My latest organization project: creating a better clutter-reducing scheme for the kitchen. The first flat space you see when you enter our house is the kitchen island, which functions as our house's control center. What does this mean? The kitchen island becomes the repository for everything we're in the middle of. All the odds and ends of our lives magically flow downhill and end up there. Convenient, but not attractive. (Since the island is the center of the house, when it's cluttered the whole house seems like it's a mess.)
Instead of clearing things off ten times a day, I decided to change my tactics completely. Instead of sorting out flotsam and jetsam, I decided to just create a place to absorb it. Enter wooden bowl. Now whenever there is clutter on the counter, it takes 2 seconds to sweep it into the bowl. Behold, clean counter and no time wasted. Brilliant.
My other organization breakthrough: baskets for our entry cubbies. Similar problem: these cubbies were made for clutter. But the clutter just looked so... cluttering. It took me a long time to find baskets that were exactly the right size (these cubbies are almost two feet deep and apparently only one person in the world makes a basket of the required length and width).
I don't have a picture, but we also installed hooks on the other side of the cubbies for guests' jackets which also tend to end up on the island. (Do I sound overly protective of my island? Hmmmm....)
