Know Thy Drop Zones

Person walks through the front door after a long day at work, person chucks the keys on a small table by the door, tosses bag on the floor, jacket over a chair and the mail and keys on the counter. On the way to the bathroom, person picks up some toys, balls or random items along the way and piles them on the stairs creating a cluttered tripping hazard.

Baskets! Baskets! Baskets! They come in many shapes, sizes, colors and some have lids.

If you are short on time or come across “lost” items daily, baskets are a perfect solution for drop zones. Place two by the main entrance if there are more than two people living in the home. Place two big baskets in the family room, one for blankets and one for random personal items that gather in the communal spaces. So when a family member yells out, “where’s my _____?” you can say, “retrace your steps and check the baskets, sweetheart, honey, love muffin, ooggebooboo.” At some point they will get it. Give it time. Add a basket at the bottom of the stairs to collect things that found their way to the lower level. This allows you to bring the basket upstair when you have time to replace the items and it reduces the tripping hazards around the house. Baskets are also a life saver when unexpected company stops by for a visit. Your home will always look tidy and your visitors will be unaware of your dirty little secret. Try it.

Michael’s offers 50% off all baskets for most of the year with World Market and Ikea having great selection of baskets and sales throughout the year.

OR•GAN•I•ZA•TION

Pick a room or a closet that is in need of decluttering. This should take less than one day in order to reserve the other weekend day for rest and creativity.

Time to face the dreaded clutter that haunts and hinders the full use of a space. Here are five steps to climb and conquer Mt. Clutter that has become your room or closet.

FACE THE MESS: directly at the combined clutter. Identify a few items that are randomly strewn about. This is an important step as it defuses some of the overwhelm that led this area to get to this point.
GROUP LIKE ITEMS: Choose one item and place in on the floor away from direct access to the area. Pick another item and place it somewhere else on the floor unless it is similar to the first item then add to the first pile. Keep repeating this step until the area is empty.
CATEGORIZE: Which pile has the largest amount of like items? Think about their function and how you use them in your life. What can you donate or discard? Separate broken items or items that have missing parts that you no longer have. If these items can function, then consider donating the parts you have with a note of the missing pieces.
EVALUATE THE EMPTY SPACE: What would be the best use for this space? How could this empty space make your daily life easier? Read previous blog posts, “A Functioning Home” and “Create a Room Layout” to create a plan.
PLACING ITEMS: Start placing the larger items and items that are used infrequently to the harder to reach areas if the space is a closet. Place all larger furniture if the space is a room. Look around the house to find furniture that could be better used in the newly decluttered space. This will prevent you from having to spend money on a new piece. It’s okay to use an unconventional piece of furniture if its function better serves you used different from the main use. For example, a rectangular filing cabinet may work better as a bedside table if you like to read, draw or knit in bed.
FINISHING TOUCHES: Time to add accessories to the room or make sure the closet has all of the hooks, shelves and access to the most needed items.
REST: Take the next day off to relax and feel accomplished that you made your life easier so you can have more time to rest and recharge.