Every home has one: a stash of travel-sized toiletries.

I get it. I came of age with Honey, I Shrunk the Kids on VHS and 3 oz liquid restrictions on air travel. I’m hard-wired to find miniature toiletries both adorable and practical.

We have good reason to keep a travel-size or two on hand for an impromptu trip. That’s a likely scenario, and we can avoid a last-minute shopping trip on top of packing and arranging a pet-sitter.

The challenge arises when we add to our stash much more quickly than we can deplete it, swiping every bottle from hotels or impulse buying tiny toothpastes.

Before long we could be showered and shampooed on our next 10 vacations, but we can’t fit our hairdryer in our own bathroom.

We can free up a ton of space for our everyday essentials if we reduce and relocate the stash.

We can put toiletries on our nopping list and commit to using up every bottle and bar, especially during this era of limited travel and shopping.

Or we can donate the bulk of them . Many shelters accept unopened toiletries for survivors of domestic violence, runaway teens, and unhoused people. Toiletries can also go into Little Free Pantries for a neighbor in need.

Then we can store the curated set of travel-toiletries in a pocket of our suitcase rather than keeping it in the prime real estate of our bathroom drawer.