Welcome to Day 5 of 31 Days of 15 Minute Organizing
Today’s organizing challenge is super simple but will save you time from making multiple trips around the house distributing things to different rooms. You can use as many baskets, bins, or totes as you like, but if you have the space, one for each child works best. We are renting right now and short on space so the boys share one bin and our daughter gets a bin to herself. I have them by the stairs which is also by the back door. Since they slide under the bench you don’t really notice them.
Create Lost and Found Baskets
You can use containers you already have, but pick a convenient place for everyone. Under a bench will work well if you already have one. If you have space close to stairs or even by the back door that will also work. Depending on how your house is set up will depend on where you place the containers. Just pick a spot that will work best for you and your family.
The kids are suppose to pick up their own things daily, but having things left out or overlooked isn’t unusual. If I find something of theirs laying around I place it in a bin and it’s their responsibility to put it where it belongs. Most of the time they check the bins before they go to bed or if they’re missing something, but some nights I still have to remind them to put their things away.
The bins are out in the open so the kids are reminded to put their things away but they’re also partially out-of-sight under the bench. Gather a couple containers to use as your lost and found baskets today. Take a few minutes at the end of the day to put everything away.
Find any of the posts you missed on the 31 Days of 15 Minute Organizing Landing Page
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See you tomorrow for the next post in the series 31 Days of 15 Minute Organizing: Linen Closet
Pin it for later: Create Lost and Found Baskets
What a great idea. This would work well with my large family.
Great idea! I usually have piles on the stairs for them to take to their rooms or down to the rec room, but somehow my kids seem to walk past those. A basket or bin for each of them to put away regularly might work better. Thanks!
Love this idea! I wish I could even take it a step further and have a bin for each room in the house…. 🙂
I like this idea. I don’t have a good spot for a bench, but I could put a fabric box on the bottom step of our stairs. That’s the big offender in our house, stuff that is supposed to be upstairs but ended up downstairs and when I find it I can’t run it up the stairs right then! A designated spot for those things would be helpful.
I have a nice basket on my stairs for each of my 3 kids and 1 for random upstairs items. I made cute tags with each of my children’s names on their own basket. When I find stuff around the house I put it in whoever’s basket it is and it is their responsibility is to bring it up and put it away. It has really limited the clutter downstairs and my children are learning how to be responsible with their stuff and to put it away.