Always Have What You Need When You Arrive Where You"re Going: Let Your "Launching Pads" Do
"Launching pads" are among my favorite organizing tools because if you work with them, they work with you -- and save your bacon time and time again.
To see how they could work for you, let's first imagine a scenario: Picture yourself and the others in your household walking through the door that you normally use when you enter your home.
It's dinner time.
Everyone's been gone since the morning, and they're loaded down like pack animals with all the accoutrements of their respective days.
Before you can even think about breaking the leftovers-for-dinner-again news to them, backpacks, briefcases, purses, groceries, wallets, diaper bags, dry cleaning, gym clothes, shoes, hockey sticks, keys, coats, glasses, school books, the dog's leash, the dog, spare change, more shoes, purchases, the receipts those purchases generated, the newspaper, did I mention shoes?, the mail, and all manner of other burly, surly, and sundry items hit the floor, tables, chairs, benches, counter tops, and pretty much every other available horizontal surface that's within 10 feet of the door.
What's a person who's striving for organizational nirvana to do?! Well, I fear that you can't beat 'em, so you might as well join 'em: for the best results in clearing this kind of clutter, I suggest that you work with, rather than against, their natural tendencies and acquired habits.
Your secret solution just might be launching pads: they're the places to put everything that's coming or going, now or in the near future.
To start, think of where you and your loved ones tend to dump their daily loads, and then put something in those spots to catch the loads -- preferably one receptacle for each person.
It could be a table, shelf, basket, box, bin, bucket, bench, milk crate, tote, tray, rug, carpet square, chair, chest, cart, stand, taboret, row of hooks, designated closet shelf, authorized section of kitchen counter top, or any other thing you can think of that marks the place where you "launch" yourself when you leave, and where you deposit your stuff when you "re-enter your atmosphere.
" After that, inform your housemates that they now have predictable, logical, and safe places to leave their belongings until the next time they leave the house.
(And then encourage compliance!) In addition to allowing your launching pads to provide safe harbor for shoes, hats, and coats (preferably on hooks, vs.
hangers -- it's easier); bags, purses, and backpacks of all stripes and types; homework, gym shoes, lunches, and musical instruments; and the large gear (whether that's football padding, a monster load of library books to return, an outgoing basket of dry cleaning, or a baby carriage)...
take it one step further.
Place a container at each person's launching pad to corral the small, but important pieces of life: wallets, cell phones, keys, glasses, sunglasses, pens, jewelry, spare change, lunch money, school ID cards, and the inevitable (and sometimes icky) detritus that resides in pockets.
This container could be a bowl, basket, jar, box, dish, mug, or cup, but like the launching pad itself, it provides safe harbor for the little things that count -- and as a result, you truly (and literally) won't need to "sweat the small stuff" anymore.
But wait -- there's more! If you really begin to groove on your launching pads, you can even set up tiny offices, teeny first-aid stations, and miniscule beauty parlors by adding a box or storage unit that holds some paper, a pen, a few paperclips, a roll of tape, and a small pair of scissors; some band-aids, tissues, and anti-bacterial cream; or a comb, mirror, and lipstick.
You could also put a wastebasket and recycling bin there so that when you arrive with the mail, you can open, sort, toss, recycle, and retain some of it before it gets any farther into the house.
The mail job is handled! And, for advanced users who've become experts at trusting their launching pads (they really won't let you down if you use them all the time), they can even function as a kind of communication device: the kiddos can leave permission slips that need to be signed, for example, at Mom's or Dad's launching pad; and the adults can, in turn, put those signed slips right back whence they came, all in plenty of time to make the school bus.
These might also be the places where you put phone messages, honey-do lists, and any other notes that you want to leave for family members.
Now, begin to make great use of your new launching pads.
Start placing everything you'll need when you leave tomorrow at your launching pad space today or tonight.
This might include items that your tickler file rendered for tomorrow, theater tickets, a camera, an umbrella, returns to make (with receipts, to be sure), a grocery list and coupons, checks to deposit at the bank, movies to return, or your outgoing mail.
