Home Organization Challenge-Day 6 The Time Saving Trick You’ll Th

Okay, I’m starting to sound like a crazy internet headline generator. But seriously, did you know that if you spend just 15 minutes each weekday searching for things in your home, car or office, you’ll lose 60 hours a year? It’s true. Many people spend much more than 15 minutes looking for things each and every day, so today I’m going to share some tips and one major trick to keeping your searching down to a minimum. Consider those items you misplace the most. Historically for me, it was my phone, my keys and my purse. The trick is to put these items where you’re going to be looking for them when you need them. Here’s where I put my phone, my purse and my keys every time I walk in the house, so I know they’ll be there when I need them next:

1. My Phone. This is honestly the most challenging one because I listen to a lot of podcasts so I end up hauling the phone through every room of the house. But, if I have to find it I will usually find it charging in the kitchen, in my purse or on my bedside table. (The earbuds are another story, I’m still always losing those, but I’m starting to get in the habit of putting them on my bedside table when I know I’m done with them.)

2. My Purse. Several years ago, I asked Roland to mount this horsehead hook on my old oak desk. I’ve always been a horse lover and my mom gave me that hook back in 1984. That’s the drop zone for my purse and/or tote bag when I get home. This is handy and it looks really nice.

3. My Keys. One of the first things we did after moving in to this house was to mount a coat hook on the wall next to the door leading from the garage to the house. It’s second nature to put the keys there when we get home.

These are simple ideas you can start tonight! If you don’t have a hook for your keys, just hammer a nail into the wall of the garage. If you walk in through the front door, use a small bowl on your entry table and train yourself to drop the keys there every day. Make a list of the three places you’d look for your phone if you lost it and then start training yourself to leave your phone there. Does your purse or wallet ever get lost in the shuffle? Determine the one place it can be easily found by you in your home and put it there every day. Before long you’ll start developing habits that save you time every single day.