Launching and Landing

The door opens.  The kids come in from school. One backpack opens and papers come spilling out.  Lunch bags are thrown down, empty water bottles, coats, gloves.  The house that was clean only moments before is now strewn with worksheets and spelling test.  

. . .Or maybe you are headed out the door for preschool drop off when you remember that the library books are due.  Where are they?  The search begins.  

Whether we are coming or going organization is key. It saves time getting in and out as well as minimizes the chaos that occurs.  

I read in the book, "Project: Organization, Quick and Easy Ways to Organize Your Life," by Marie Ricks, that you should have a "launching and landing" place in your home.  

We were fortunate when we bought our house that there was an unfinished mudroom just off of the garage.  We were able to have it finished how we wanted and it has made coming and going much easier!  

Here are some important ideas for "launching and landing":

Have an assigned place for your keys.

Have a specific place for your coat and purse.  We each have our own hook.  It is easy to grab what we need on the way out the door and easy to put away. 

The thing I learned from Marie Rick's book was that you need a place for things that don't have a place.  When I took this picture the basket on the right is empty.  It is a basket for things that are temporily at our house.  This week I bought a baby gift for a friend that I put in the basket until I was able to go to her house and deliver it.  I also had some clothes to return so they were in the basket and I grabbed them on the way out the door to run errands.  This has been a trick that helps things from pilling up on my counters.  It is a temprary place for things that are only going to be in our house for a short time.  

The basket on the left is for library books.  In the picture we didn't have any library books, but those are the bags we take to carry our library books home in.  When the kids are finished reading a library book they promptly return it to the basket so that I can return them. 

The basket on the right is for gloves, hats, and winter stuff.  The basket on the left contains 6 small bags that the kids take to church with them.  Sunday morning before walking out the door we just grab their bags.  (The oldest kids add their scriptures).  For Ellie it has diapers, wipes, a few small books and a little toy or two.  For the other kids it has a notebook and something to write with.