Add things as they occur to you throughout the day and evening, rather than assuming that you'll remember them in the hectic morning hours.
(Trust me on that one.
) If you can't put a physical object there -- tomorrow's lunch yogurt that needs refrigerating, or the giant volcano science project that's still drying in the basement from its fifth layer of papier mâché -- leave a "place holder" note instead to remind yourself to grab it when you go.
You can also think a little more long term with a launching pad by viewing it as a "pending place" as well.
Put items there that you won't need tomorrow, but will need next week or next month: library books due back in two weeks, a birthday package to mail to Aunt Heloise next Friday, or an article to give to a friend when you see her on the first Wednesday of the month at your book club meeting.
These things aren't lost this way -- they're stored safely, in a logical place, ready for your future use.
Just be sure to put a note in your planner or tickler file to remind yourself to take them along on the appointed day.
With any luck -- and some well-placed coaching from you -- the rest of your family will begin to gather things that they'll need tomorrow or in the near future and place them at their individual launching pads.
Then, in the morning -- or two weeks from now -- they'll have what they need, when they need it, without the usual last-minute mad dashes hither, thither, and yon.
Household members will also know exactly where to put things when they arrive home so that those possessions don't wander all over and wreak havoc on the rest of the house.
And perhaps best of all, they'll start to see the beauty of your wisdom, to appreciate the improved way of life that has arrived with the advent of the launching pads, and to acknowledge you as the domestic superhero that you truly are.
There really isn't a down side to using launching pads, other than the fact that it may take a little while for everyone to form good, solid habits about using them.
But humor me and give them a try.
If you use launching pads as purposeful, intentional -- and the only -- places where incoming and outgoing stuff belongs; if you do not allow them to become random dumping grounds; and if you behave this way every day, very soon your launching pads will dramatically reduce those times when you can't find your keys, glasses, the tennis racket you need for your grudge match, and the report you're just certain you were reading in bed last night that needs to go back to the office.
Believe in the power of launching pads!
To see how they could work for you, let's first imagine a scenario: Picture yourself and the others in your household walking through the door that you normally use when you enter your home.
It's dinner time.
Everyone's been gone since the morning, and they're loaded down like pack animals with all the accoutrements of their respective days.
Before you can even think about breaking the leftovers-for-dinner-again news to them, backpacks, briefcases, purses, groceries, wallets, diaper bags, dry cleaning, gym clothes, shoes, hockey sticks, keys, coats, glasses, school books, the dog's leash, the dog, spare change, more shoes, purchases, the receipts those purchases generated, the newspaper, did I mention shoes?, the mail, and all manner of other burly, surly, and sundry items hit the floor, tables, chairs, benches, counter tops, and pretty much every other available horizontal surface that's within 10 feet of the door.
What's a person who's striving for organizational nirvana to do?! Well, I fear that you can't beat 'em, so you might as well join 'em: for the best results in clearing this kind of clutter, I suggest that you work with, rather than against, their natural tendencies and acquired habits.
Your secret solution just might be launching pads: they're the places to put everything that's coming or going, now or in the near future.
To start, think of where you and your loved ones tend to dump their daily loads, and then put something in those spots to catch the loads -- preferably one receptacle for each person.
It could be a table, shelf, basket, box, bin, bucket, bench, milk crate, tote, tray, rug, carpet square, chair, chest, cart, stand, taboret, row of hooks, designated closet shelf, authorized section of kitchen counter top, or any other thing you can think of that marks the place where you "launch" yourself when you leave, and where you deposit your stuff when you "re-enter your atmosphere.
" After that, inform your housemates that they now have predictable, logical, and safe places to leave their belongings until the next time they leave the house.
