Putting things back......

Second... They put things back. Whenever an item has been removed from its assigned home, it is used for whatever reason and then immediately returned to its home when no longer in use. There are no temporary holding places. It's just put back where it belongs, right away."

Easier said than done, right?! As suggested in item #1, start putting the things back that you have organized a place for. I'm sure many of you have places that are established for certain items that you can start training yourself and others to put things back. There's a fun little thing you can do....in the most used place, like the drawer where the scissors or tape or pencils are, hide a little treat in that place. When you see a family member using that item, you can secretly say, "I bet when you put that back where it goes, you'll find a little treat." It's amazing what success you will have. You can even leave yourself a little treat...like chocolate. Great things for kids, if you're not into a sugary reward, nickels, dimes, coupon for a walk with mom or dad, etc....

I use to think that the "staircase basket" was a ingenious idea....well, after 19 years of having kids in my house, I've finally realized that the "staircase basket" has a built in feature. The minute you place an item in the basket to be taken upstairs , it turns invisible to the passer by. Yep, invisible, and the only one that can see it is you. And you end up putting everything away upstairs. Unless your basket is always invisible and you don't take it upstairs either. That is called temporary storage that ends up becoming permanent.

Start now by putting back the items you know where they go. It takes 22 days to make a habit. Surely you have 22 things to put back in those 22 days. I know I do! Good luck!

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