I mean, semi-officially designated places you put things that are on their way to somewhere else, which you don’t want to actually take there at the moment? The idea being that the next person who happens to be going to the destination place will take care of finishing the delivery or maybe just the next stage of the journey.
We have them at both ends of all staircases and all exterior doors, plus at the ends of a rather inconvenient hallway that resulted from an awkward addition put on the house some decades ago.
So if you are coming down from the second floor, you automatically pick up anything sitting on the floor against the wall right at top step and bring it down with you. Same going the other way for items sitting on the lowest step of the staircase – those are launching pads,
If you know where the something belongs/is likely heading and it’s not too inconvenient, you deliver it there – like take the empty coffee mug back to the kitchen. Otherwise (where is the bottle of spot cleaner going?) you stick it on the landing pad, for example, a particular side table close to the foot of the staircase.
This was how it was done in my childhood home, and hubby adopted the habit when we got together. It’s always seemed just so ‘normal’ to me I barely gave it a thought until a houseguest remarked on it.
So how about your house? Do you have launch/landing pads? Or do you meticulously haul every single item all the way to its destination right away?
I live by myself at The Home, so I can’t count on anyone else to move anything anywhere. Or blame anyone else if I can’t find something.
What I do have is a landing place in each of my five-ish rooms (including the bathroom) to set things like my glasses, my phone, a pair of scissors, my quart-size water mug. IOW I don’t just take off my glasses and set them anywhere. If I’m in the bedroom they go on a table next to the door or when I’m going to bed, on the bedside table. I have a pair of scissors in every room (I got tired of always looking for them so I bought multiples) and in any room, the scissors will be in one of two places. My phone will be on the dining table, or next to my computer, or on the bottom shelf in the bathroom (I always put the phone there so if I-- God forbid-- fall, I’ll be able to reach the phone). If I ever do have to go from room to room looking for something, there is a finite number of spots to check.
It’s an interesting thought.
Personally I like to try to avoid ‘double moving’ if I can.
If possible, decide where something that is to be kept is going to go and put it there.
But my wife is an inveterate shuffler. But for domestic harmony, choose your battles wisely…
I do sometimes quietly move things to where they should probably be kept … but sshhh, don’t tell her.
LOL! Oh, too true! Hubby is forever putting tools on the front door launch pad for the “next time” he’s going to the garage … that likely stay there until the next time he needs that screwdriver for another task.
I can’t complain too loudly. I tend to default to the “out of sight, out of mind” pattern. If I don’t immediately put something I intend to return or loan to someone right there at the front door, it’s apt to languish untouched for weeks until the other person finally says “Hey, where’s my X???”
Oh, excellent point! I must waste a half hour a day hunting for my glasses. I know they’re here somewhere, probably within arm’s reach of my computer, but which of the zillion shelves/cubbies/drawers…
This! At your computer desk there is one reserved spot for glasses. And nothing else ever goes on that magic glasses spot.
A lot of disorganization behavior stems from clutter. When every flat surface has to do triple duty as you juggle your crap from spot to spot, treasure hunts become inevitable.
When every spot is home for exactly one thing and every thing has exactly one home, treasure hunts magically disappear from your life.
We don’t, nor does everything get put away. We live with some clutter. I’m okay with that. I actually feel a little uncomfortable in places that are too tidy. I feel like I’m the thing that’s out of place.
Like @ThelmaLou I live alone and fairly small. So my admonishments about a place for everything and everything in its place are mostly my lived reality. Have at least as many places as you have stuff and it’s easy.
I have one launching spot near the door for stuff that needs to go outside next time I do. And one spot near the center of the house for “This is out to remind me of something related to it.” Like leave the glass cleaner sitting there to remind me I need to wipe down the mirror soon.
Things to go Up are at the bottom of the stairs. Things to go Down are at the top. Old spare reading glasses in most rooms so I can find my good reading glasses if I set them somewhere accidentally. Basket under the dining table to corral my stuff.
My answer is: not by design, but ends up happening anyway because (a) I live in a two-storey house, and (b) I’m sufficiently old and decrepit that I insist on holding on to the banister with one hand when going up or down. This typically means that any cargo that comes with me has to be carried in one hand.
