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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Oct 24 2012 at 6:00am | IP Logged
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Our house is set up in such a way that when you walk in, the first thing you see from the foyer is a kitchen counter. It's hard to describe but it almost reminds me of a lunch counter or bar. It has a cabinet over it where I keep my good dishes since the doors are glass. You can sort of see it here in the first picture of this old blog post. Notice, that in the picture I have kept the counter from view! That is because it is always a mess. From the living room side, people drop anything they carry into the house or pick up while cleaning - Purses, library books, toys they pick up while cleaning the living room, junk mail ... From the kitchen side there are food preparation items frequently left there - open cereal boxes, dirty dishes, cook books, ...
I've tried cleaning it off many times but it's so frustrating because I turn around and someone has put something there that doesn't belong. I put flowers there once in the hopes that they wouldn't clutter it since it looked so nice. Eventually the flowers got lost in the clutter! I'm just not sure how to deal with this! Any solution ideas?
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Becky
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Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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mamaslearning
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| Posted: Oct 24 2012 at 7:36am | IP Logged
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We have a similar counter in our kitchen, but without a cabinet over it. I clean it off every day, multiple times, since it is the logical place to set things down. I keep a basket against the wall on the counter for keys, glasses, coupons, cords for phones, loose change, or basically anything small I decide to put in there. I used to keep a basket for mail, but I moved that onto a shelf over our computer in the dining/learning space.
Since we are selling our house, I can't let it pile up like I used to, so when I purge I groups things together and then have the kids help take things to their home - a pile for upstairs, a pile for recycle, a pile for living room, etc. I started keep my purse and diaper backpack in the front hall closet on a hanger, plus all the shoes are kept in the bottom of that closet in baskets.
For library books, I have one of these that I take (I love that it rolls), so all the library books live in this box at home (unless they are being actively read somewhere in the house). The kids know to put the books back in this container so that we don't lose them. Maybe you could get a box or something for the library books to live in while at your house? I also keep a fabric box in the living room to house loose toys. When we cleanup, we put all the toys in this box and every week or so separate out those that go back to the basement play area.
My only true solution was keeping on top of it everyday, and we are now at a point where it doesn't collect as much as it has in the past. I guess everybody is tired of me having them clean it up everyday, so they are now putting things away instead of putting them on the counter. Selling a house you're living in is a great way to conquer some of those clutter magnets! 
So I guess my only suggestions are baskets to house items that need to live on the counter and multiple clean-ups throughout the day (preferably by the clutter culprits).
Good luck! I know how frustrating this can be.
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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Barb.b
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| Posted: Oct 24 2012 at 7:44am | IP Logged
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I can bet you on this one - the kids come in my house - take their shoes in the garage and by the time they get to the counter - take their SOCKS off and put them on the counter  .
Barb
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CrunchyMom
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I'm probably just reiterating what Lara said, but I think that you have to look at the items that are being put there and ask, "Do they have a convenient home somewhere else?" Convenient is the key word there because, if things always collect in one area, then, if all possible, that needs to be the area where they are collected. So, is there a piece of wall that could hold some pegs or hooks for the purses? Can the lovely table in the foyer be replaced with a lovely shelf that holds library books or even pretty baskets that house some of the clutter (like a temporary home for collected toy pieces) and acts as an orderly landing pad instead of your counter? Where is your recycling bin? I have something similar to this that sits in the foyer. I TRY to go through the mail right when I get it putting the mail my husband needs to see in organizer I linked, the favorite catalogs in a place where I can flip through before ripping out what I want to keep or chucking it, and the rest goes STRAIGHT to recycling.
On that note, do you need to find a way for the garbage to be convenient to that end of the kitchen. Sure its a matter of habit to throw things away, but is your garbage can a pain to access so it feels like too much work to put it away? Do your cookbooks ALWAYS collect there? Maybe bookends on the counter where you keep your most used cookbooks would mean a cute collection of cookbooks instead of a mess of them waiting to be put away?
I think that any organization and habit forming needs to come out of what you actually DO every day. It sometimes requires adjusting my ideals or vision for a space according to our habits. Sometimes you can change habits, but sometimes, there is a REASON that people habitually do what they do, so you just have to meet them where they are, yk?
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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mamaslearning
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| Posted: Oct 24 2012 at 8:25am | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
I think that any organization and habit forming needs to come out of what you actually DO every day. It sometimes requires adjusting my ideals or vision for a space according to our habits. Sometimes you can change habits, but sometimes, there is a REASON that people habitually do what they do, so you just have to meet them where they are, yk?
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I'm an inherently lazy person, so if it takes multiple steps to accomplish something or put something away, I tend towards just leaving it on the counter. Once I made most storage a one step process (open the cabinet door, put it away) instead of multiple steps (open cabinet, move a bunch of stuff out of the way, put it away, move the other stuff back), it wasn't such a chore to keep things picked up.
