10/15 Drop Zone!

So today's challenge is working on your Drop Zone! I love drop zones, the space can also be called a command center, mud room, or if you want to be fancy the owners suit. Usually is in a place that everyone can see and uses! I call it the drop zone because everyone in my family, including me, comes in and drops everything we are bringing into the house in this spot.If you don't have a spot for all of this yet, then you might be using your kitchen table, or kitchen island as your drop zone, which might be driving you crazy when its time to eat dinner!  Our drop zone is right when we come in from the garage. It's not a large space, but it is in the perfect spot of the house, and I added things that we needed to allow it to have a home for all of the things I wanted to keep in this area!

First thing you need to do after you have cleaned everything out and decided what you are keeping, you need to make a home for everything you want in this room. Then you will need to have patience and teach everyone to put it there when not in use. It will take a little bit, but they will get the hang of it! Don't do it for them either, they can be reminded to put their items where they go here!!

Hooks are great for when you are in a hurry, or if you have kids! They can easily put their things on a hook, instead of the floor! Hangers for some reason cause some people to have a mental block, and they just don't get used. Make sure you keep the hooks at their level, or you will have the same problem- they won't get used. Light backpacks can be hung up, but as they get older their backpacks get heavy, and I don't want them to pull the hook out of the wall, so we have a bench that they put them on, and above that is where the adults can hang their coats quickly, if they are planning on using them again that day! 

School Papers, and Important papers;

I keep all of the kids school paperwork here. They are older so they know exactly what to do with whatever is in their backpacks! We have had this system since they started kindergarten, and it has worked all the way through to high school! I am a scrapbooker so I like to keep all of their papers and one a year I go through them and take the ones I like and add it to their school albums. I just use a magazine holder to keep all of the paperwork! When they are young it avoids so many hurt feelings, because they never find their work in the trash!!

You could also keep your mail in this area. I do not keep it here, because of the other systems I have in place for mail. Day 14 will be for mail organization and I will fill you in on all of my tips and tricks that I use then! 

Shoes are always a problem in a house that has a NO SHOE policy! They can quickly clutter up the drop zone, or any other door in the house. I have placed a large bucket under the backpack bench that holds the shoes. I have added a rule, that you can not have more than 2 pairs of shoes in it at one time, otherwise it gets so cluttered that you can't find what you are looking for and all of the shoes get taken out to find what one person is looking for! A family of 5 with 2 pairs of shoes each creates a lot of shoes! I also allow them to keep a pair of slippers and flip flops at the back door box. Sometimes you need quick access to shoes to run out the trash, or say hi to a neighbor!!

Back door shoe bucket!

And finally we do have a closet that holds extra coats, living in Colorado you need more than one coat, and sometime you need more than one in a day! So I have heavy snow coats, rain coats, and vests, down in this closet. Other coats go in our closets, up in our rooms! I also hung this "toy organizer", from Ikea, on the inside of the door. This holds hats and gloves for the kids. Remember to make it easy for them to use, if they can access it easily then they can also put it away! I also keep our extra folding chairs and table in here, so they are easy to get to and use when we have extra company over. The plastic bins have outdoor sports equipment, like soccer balls and baseball gloves.  The other bin holds extra serving trays and holiday kitchen decor, again easy access when needed, but out of the way for when it is not needed!