Wait! I Forgot My Phone
Wait! I Forgot My Phone
It’s hard to get out of the house sometimes. Our guest blogger, Christina Martin, of YouRelaunched has some great thoughts on the subject.
Let’s say you are on your way out the door to go to the grocery store or pick up the kids from school. Do you waste minutes looking for your keys, cell phone, or purse? Or do you get in your car, only to realize that you forgot your sunglasses, and have to run back inside to grab them?
Annoying, isn’t it? That used to be me, over and over again. If I had a dollar for every minute I spent looking for my cell phone…
So how do I get around this?
I created a “GO” area in my mud room. A what? A “Going Out” spot where I put my purse, cell phone, and keys. I keep my cell phone charger in the same place too. And when I get home, every item goes back where it belongs.
You can create these stations for everyone in your household. Your kids should have a place where their book bags, shoes, and lunch boxes can be placed. Even your husband can have a dedicated spot for his wallet and keys.
The idea is to have centralized locations that are used over and over again. You also inadvertently end up planning ahead of time for your trip, and including other items in your GO area, such as coupons, a camera, or a diaper bag.
Your Homework: Create a GO area in your home
Where is the best place for you and your family to create your own GO area? In your foyer? Kitchen? Mud Room? Wherever you choose, make sure it is easily accessible but can still be kept orderly and organized. It can be as simple as clear plastic containers kept on a shelf. Or maybe you have a drawer unit or large shelving system. Regardless of the avenue, it only works if you use it faithfully. Give it a try!
Here’s to living your life filled with passion, purpose, and positive thinking!
And to never say, “Wait! I forgot my phone” again!
I hope you have enjoyed today’s blog post, written by my special guest, Christina Martin, of YouRelaunched. For more information about Christina, please visit her website.
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
I have a go area where I keep keys and my sunglasses, but I’d never put my phone – I use it too much!
I try to not use my phone “after-hours” so I do put it away in my drop zone.
Having zones, ‘homes,’ and “GO” areas are essential for keeping organized. I’m admittedly obsessive about putting things back in their designated homes. When I take my car/house keys out, I won’t put them down unless they are put away in their spot in my purse. The phone has it’s docking place, too. They are all conveniently located which makes it impossible to forget to take them or put them away. It makes like less stressful.
I was successful in setting a place for my husband and me to put all receipts when we walked in the door. I say successful because my husband is a “Put it down, not put it away” kind of guy. I think if you make the system as easy as possible it has more possibility of working.
I, too, have a Go area in my foyer for my kids, and for me, it is in a small cabinet in my kitchen off the foyer. If I need to bring something back to the car, I place the item in the cabinet with my other Go items. It works well, and I remember it most of the time. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
It seems that all us organizers know the benefits of setting up a launching pad, so we are never without what’s needed.
I call this my “staging area,” and we all have one.
Mine is on the counter near where the keys are. If my husband is out of town, I’ll put things right under the keys. When he is in town, he tends to use this spot, so I move over a little. I charge my phone in only two places in my home, one of which is near my staging area. I have to really make myself put things back here or I am likely to walk out the door without something critical. I don’t get far without my phone or keys, but I can easily forget other things.
I also have a “special trip” staging area, where I put things that I’m gathering for a vacation or trip. This helps me because I often think about things I want to take at a time other than when it is time for me to pack LOL. My staging area for this need is a dining room chair.
I started using a space on a shelf in my office as a staging area. It works because I’m always there in the morning, before leaving for the day. So it works for me.
I have a GO area (for clients, I often call it a launch pad), but while it’s not all together, it forms a straight line. If I leave the house, I have to pass my desk (where my glasses are), my phone (which I take off the charger and walk two steps to my purse), passing by my work bag (if I’m headed to a client) and my keys are right above my purse, so it all comes together because I take one step more and there are my shoes at the top of the stairs. Downstairs is nothing but my umbrella and the door knob! I can’t imagine taking one step down the stairs without having all of it.
While, officially, all of these things are in different “rooms,” my apartment is small enough that from the glasses to the phone to the work bag to the purse and keys to the shoes is 5 or 6 steps (depending on whether they are “mommy” steps or “baby” steps). It’s really one big room, semi-divided.
Everything has to have a home or nothing makes sense. When I’m in a hotel, I create a zone for all of these things, saying everything (except the shoes) on a towel on a flat surface near an outlet. The only place I’ve ever forgotten my phone (and only once) was at my sister’s, where I have to charge the phone far away from the only reasonable place to keep everything else. It’s annoying, but I’ve learned I need to put my purse in an inconvenient place and run the charger cord through the strap of my purse, so I can’t forget it.
You have created a routine that works for you. To keep it simple for clients that have the space I still would put everything in the same space, but we tend to work with disorganized people.