Yvonne Glasgow
If you find yourself always in search of missing items in your home, setting up drop spots is a great way to ensure that things are where you expect them to be. Here’s how.
What does a drop spot look like? A drop spot is just a designated area for a selected thing. While most of us have drop spots, without even realizing it (like we put shoes by the back door or in a shoe closet) expanding the concept throughout your home makes it so you can find other things as quickly as you find your shoes. There’s a benefit to having at least one drop spot in every room!
The Front Hall
The front hall is a great place to have a couple of drop spots. You need someplace to “drop” your coat, scarf, bag, or purse. Using a coat rack or attaching something on the wall with fancy hooks for hanging things will be just as useful as a table for your keys and gloves.
When it comes to table drop spots, think about the fact that things can sometimes fall off the table and that more than one person may be dropping their stuff in that same space. Keep some wicker or cloth bins on the table, or keep some under as well (depending on how many people live in your home). You can even put name tags on them, so each person knows which bin is theirs (making finding your own matching pair of gloves much easier when you only have your own items to dig through each morning).
The Living Room
Remotes aren’t the only living room centered items that could use a drop spot, while they too need a safe home where they can easily be found (rather than lost in couch cushions). While you’re in the living room, you may want a place for your phone and even your reading glasses as well. Find something that has room for remotes, gadgets, and more.
If you have a long coffee table, placing a fancy bin of some kind on one end, or even underneath, offers a handy place to put the things you want to find at a moment’s notice. If you have pets or kids, you may want to have this storage spot up on top of your entertainment center, out of the way of gnawing teeth and tiny hands.
Your Bedroom
If your nightstand is often cluttered with all of the things you need beside you at night, like lip balm and your wedding band, this is another excellent place to put a catchall dish of some kind. It will keep your stuff organized, and you won’t have to worry about your ring getting lost, your lip balm rolling onto the floor and under the bed, or being able to find your reading glasses when you want to read until you fall asleep.
The Dining Room
Some things have a steady home in the dining room. Instead of cluttering the center of your dining room table with napkins and condiments, take a tip from restaurants and purchase a table caddy. You can find a fun assortment of them, which will allow you to pick one that perfectly fits your dining room decor.
The Kitchen
If you don’t have a spice rack, you don’t have to get one. Not everyone uses enough spices to fill an entire rack. However, it is likely you find the few you have, along with some other basic kitchen ingredients cluttering your counter.
Instead of losing a foot of counter space to kitchen clutter, get a rotating organizer for your counter. This gives you an easy place to toss the salt and pepper while leaving counter space for food prep and serving.
The Bathroom
Not everyone is blessed with a spacious bathroom with room for all their necessities. If you have items that you’re always searching for, like nail clippers and files, keep them in a small basket on the counter or the back of the toilet. This puts that right out in the open and easy to get to but keeps them in a safe storage place so that they don’t end up in the toilet or cluttering the counter.
Catch-alls and drop spots are must-haves in organized homes. You can control your clutter if you find the right place to put it!
