It's not about storage - it's all about retrieval! Think "where will I be when I need it?"

The most important element in organization is having a "home" for each item that you own.  But finding a home for everything can be a daunting task, and there are so many items which just seem to have no category!

Here is the key to finding a home for everything:  It's all about retrieval.  Don't think about where the best place is to store something.  Instead, figure out where you will be when you want to retrieve it.  Once you have figured this out, you can determine a specific place in that room for the item.

If you will need this item as you leave the house, find a home for it near the door.  My family's shoes are the perfect example.  It makes sense to store shoes in your bedroom closet, and for shoes that are part of an "outfit" that is where I keep them.  However, on a typical day, I am wearing "clothes" rather than "an outfit", so I will want to wear my flip flops or my tennis shoes.  In that case, I don't put on my shoes until I am walking out of the house, so I need a place near the door where I can keep my shoes, since that is where I will be when I want to retrieve them.  So I have a shoe shelf just inside the door where I can keep my "generic" shoes.
Some items you might want near the door:
Shoes
Bookbags
Activity bags (kids' ballet clothes, baseball gloves, etc.)
Extra (empty) bags that you can grab when you have an armload of random things to take with you
Car keys
Purse
Coats, hats, gloves
Umbrellas
Sunscreen (for me, this is a case of being honest with myself - oh, I could write a whole blog about the relationship between organization and honesty to oneself! - If I have to walk too far to get sunscreen, I won't do it.  If I can just grab it when I put on my shoes, I am more likely to put it on and take care of my pale, freckled face!)


If you will need it in the kitchen, that is where it needs to "live". The kitchen is usually the heart of any home.  Of course that means that there are often things going on in the kitchen that don't involve food!  My kids are busy getting ready for school while I am in the kitchen making lunches.  So I often need to give someone a hairbrush while I am working on food prep.  That means I need a home for a hairbrush in the kitchen!  I also like to listen to music while making dinner, so I need a place to keep a few CDs.  What  activities go on in your kitchen?  Don't feel silly looking for a place in the kitchen to house your hammer if that is where you will be needing it!  This system must work for you and help you live your life more easily.
Some (non-food-related) items that might be appropriately found in the kitchen:
Label maker - for labeling lunch box items like a thermos or for labeling a casserole dish you are loaning to a friend
Hairbrush
Batteries
Tools (screwdriver or small hammer)
Tape
Cell phone chargers
Pens/pencils and notepads - great for grocery lists
School calendar for quick reference (you can hide this by taping it on the inside of a cabinet door if you don't want it to be cluttering up the refrigerator!)


If you will need the item while you are out, can you keep it in the car?  I think cars and the storage space they provide are often over-cluttered and under-utilized!  Keep a notepad in your car for a few weeks.  While you are out and about for the next month, keep a running list of the things that you wished you had while you were out.  For example, a few years ago I realized that I would often leave the house having forgotten to eat.  I would finally be out the door and driving to my destination when I would realize that I was starving.  I reprimanded myself and vowed to do a better job of remembering to eat.  Of course that didn't work, so it occurred to me that the best way to solve the problem was to keep snacks in the car.  I found a basket that would slide between the two front seats and now I keep it filled with snacks for those rushed days where I am likely to forget to eat.  (It comes in handy for my always-hungry 7-year-old boy and his friends, too!)
Some things you might want to find a place for in the car:
Snacks
Kleenex or napkins
A change of clothes for each family member - I have used this clothing stash more often than seems possible!
Extra feminine supplies
A basket of books for the kids to read while on the go - And another little tip:  Check out books from the library to fill this book basket, and then just keep them there in the car.  If they never  come into the house, you can't lose them, right?  When you realize that the due date is upon you, the books are in the car, ready to be returned!
Sunscreen (in case I still managed to avoid putting it on as I was leaving the house!)

The key to home organization is to figure out your patterns and your needs.  Make it easy to get what you need.  When you are staring down an item that has no home, ask yourself "where do I use this?".  Sometimes the answer will surprise you!  If the answer seems funny, just chuckle as you find a home for it there.  If the answer is "I don't use it" then the home for the item is in your donation box or trash can!

Balance your life!
Nora.