Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about a genius method of corralling small
Speaker 1: items and being able to tidy up faster. Use trays
Speaker 1: and baskets, and the clutter will seem far more under control.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed this, but in my house,
Speaker 1: any item on a surface tends to attract more clutter
Speaker 1: to it. People feel a slight tinge of guilt about
Speaker 1: leaving an item on a clear counter, but if there's
Speaker 1: something else there, well pile it up. The solution would
Speaker 1: seem to be to leave all surfaces completely clearer, but
Speaker 1: of course this isn't practical. Some stuff needs to be accessible,
Speaker 1: and some of us, this is definitely my personality, forget
Speaker 1: stuff exists when we don't see it. I actually forgot
Speaker 1: about a bag of my favorite candy that I had
Speaker 1: hid in my desk drawer once. I love that candy,
Speaker 1: but out of sight, out of mind. It is possible
Speaker 1: that if my toothbrush weren't on my bathroom counter, I
Speaker 1: might forget to brush my teeth. So an intermediate solution
Speaker 1: is to use little trays for corralling all items that
Speaker 1: do need to be on a surface without making the
Speaker 1: surface a free for all. Any item that needs to
Speaker 1: be on the surface goes on a tray or in
Speaker 1: a little basket, and the rest of the surface remains clear.
Speaker 1: This provides a natural limit on how many things can
Speaker 1: go on the surface, which can be helpful and still
Speaker 1: makes the surface look relatively neat and a bonus. If
Speaker 1: you do need to make the surface completely clear, just
Speaker 1: whisk the tray or the basket off somewhere else in
Speaker 1: the cupboard in a closet. This is a five second
Speaker 1: operation and a reversible one too, because as soon as
Speaker 1: the surface no longer needs to be clear, you take
Speaker 1: it back out. There are some variations on this theme.
Speaker 1: For instance, all spring, I kept my homeschooling binder and
Speaker 1: papers on one corner of the kitchen island. The rest
Speaker 1: of the island had to be clear, but I acknowledged
Speaker 1: that that one corner could have stuff. Things could still
Speaker 1: be kept relatively clear that way, and whisked off to
Speaker 1: another place if they needed to be. In any case,
Speaker 1: if you have surfaces that tend to get cluttered, but
Speaker 1: you can't go cold turkey on having them completely cleared.
Speaker 1: Try using a tray or a basket. The surface will
Speaker 1: look better, you'll limit the amount of stuff on display,
Speaker 1: and you'll be able to tidy up faster when necessary.
Speaker 1: That's a win all the way around. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media
Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
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