Having the laundry room upstairs in the same level as the bedrooms has been a blessing, but it also means that a big container of liquid detergent or whatever is left at the bottom of the stairs to be schlepped up by the next available free hand or paw. I also tend to leave things in the garage that are not immediately needed. I’m in the habit of always garaging the car so that’s where it gets unloaded from shopping trips.
As for multiple food items, like the toast and coffee I like to consume while sitting in front of the computer upstairs, the nice wooden tray I got recently has also been a blessing. It has two handles on either side as typical, but can be held securely in one hand by the center edge while I fiercely grip the banister on my way up!
Yup. We have a chest of drawers near the top of the stairs that serves as a staging post for things that need to go downstairs. And it works well. When I leave a room, I grab things to go down and put them on top of the drawers, then when I later go downstairs, I automatically check and bring as much as I can carry. 85% less mugs left to fester in bedrooms.
Things to go upstairs are less-conveniently left on a step.
Because I’m horribly disorganised, I try to make everything as easy as possible. Wastepaper basket in every room, so you don’t have to take rubbish anywhere. Recycling box upstairs and downstairs for the same reason. Cleaning materials in every bathroom. Hairbrushes for upstairs and downstairs (they’re still missing half the time).
I have a tray where my keys and wallet go, so it is natural to put anything small that needs to go out in that tray.
And when tidying up, there are a couple of…I’d call them something like “staging areas” where everything that needs to go to a particular room is collected.
But I’d guess both of these are pretty much what everyone does.
Same. And tissues in every room. I find it weird visiting people’s houses and finding that so many things require going back to the kitchen. I get the minimalist aesthetic, but I’d find it a pain for anywhere that I spend significant time.
Absolutely. The most important is a bookcase near the front door - things that should leave the house (mail to mail, books to return, etc.) go on the “going out” corner of that bookcase, and we check that spot before we leave the house to see if there’s a chore we should be adding to the trip out
Yep - we have an open kitchen with a wide ledge between living area, hallway to my bedroom also with ledge.
So things heading to my area, including my motorcycle gear area get parked on that side.
Drugs etc heading to bathroom end up on the kitchen ledge facing the living area.
Food or drink etc heading to the living/eating area starts on the ledge then migrates appropriately.
Motorcycle area, keys always land on a specific shelf and always a struggle to make sure I have the all the gear on from boots to helmet in the correct order.
Partner has a wide cabinet at waist height that gathers all her keys, remotes, spare change.
Then dog has her own staging area for collars and chains etc.
I drive ex-nurse partner crazy by misplacing things.
Yes. We do the upstairs/downstair trade off. Of just household stuff. About every 2 days my daughter goes on a toy rage. She dumps the stair baskets and starts pulling cushions and dragging a broom underneath things and makes the kids sort them and take them upstairs. Thats always a fun hour or two. Gah!
I have a regular laundry room down stairs. I have a closet laundry upstairs. Don’t use it often, anymore. I loved it when the kids were babies. Saved lots of steps. It now takes any bulky pillows or quilts that the linen closet hasn’t room for.
The downstairs laundry and mud room are the landing areas for things coming from outside. If they go thru the garage the mudroom gets it.
Anywhere else, the laundry room.
I don’t like things left right around a door. But we do have a shoe bench by the back door. That often gets out of hand. So I OCD it back into shape unless I can convince kids to do it for me. (Still missing one pink and blue swirly pattern Croc)
One end of the island catches mail. Everyone looks thru it as they pass by.
At the end of the day if any sale papers or junk mail is left it gets put in the burn barrel.
No, but we should. We are quite disorganised and we easily accumulate clutter in various places. We do have a spot where our recycling waits for our 9 year old to take it out to the bin.
I have places at the bottom of the stairs/top of the stairs, by the garage door. It is not necessarily for the next person to take it, but more usually when I am going up/down or into the garage. So I would considering them staging areas rather than landing/launching pads.
Though when I go from one house to another, I sometimes put things on the launch pad, which is right next to the spaceship… ummm make that the car yes car… for it to be loaded for the next trip between the 2 locations.
