The 2010 Frey Household Writing Instrument Census

For some reason last night Kurt and I were talking about pens. (I guess cuz we are writers?) I said something like, "Blah blah blah the 400 pens we have at home." My mind raced to all the drawers and cups full of pens and I said, "I bet we do have 400 pens at home." Kurt said he thought not. So I adjusted my total to 370, Kurt then Price-Is-Right'd me with his vote of 369 and even offered to let me include pencils in my count. I said no, pens only. 

 
Here's how it breaks down.

Grand total of writing instruments in the house = 485

Pens = 238 (Includes sharpies as I use them often for labeling)

Pencils = 109 (mechanical and manual)

Highlighters = 22 (I do use them a lot for VFX work when reading/breaking down scripts.)

Crayons = 96 (box set)

Magic Markers = 20 (oh that smell!)

And just because they are usually in the same spots:

Scissors = 11 (2 are the kitchen variety)

If you add up the pens, pencils and highlighters, you'll find it lands right at Kurt's guess of 369. Damn that guy is good at EVERYTHING!!

Sarah B asked if we are hoarders. Not really. Pens store quite easily in small places! (See the above photo of the top drawer in my office chest of drawers.) In that photo there are 52 pens, 33 pencils and 6 highlighters.

In my desktop pencil cup (made by Grace) there are 33 pens, 4 pencils and 4 highlighters. Well, there were. I added a few more of the large, new pencils and traded a couple crap pens out when I found awesome pens I love in Kurt's drawer. (Don't worry, he only likes black ink, so I took the blue and purple ones.)

I bet you'd be amazed at how many pens and pencils you have in your house!