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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Becky Parker
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Barb.b wrote:
I can bet you on this one - the kids come in my house - take their shoes in the garage and by the time they get to the counter - take their SOCKS off and put them on the counter .
Barb |
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Ha! Barb, there HAVE been socks there before  . It seems to be the "go to place" to put everything that the kids or my husband (or yes, sometimes myself  )don't know what else to do with or just don't want to do it. (Socks would have to be taken all the way to the laundry room, or worse, all the way to the bedroom). Sigh.
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Becky
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Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Becky Parker
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Lindsay and Lara, I hear what you are saying. I think I need to really think about making it easier to put some of this stuff away, and then staying on it. I guess Flylady would call it a "hot spot". I want a one time fix, but I should probably realize it just isn't going to happen.
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Becky
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Kathryn
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  Good luck with that! Right there with ya!
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Kathryn in TX
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mommy4ever
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Becky, is there a space at the door to set up to catch these things? I haven't tamed that monster, but now it's more manageable.
I have a keyholder at the back it is also a mail holder. So kids papers are there, keys on the other side. We gave up on hangers and put hooks on the wall, everything gets put there. There are still things on the counter, but it's typically a 5-10 minute job as opposed to 1-2 hours.
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Becky Parker
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Kathryn wrote:
| Good luck with that! Right there with ya! |
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I think you've been in my house Kathryn!  Thanks for the levity! I needed that.
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Becky
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Becky Parker
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You know, Mommy4ever, I think the fact that we don't have a space at the door is what is causing the problem. When you walk in, there is a closet to the right and to the left is a door that leads into our family room. The closet has the coat rail hung really high. I even have to reach up! The people here before us must have been really tall. For whatever reason though,  my dh wont hang hooks there for the kids. So, if I'm not there to take their coats from them and hang them (or one of the older kids) they get tossed on the back of the couch. We do have hooks by our basement entrance. Sigh. It would take a major habit change to get everyone to go around to the basement door. That would probably solve a lot of problems though! (Including dirt being tracked into the living room!)
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Becky
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CrunchyMom
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I wanted hooks on the wall, but my dh is opposed to the clutter. We didn't have a coat closet at all at our old house and winter was a bit of a mess visually.
He did however hang one of these on the inside of the closet door at kid height. Is it just hooks on the wall or hooks in general that he's resistant to? It is a pain to get the door closed, but it has been a worthwhile compromise for us.
I also have a friend who just hung large command hooks on the inside of the closet door for her kids' coats. It is probably more expensive than the rack I linked, but it is less permanent and something you could do yourself.
I also put one of those hanging sweater holders inside the closet, and it collects shoes. It is not as pretty as built in units or shelving, but it is functional. Mine is like this one that I have from years ago, but in trying to find that link, I came across this one that would be even better!
I think that some people raise the rod in their closets so that they can have a space more like this one, with storage space beneath the coats. So, instead of seeing the rod as a disadvantage (though, it really could be moved, yk), you might look at ways you can use it to your advantage. Could you find a cubby unit or even a small bench that would help you put some bins or baskets there? Maybe even one for purses or library books? Or dirty socks?
And maybe a basket at the base of the stairs or IN the living room specifically for items found when cleaning would help keep some of that out of your foyer.
I WISH my kids would use our back door more, too. I envisioned it being used all the time for play, and we have a little mud area set up there. I do insist that play coats, boots, etc... be kept there, but very often they get there through the front, tracking all kinds of mud and debris through the foyer! I keep just their "going out" coats and shoes in the front closet.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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pumpkinmom
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I will have to come back to this post to read later. I have an area in our house that is for clutter. It is where things go that can't be put away without a lot of effort. They go there until I have the time to put them away properly. This must be done weekly though or you have a very big mess! For paper clutter I have a basket that I go through once a month (recipts, mail, misc. papers, stuff not sure to toss or keep). I think organized clutter is a good thing. Also, what I briefly saw in the other post about making it easy to put stuff away. If everything has a place, then it's easier to get put away. A basket for books to take back to the library, a basket of magazines, a basket of hats & gloves, etc. We have a shoe organizer hanging on our basement/garage door so that the shoes get put away as you walk in (no idea about the socks as they are found everywhere and even I am guilty of that!). Play shoes and boots go in a organizer in the basement (because they are dirty and stinky) and it is those shoes I find all over the basement because they can't walk two more feet to put those away. Those organizer have to be within reach!
It really is like the old saying, "A place for everyting and everything in its place." Can't have the second without the first step. And that first step has to be easy!
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Cassie
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Topic: Help me organize to keep a counter clear!
