Television. Cable box. Blu-Ray player. Stereo system. My mom even has remote controlled candles. Over half the homes in the U.S. have four or more devices in their living room that need remotes, 335 million of those being TV remotes. Personally, I tend to lose the dvd player remote the most because it has a Netflix button on it (yet does not actually control Netflix. What?). So half the time I have to use the dvd player remote-less, which makes scrolling through menus a pain. Lost of people don’t even bother, since 20% of Americans don’t even use at least one system because they lost the remote.
Places remotes are most often found:
- Between the couch cushions (there’s an actual study that says it’s most likely there)
- In the kitchen or another room where it should not be
- The freezer or fridge (4% of people do this! That’s a lot of people!)
- The car
- Somewhere outside
With remote controls escaping to such weird places, they get pretty damaged. And permanently lost. What people don’t realize is that it’s actually pretty easy to repair or replace remotes. Remote manuals are easily available online and you can almost always get replacement remote controls identical to the original so that you don’t have to deal with remote programing and re-learning which button is channel and which is volume.
Once you have a spiffy new or like-new remote, keep it safe! A place to store all remotes does more than ensure you don’t lose them, it trains you to leave it where it should be, not in reach of the dog or in the freezer.
Making a DIY remote control holder is actually a great project to do with kids, as it’s usually cheap and easy. And there’s no one way to do it. Sewing, woodwork, re-purposing decor, you have a lot of options to make sure it goes with your living room. My own dvd player remote currently resides in a denim arm sling made from a pair of old jeans. Not very fancy, but better than the abyss that resides between my couch cushions (where I think there are two tv remote controls somehow…).
What’s the weirdest place you’ve left your remote? How do you keep them from disappearing? Share in the comments below!
