Finding a place for everything is important, as explained earlier. Here are some more considerations for choosing places:
Does it have a reason to be there? Storing a hammer in your sock drawer is a surefire way to lose the hammer. Either (a) you'll forget that it is in the sock drawer, or (b) after using it, you won't think returning it to the sock drawer is very important. Either way, it's now lost. (Of course, if you often use a hammer near your sock drawer (creative toenail clipping?), this might work just fine. Just make sure it has a reason for being there.)
By contrast, putting a hammer in a toolbox signals clearly where things are, and where they go when you're done with them.
Do frequently used items get first pick? When deciding where things should go, it's often helpful to define primary and secondary storage. For example, the kitchen has always been a bit of a space crunch for us—we always seem to have more things than space in which to put them. Our solution so far has been to choose those items we use the most (the blender, for example) and give them priority placement. We successively choose the most important things and find places in the kitchen for them, until things start to edge towards "a little cramped". Then we take everything that didn't make the cut and move it all out to secondary storage—in our case, the hall closet. We love that all the essentials fit comfortably in our kitchen, and we don't mind having the roasting pan a short walk away from the kitchen—we just don't use it that often.
Finding a place is only the first part of the equation, but it is the hardest for most folks, and sets a foundation for maintaining order.
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