Assigning Household Real Estate

On the day you moved into your home, with boxes stacked high and your possessions strewn about, the goal was likely to get items put away as quickly as possible. Years later, these items may still be squatting in the place where they landed way back then, efficient or not.

For an organized home, you need to assign space in a deliberate and conscious manner. Setting up supportive spaces takes a bit of thought and may require rethinking ideas about storage. A well-thought-out plan to allocate household real estate puts your space to work for you so that it functions efficiently.

To get started, you’ll need to know:

•  What activities each space hosts

•  What items and equipment are needed

•  What storage options are available

To craft a household storage plan, grab a notebook and take a walk around the house. Working room by room, quickly write down each activity that is carried out in that space.

Some rooms, such as bathrooms, have a single function—personal care. Other rooms, like family rooms, have a much longer list, such as watching television, reading, visiting with family and friends, playing with children, listening to music, and playing video games.

For each activity on your list, note the items you need to carry it out. For example, in the bathroom, personal care requires supplies such as shampoo, equipment such as electric razors or hair dryers, and items such as towels and bath mats.

Next, list available storage in each area. The bathroom has a towel rack, an under-sink cabinet, and a set of drawers, along with some space on the countertop. Evaluate whether you need to add more storage options. Note the places stuff currently overflows to get a feel for necessary improvements.

Finally, take a look at what doesn’t belong in the space. Out-of-place items steal space from the hard-working stuff you need to get the job done. These interlopers have to be relocated to a more appropriate home.

ROAD HAZARD

When assessing available storage, decorations can be your downfall. Pretty as they are, decorative items can be space hogs, crowding out access to the things you really need. To stay organized, send them to the back of the line. Add decorative items only after needed tools and supplies have been assigned a home where they need to be.

With an idea of what you have to work with, it’s time to get creative with how you can arrange the items you need to make this space work for you.

Location, Location, Location

When it comes to buying a house, real estate agents have a simple saying: “Location, location, location!” Just as your home’s value is largely dependent on how accessible it is to shopping, recreation, and work, storage spaces operate by the same principle—they are more or less desirable depending on where they’re located. Put this principle to work to store your stuff in an organized way.

Give storage spaces a letter grade to guide how you’ll use them. A storage spaces live life front and center: you can reach them without bending, stretching, or moving from the spot you’re working. In a bathroom, the counter and top drawer offer the most accessible storage areas, so reserve them for items used frequently, like hand soap, toothbrushes, and a razor.

Accessing B storage zones takes a little more work. If you have to bend over to open a drawer or stretch to reach an upper shelf, you’ve reached the B storage category. Stow things used often but not daily—like curling irons, manicure tools, or beard trimmers—in these less convenient zones.

C spaces are hard-to-reach locations reserved for items you don’t use very often. The far back of the cabinet under the sink qualifies as a C zone. Since you need to squat to reach this space, it’s the place to store once-in-a-blue-moon items like hair-coloring supplies and jewelry cleaner.

When making your storage plan, map out A, B, and C spaces for storing items according to frequency of use. Think daily, weekly, and monthly to match tools and equipment to the right storage space.

Hot Zones and Black Holes

Two other types of storage categories can be spotted in most homes: hot zones and black holes. Anchoring opposite ends of the space-efficiency spectrum, these special-case areas represent extremes of household storage. Hot zones are so convenient that they’re oversubscribed; black holes are so hard to reach that they’re nearly impossible to use.

Hot zones are created when worlds collide; they spring up where overlapping storage needs compete for a single space. The kitchen counter nearest the living area frequently takes on a hot zone identity, with piles of mail, lunchboxes, and a cellphone charger all laying claim to the space.

Cope with hot zones by sorting out the different functions that compete for space and by finding space for those activities elsewhere. To reclaim the kitchen counter for cooking, you’ll need to set up a family launch pad to corral lunchboxes and cellphones, and reroute the mail to an action file in the home office.

Once you’ve identified a hot zone, it’s a signal to be vigilant. These areas draw clutter like polyester attracts cat hair! To keep them free from clutter buildup, add a “hot zone sweep” to daily routines.

Black holes, on the other hand, are storage areas that have some quirk or shortcoming that makes them difficult to use. For example, in a narrow coat closet, a high shelf placed above the level of the door opening offers a lot of potential storage space but can be reached only through the narrow slot between shelf and wall. In a kitchen, black hole space arises in L-shaped cabinet areas. Their corner configuration means you have to bury yourself up to the hips in the cabinet to reach items stored there.

Treat black holes as independent storage areas unrelated to where they happen to be located. Make them home to seldom-used items that can fit in the oddly configured space. For that closet with the narrow opening, store pillows and cushions in it, since they can be compressed to fit through. The dark recesses of the kitchen black hole make a good home for bulky seasonal items like the turkey roaster and Thanksgiving serving platters. Diving in to retrieve them will become another holiday tradition!

SPEEDY SOLUTION

Make it easier to put things away than it is to get them out. Shifting the effort to the front end of the transaction puts human nature to work for you.