And How to Stop Losing Them in the First Place!
You’re not alone if you’ve ever wasted more time than you’d like looking for your car keys.
Americans spend an average of two hours each week looking for misplaced goods in their house, according to a new survey. That adds up to more than 100 hours a year of rummaging under couch cushions and mountains of debris to find misplaced objects. For some, the amount of time dedicated to searching is even greater: 27 percent spend two hours or more looking for belongings in their house, the survey found
To save time, and reduce frantic hunts for missing items, follow these strategies to keep your possessions in their proper places and get your home better organized at the same time.
Organize Your Home’s Entryway
Create a ‘Command Central’ area where you keep keys, handbags, backpacks, cell phones, and other important items you need on a daily basis.
Set up this station by the entrance/exit door that your family members use the most. Also add some new organizational tools to make it work. You could use a tray for glasses or keys, a basket for electronics or phones, and drawers for smaller items.
To get started: consider buying a wooden cubby storage unit, storage bench, or wall shelves.
Check Those Cluttered Spaces First
While lost items are always discovered hiding in the last place you look, if you start with the most cluttered parts of your home you might find what you are looking for in the first place you look.
A study from University of Aberdeen in Scotland found that the brain tends to automatically search for things in the cleanest area first. This is counterintuitive since if the lost item was in a clean area, you would probably see it right away, and it wouldn’t be missing!
Instead, go straight for the most cluttered piles of stuff in your home, where your missing item is most likely buried. It might take a bit more effort, but at least you might clean up a little in the process and hopefully find what you are looking for sooner.
Better still, once you have found what you are looking for, make a note to come back and start working on decluttering the space as soon as possible.
Create a Reminder System
To keep track of an important piece you only use once or twice a year, make a note on your calendar with a reminder alert scheduled for several days before you need the item.
For example, if you bring out an Elf on the Shelf for your kids each year, create a note that includes information about where it is stored and when you need it.
If you have things stashed away in a self-storage unit, closet, or attic, keep an inventory list of those items. After a while, you might forget exactly what you have put into storage and end up rebuying an item that you already have!
Make Your Home Spaces Work Better for You
Lots of people think of decluttering and home organization primarily as ways to make the spaces in their home look better. Which they do, but there’s more to it all than that. The way you organize your spaces can help make them work better for you, a well as generally improve their overall appearance.
For example, when organizing your dressing area and closet, think about how you like to find pieces. If you love open spaces and neat arrangements, organize your wardrobe to reflect that perspective. Open shelves and cubbies make it easier to see each garment and should speed up your morning nicely.
And if you prefer everything in one spot, but not folded perfectly, consider cabinets with doors. When you’re looking for a shirt, you can open up the cabinet and search through the spot to get the one you have in mind.
Try to Make it Automatic
Establishing routines and leaving items in the same place minimizes ‘misplaced’ items.
Again here’s an example: If you keep all the clothes you regularly wear, along with accessories such as belts and scarves, in the same closet, you’ll have a central spot to get ready in the morning. Set up a habit to fold and put away clothes there as soon as possible after they come out of the dryer.
Another big time sink for many? Finding their wallet/keys/phone. If you put items like your cell phone or wallet in the same spot in the first place, you are less likely to put it somewhere else and lose track of it.
Search Sensibly
When your wallet is nowhere to be found, and you’re about to leave for the store, your first instinct may be to frantically rummage through the entire house.
Before you do, sit down, relax, and clear your mind. Take a deep breath. To carry out a successful search, I always recommend following the “Three C’s,” which consist of comfort, calmness and confidence.
Once you begin your search, if you don’t find it in the usual spots, think back carefully. Mentally envision all the places you have been since you last remember having the object.
Try to remember where you last saw the item. If that doesn’t work, retrace your steps and go to each place you ever remember seeing the object in your home.
It’s important, while following your trail, to do so in a slow, calm, watchful, meticulous manner. That way you’ll stay calmer, the item will be found faster, and you won’t end up creating more confusion and clutter with a frantic search.
Be Open to Learning
Some people feel like they are fated to be people who always lose and misplace things. But they are not. Anyone can be organized if they are willing to put in the work to make home, office and/or life organization habits.
Working with a professional organizer is a great first step. If you live in the Greater Houston area, we can work together in person, and I can physically help you organize your space so that these frantic hunts for lost items become a thing of the past.
However, if you don’t, I can still help. A virtual organization consult allows us to work together via the magic of Zoom (or whatever other video conferencing method you prefer) more effectively than you might have ever thought possible.
Ready to get started? Book an appointment here.
Working with Taya and her team is easy. You can book an appointment easily on her website, or contact her directly at 832-271-7608
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