Everything Needs to have a Home

When you get home from the grocery store, do you just leave the groceries in the bags and just take the food out of them when you need it? Why not? I know a lot of people do that for laundry. They leave it in the basket and just pick out a t-shirt or a pair of socks when they need them. Or the leave a stack of mail on the counter and just pick out a bill or a letter when they need them. Why don't we do that with groceries?

Obviously part of it is that some food will spoil and needs to be stored in the fridge or freezer to protect it. But it's also that we were taught at a very young age that groceries need to be put away right away, every time. Plus there is a clear home for groceries. We have cupboards and pantries and shelves to put our food on.

You can develop these habits for other things as well. What you if treated your mail like you do your groceries and put it away in it's designated spots the moment you came into the house? Same thing with your laundry. Pretend there's a container of milk in there that's going to go sour if you don't get them into drawers right away.

Here's a great tip I picked up somewhere. When you lose something, the minute you find it, take it and put it back in the FIRST place you looked. That is it's natural home and if you keep it there, you'll always be able to find it.