Brushing up on keeping it simple

As the bristles penetrated the layer of toothpaste and touched my teeth, I suddenly jerked the toothbrush out of my mouth.  “I grabbed the wrong toothbrush!” I thought.  But in an instant I was reassured by sight and touch.  No, my wife must have given me a new one.  I went back to brushing.

In earlier days, we stored our toothbrushes in distinctly separate locations.  A different shelf of the medicine cabinet, or a different drawer in the vanity.  But our bathroom in this house only has one drawer in which toothbrushes can reasonably be kept, and opening and closing that drawer threatens to compromise any relative placement of toothbrushes therein.

We tried assigning ourselves distinguishable toothbrush colors.  Mine would be blue, hers pink.  But buying individual toothbrushes is more expensive than picking up a whole blister-pack full of them at Costco, and those come in multiple colors per pack.  I use soft bristles and she prefers medium, so we each have our own pack.  Thus, it’s impossible to stick to just one color, or even to avoid using the same color that once belonged to your spouse.  How do you remember what your color is this time around?  Post a sign on the mirror?

We could have tried writing a name on each handle with a permanent marker, but when I brush my teeth in the morning or before bed, I don’t have my glasses on.  Unless we could fit 72-point text on the handle, that wouldn’t work either.

Several months ago, I came up with a reliable, low-tech solution.  Put a Band-Aid around the handle of my brush, but not on hers.  It provides both tactile and visual identity confirmation.  I can be sure to grab the right brush in the morning, even when I can’t yet distinguish the faces of family members. They all laugh at my crazy innovation, but it works.  And when my wife put out a new toothbrush for me this morning, she wrapped a Band-Aid around the handle.