It's a busy travel season and many of you will be coming home from vacations and trips with all sorts of stuff. You actually do this everyday. If you are like me, you feel like you are moving everytime you leave the house! I group trips together so it's not unusual for me to have a gym bag, professional items and a purse with me, plus possibly store bought items to come home with.
I'm not perfect at this suggestion, but I'm working on it. I find that if I fully unpack all items right after I get home, it goes a long way to staying orderly and knowing where things are. So here are some tips:
Gather it all up. Collect whatever bags, purchases, cups, trash etc you can carry and clear out that car. This will help you keep it picked up.
Use a staging area. Clear a spot near the door you most use (this may be a mudroom, garage or back porch) and keep it clear as a staging area. Deposit all the stuff (purse, tote bag, groceries, trash etc) on that table or counter as soon as you come in the door.
Get briefly settled. Take off your coat and shoes, hug your spouse...whatever you typically do when you first get home. But don't let it distract you.
Unpack one bag at a time. Starting with any perishable items, take one item at a time and put it where it needs to go. Food into the fridge. Mail you've picked up onto the desk. Receipts into a tray. Coins into a "cash in later" container. Keys onto a hook. Dirty or wet workout clothes into the laundry area. You get the idea.
Restock. Refill any items you've depleted. For example, do you carry checks and have no more in your purse? Get another check. Drink from a water bottle all day? Rinse, refill and stick in the fridge. Out of cash, draw from your cash envelopes to replenish if you use that system.
Relax and reflect. How long did this take you? Probably no more than ten minutes on average, more if you are unpacking from a vacation. But you'll be delighted that everything is put away and when you are in a rush tomorrow morning, that your water bottle is already full and cold, ready to grab. Trust me.
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