High Traffic, Low Clutter

Anyone else have a "breakfast, hair-styling, backpack storing, clothing hamper and secondary mailbox" table?!

I am always striving to understand house patterns and looking for ways to simplify processes while keeping tidy spaces. It took some time to identify what specifically kickstarted chaos in high-traffic areas on a weekly basis. What I've learned is EVERY family member (even yours truly at times), has inconsistency with putting things back and tidying directly after a task. The first initiative was to be intentional about putting things back. This progressed into exploring the root cause; moving into spaces incomplete... If we are fortunate to have a place to call our own, chances are, we have a bedroom or personal spaces to complete getting dressed and sprucing. The NEW RULE we all should follow: "Completing personal checklists shouldn't begin or end in high traffic spaces within the home."

Become successful at this by:

• Getting 100% Ready before breakfast or moving to daily tasks

• During nightly shutdown or before bedtime, have a quick "put-back" session with the intention of putting up personal belongings that have been left behind and/or putting away dirty laundry from the days activities.

• Create new spaces for the items that frequently migrate to common areas due to community use, consistent need in daily routines or that are better suited to be placed in high traffic areas for convenience.

The Benefits:

If you are anything like me, it is a struggle to be optimally productive in clutter and confusion. By creating this initiative and sticking to it, you can experience the peace that comes with calming spaces and assurance from knowing the whereabouts of belongings consistently; Not to mention the feelings of accomplishments from keeping things together as a way of life! I love this for us!

Bonus: We'll crack the code on why it takes many of us three business days to fold and put away laundry, ha, ha!! But seriously, one task at a time : )