There's No Place Like Home

I have said before that the key to an organized space is for everything in your home to have a designated home. It is a simple concept but so hard for many of us to execute.

For some of us, our things have never before had a home so finding homes for literally everything is overwhelming. I get it. I really do. Just take it one item at a time and it will get easier the more you do. 

Some of you may say "My stuff has a home but it never seems to stay in it".  If that is happening, you need to do some thinking about why. The answer might be different depending on the item. 

It might be that you are not used to putting things away because they are easier to find if they are in sight. Be patient with yourself. Trust the organizing systems you are putting into place and give yourself time to develop the habit of automatically putting stuff away. 

The other possibility is that the item has a home, but it is not the right home.  We tend to put things where "they" say they should go or where "it makes sense" for them to be. 

But in reality we should store them where we use them. Or even where we tend to put them all the time. Even if that does not make sense to other people. 

I have trouble lifting anything over 10 pounds. It is not good for me. But I also don't leave the house without the bag that holds my nebulizer, epi pen and other emergency meds. 

So if I go shopping, it is a huge effort just to get this bag, my purse and the few shopping bags from my car, up the walk and into the house.   I am literally exhausted when I get in the door and just drop them in the entry way. Which quite frankly looks like crap. 

I have tried in vain to change this habit, getting angry with myself because I was not succeeding. I finally realized this was a limitation of my health and I needed to find a way to deal with it. So I did. 

This is the bin I got to hold my bags when I get home. The stuff still gets dumped right inside the door, but it is contained in a pretty bin so it looks better. And I don't feel so bad. 

It took running up against one of my physical limitations to make this clear to me, but this really applies to any item in your house. And since we are hoping the children in our lives grow up with good habits rather than learning them as adults, here is the bin to contain Paige's school stuff. It not only contains it, it makes it so she knows where to find it!  

So store stuff where you use it not where it "should" be stored and it will be much more likely to stay in its home. 

We actually store our cordless drill in the cabinet with our spices because it is used most often in the kitchen. Do you have items in your home that might need an unusual home based on where you use it?  

What are they and where do you use them?  Share with us!