Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!
In today’s 5 minutes we’re going to organize the things that need to leave your house.
Right, let’s get to it.
Day 19: Organize Your Outgoing Space
Step 1: Gather together any items that need to be taken out of your home, such as:
- DVDs to return to the video store
- Library books
- Items you’ve borrowed from friends
- Things that need to be taken somewhere for repair
- Clothes or linens that need to be dry cleaned
- A gift for an upcoming party, wedding or housewarming
- An umbrella to leave in the car
- Items for errands; etc.
Step 2: Choose a convenient spot near the door for these items. If there’s nothing already available, you could:
- Move a small table to an appropriate position near the door
- Clear a shelf in a hallway closet
- Liberate a deep drawer in a hall table.
Step 3: Place your outgoing items in their new position, so you can check one convenient place whenever you’re heading out. Make it a habit to check this spot as you leave – you’ll ‘remember’ things more often and feel much more organized.
And you’re done!
Got an Extra 5 Minutes?
Consider what else you could do to make your outgoing space an organized zone:
- Install hooks for keys?
- Add a pen and post-it pad so you can write due dates on library books and borrowed DVDs?
- Put up a checklist of things to remember when you leave – perhaps:
– Purse, phone, keys – for you?
– Schoolbag, lunch, homework – for the kids?
Now how organized is that!
The 30-Day Organize-athon Mantra
Move fast. Don’t overthink. Let it go!
Leave Your Comment Below…
Please leave your comment below to say you’ve completed today’s task.
See you tomorrow!
[Image by aussiegall]
Done. I’ve used the same spot as my outgoing space for a while so I just collected everything that needs to “launch” & put it there.
Done 🙂
This couldn’t have come on a more perfect day!
Done 🙂
My “outgoing” space is cluttered. This was very helpful
This will cost me… a fancy dress to the dry cleaner: 40$. Winter boots to get repaired for next year: 14$. Backpack to get repaired: 5$. Two pairs of pants to get shortened by a seamstress: 10$.
Plus books to return, food to give to food bank, stuff I purged to give to friends, etc. I know where my stuff is, but I will all place it in my front closet.
And I already have a white board, which is a simple window in a wood frame, that I put my checklist on. Plus what is missing in the house (e.g. husband’s bus pass, toy pieces, etc.)
Done!
HAHA…I did this this morning as taking kids to school….before even reading this!!
Done 😉
Seemed like my whole living room was for outgoing. will take on way to work.
I have to admit I am a cheapskate on this one. I save containers from meats, whipped toppings and margarine for my food storage. I also have them stored in cardboard display boxes that you find at Aldi’s. There is one box for the lids and one box for the containers. These two boxes sit on a shelf in my pantry where they can be easily matched and used. As the containers become grimey, I use them to pour the fat from my deep fryer, freeze it, then toss the entire container and fat into the trash for recycling. Sometimes I will use the fat for gravies, etc.
done
Done!!
done and a great idea, thanks
This is the one thing that I generally keep up with the best. We have a spot in the main room and place the ‘things to go’ there. They are taken care of quickly
done!!
Thanks for reminding me about that library video. We have an “outgoing” shelf on a bookcase near the door, and this area of our home is pretty together. But I did have one thing missing, now it’s … DONE!
I set up my front entry this way a few years ago and it functions well. There is a bench for outgoing, Yesterday I washed the rugs and cleaned well, and put everything back this morning. Now if winter would loosen it’s grip so I can put away the winter coats, it would look great.
Done.
done! pleased my outgoing pile was actuallyt pretty small!
This one was hard. I don’t have much space by the door we all enter and exit….obviously where this space needs to be. I made a make shift spot but am going to be on the lookout for a slim table which would work much better!!!