(And then encourage compliance!) In addition to allowing your launching pads to provide safe harbor for shoes, hats, and coats (preferably on hooks, vs.
hangers -- it's easier); bags, purses, and backpacks of all stripes and types; homework, gym shoes, lunches, and musical instruments; and the large gear (whether that's football padding, a monster load of library books to return, an outgoing basket of dry cleaning, or a baby carriage)...
take it one step further.
Place a container at each person's launching pad to corral the small, but important pieces of life: wallets, cell phones, keys, glasses, sunglasses, pens, jewelry, spare change, lunch money, school ID cards, and the inevitable (and sometimes icky) detritus that resides in pockets.
This container could be a bowl, basket, jar, box, dish, mug, or cup, but like the launching pad itself, it provides safe harbor for the little things that count -- and as a result, you truly (and literally) won't need to "sweat the small stuff" anymore.
But wait -- there's more! If you really begin to groove on your launching pads, you can even set up tiny offices, teeny first-aid stations, and miniscule beauty parlors by adding a box or storage unit that holds some paper, a pen, a few paperclips, a roll of tape, and a small pair of scissors; some band-aids, tissues, and anti-bacterial cream; or a comb, mirror, and lipstick.
You could also put a wastebasket and recycling bin there so that when you arrive with the mail, you can open, sort, toss, recycle, and retain some of it before it gets any farther into the house.
The mail job is handled! And, for advanced users who've become experts at trusting their launching pads (they really won't let you down if you use them all the time), they can even function as a kind of communication device: the kiddos can leave permission slips that need to be signed, for example, at Mom's or Dad's launching pad; and the adults can, in turn, put those signed slips right back whence they came, all in plenty of time to make the school bus.
These might also be the places where you put phone messages, honey-do lists, and any other notes that you want to leave for family members.
Now, begin to make great use of your new launching pads.
Start placing everything you'll need when you leave tomorrow at your launching pad space today or tonight.
This might include items that your tickler file rendered for tomorrow, theater tickets, a camera, an umbrella, returns to make (with receipts, to be sure), a grocery list and coupons, checks to deposit at the bank, movies to return, or your outgoing mail.
Add things as they occur to you throughout the day and evening, rather than assuming that you'll remember them in the hectic morning hours.
(Trust me on that one.
) If you can't put a physical object there -- tomorrow's lunch yogurt that needs refrigerating, or the giant volcano science project that's still drying in the basement from its fifth layer of papier mâché -- leave a "place holder" note instead to remind yourself to grab it when you go.
You can also think a little more long term with a launching pad by viewing it as a "pending place" as well.
Put items there that you won't need tomorrow, but will need next week or next month: library books due back in two weeks, a birthday package to mail to Aunt Heloise next Friday, or an article to give to a friend when you see her on the first Wednesday of the month at your book club meeting.
These things aren't lost this way -- they're stored safely, in a logical place, ready for your future use.
Just be sure to put a note in your planner or tickler file to remind yourself to take them along on the appointed day.
With any luck -- and some well-placed coaching from you -- the rest of your family will begin to gather things that they'll need tomorrow or in the near future and place them at their individual launching pads.
Then, in the morning -- or two weeks from now -- they'll have what they need, when they need it, without the usual last-minute mad dashes hither, thither, and yon.
Household members will also know exactly where to put things when they arrive home so that those possessions don't wander all over and wreak havoc on the rest of the house.
And perhaps best of all, they'll start to see the beauty of your wisdom, to appreciate the improved way of life that has arrived with the advent of the launching pads, and to acknowledge you as the domestic superhero that you truly are.
There really isn't a down side to using launching pads, other than the fact that it may take a little while for everyone to form good, solid habits about using them.
But humor me and give them a try.
If you use launching pads as purposeful, intentional -- and the only -- places where incoming and outgoing stuff belongs; if you do not allow them to become random dumping grounds; and if you behave this way every day, very soon your launching pads will dramatically reduce those times when you can't find your keys, glasses, the tennis racket you need for your grudge match, and the report you're just certain you were reading in bed last night that needs to go back to the office.
Believe in the power of launching pads!
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