Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that when you are figuring out where you
Speaker 1: should store something, ask yourself this question, where would I
Speaker 1: look for this first? Then put the item in that place.
Speaker 1: Today's tip comes from Dana kay White, a decluttering expert
Speaker 1: who shares her tips through a podcast, YouTube videos, and
Speaker 1: her blog, A Slob Comes Clean. Dana was a guest
Speaker 1: on my other podcast, Best of Both Worlds and shared simple,
Speaker 1: sensible tips like asking where you would look for something
Speaker 1: for creating a smooth, functioning home. I have thought a
Speaker 1: lot lately about what should go where as we have
Speaker 1: unpacked and settled into our new home. Some things are obvious.
Speaker 1: Forks go in the silverware drawer and yep, that is
Speaker 1: where we would think to look for them. But some
Speaker 1: stuff is less obvious, like sleeping bags, scissors, bug spray,
Speaker 1: the extra paper, towels and toilet paper. I love Dana's
Speaker 1: approach of asking yourself where you would look for something first.
Speaker 1: You are making a prediction. You are imagining your future
Speaker 1: self wanting this item and tracing your steps to look
Speaker 1: for it. You are not asking yourself where the item
Speaker 1: should be. There is not a right or wrong answer.
Speaker 1: People store their scissors in all sorts of reasonable places.
Speaker 1: You are not going to be judged by whether you
Speaker 1: put the item where an expert or a complicated set
Speaker 1: of rules say you should. You are simply making your
Speaker 1: best guess of where you would look for it and
Speaker 1: putting it there. In our case, at least one pair
Speaker 1: of scissors goes in the top right junk drawer and
Speaker 1: one goes in my top right desk drawer. I would
Speaker 1: look in the top right drawer of anything for something
Speaker 1: like that first, so now I know where they are.
Speaker 1: Bug spray goes in the mudroom, since that is by
Speaker 1: the door where people generally go out, so that is
Speaker 1: probably where I would naturally be looking for it first.
Speaker 1: Best to put it there from the get go. I
Speaker 1: also like using similar language when asking someone else if
Speaker 1: they know where an item is stored. If you ask
Speaker 1: your partner, or your roommate or your childcare provider where
Speaker 1: they put the three whole punch, they may feel a
Speaker 1: wee bit miffed. Why do you think I hit it somewhere?
Speaker 1: Since when am I the keeper of the three whole punch.
Speaker 1: But if you ask where's the first place you would
Speaker 1: look for our three whole punch, that is less aggressive.
Speaker 1: You are simply asking for a prediction, not judging the
Speaker 1: storage spot or suggesting someone else has a database of
Speaker 1: household objects and their locations in their heads. So the
Speaker 1: next time you are deciding where to store something, ask
Speaker 1: yourself where you would look for it first and put
Speaker 1: the item there. And if you are looking for something,
Speaker 1: ask your housemate for their ideas of where they would
Speaker 1: look for it first. Focusing on predicting a search can
Speaker 1: be a practical, judgment free approach to deciding what goes
Speaker 1: where and for finding what you have. Do you have
Speaker 1: any tips for keeping your space organized? You can share
Speaker 1: them with me at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our times. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then breakfast p O D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters, thanks so much, should I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.