It is OK to forget where you put it! - Part 1

Many of my clients think that there is something wrong with them because they can't remember appointments or names or where they put their keys.  They may be shocked to learn that I can't either!  In fact, that is the whole point of getting organized.  You don't need to remember everything - you just need to know how to get the information or the item when you want it.

Being organized means that I know where to find what I need.  This applies to information as much as it does to material possessions.  In Part 1 of this post, I will focus on material possessions, because it so neatly follows my previous post "It's all about retrieval!"  In my next post, I will talk about how this also applies to information such as appointments, names, etc.

Material possessions - the key is to have a LOGICAL home for everything!
Did you know that I don't actually remember where I put things?  I don't even have to remember its "home".  Really.  Instead of trying to remember where something might be, I make sure to put it away where I will be using it (refer to my last blog post - "It's all about retrieval").  Then when I need something, I don't have to remember where I put it.  Chances are, it is somewhere near me at the very moment that I want it!  I just have to open the cabinet in front of me or check behind the nearest piece of furniture.  When I am cleaning or straightening up, I just think about where I will be needing the item, and store it nearby.  (Chances are, the reason I am cleaning is because I left the item out as I was using it, so it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out where in the house I use the item!)  Here are some examples from my own home:

• Lunchboxes are always stored in the cabinet above the counter space where I pack lunches.  
• My Bible Study books are stored right by the door (because I am always rushing out the door to get to Bible Study on time!).  
• There are two small chairs that the kids use for their homework hidden behind the TV.  My other folding chairs are in the basement, but since my kids sometimes want to sit at the coffee table to do their homework, they each need a chair available that will fit this table.  They can merely grab one from behind the TV cabinet.
• My laptop is stored under or behind the couch, because that is where I like to sit when I am working. 
• I have a small clothes hamper in the stairwell leading to the basement, because my children will often leave dirty socks or I will have dirty rags on the main floor.  I need a place nearby to throw these clothes when I am cleaning so that I don't have to run upstairs to my own hamper.

You might be thinking that you can't do this because lots of items are used in more than one place.  This is true.  What happens is that there are a few occasions when I have to look in more than one place for an item.  But usually it can be found very quickly because there are only a few logical places where it might be, and if you can't find it, you don't have to turn the entire house upside down - either the item hasn't been put away or it has been put somewhere that it will be used, so just think where that could be.  My books, for example, might be on my bedside table, on the guest room bookshelf, or (as a last resort) on the bookshelf in the basement.  Children's books will either be still sitting out in plain sight where the person was last reading, or they will be on my daughter's bookshelf or my son's, or on the stairs leading to their rooms waiting to be put away.  I will either find the book sitting out on the bed, on the bookshelf, or I will step on it on my way to their rooms!  :-)  Either way, I will find what I need within moments of beginning my search.  Because each item has a logical home, I don't even have to remember where it "lives".  I just have to know what the item is and I can narrow my search to a few specific locations in my home.

One added benefit of this method is that cleaning is fast and simple.  When my house is a mess, it is because we have all just left our things right where we were using them.  Chairs are left by the coffee table, the laptop is on the couch, my Bible is on the table by the door where I dropped it when I came in the house, and my son's dirty clothes are on the floor.  Since the home for these items is near where they are used, clean-up is a snap - I just slide the laptop under the couch, put the chairs behind the TV, put my Bible in the cabinet beneath the table where I left it, and throw the dirty socks into the clothes hamper in the stairwell.  Two minutes and I'm done!

Next time - how to forget all of your appointments and still make it everywhere you need to be!

Balance your life!
Nora