me to eat more healthy & I needed that change in my diet. Will I turn it back on soon? Nope. I'll leave that task for my next apartment move in the summer.

Wow, I've always thought I was a slob, but I don't have any weird hiding places! The weirdest thing I do is put anything I want to go through later in a grocery bag and then stash it in the bedroom. We keep our bedroom doors shut so unfolded clothes and everything we don't want guests to see goes in there.

yes! my oven houses my hot rollers, blowdryer and extra shoes.

My grandmother, when she didn't want to do the dishes, would hide them in the oven. Then in the morning, grandfather would get up first, and turn on the oven. This was in the era of Melmac, and he would melt all the dishes!! How they stayed married 50 years I don't know!

I have to add, in my first home purchase, it was a gut rehab. I didn't know until I sold it that the gas had never been turned on to the range. It's safe to say I can't cook.

bethnoir- firesafe

My partner grew up in a home with twelve cats. When they had company, they would rotate the cats. They'd stash eight or nine in a room, leave a few out, then switch cats so it never looked like they had more then three or four cats. When they were selling their house, it was his job to frantically gather up as many cats as he could find before showings, toss them in his car and drive down the block where he would park with his seat reclined just enough that he could watch and see when the realtor left and it was safe to take the cats back home.

Ok what is it with all that find they have to hide their dirty dishes? Why didn't you clean them after you used them?

Ok, I think Josh's story of hiding cats must be declared the winner! hahahahah That is just toooo funny IMO.

i store dishes, pots, and pans in a dishwasher that was never hooked up