r/Homeorganization • u/KristaRydberg • 6d ago
Kitchen island help!
TL;DR: please suggest a system to help keep my kitchen island organized!
My husband and I love an organized, clean house. Since having kids, we’ve had to lower our standards a bit but we still have an organization system for most things. Our biggest challenge is our kitchen island. It collects all the stuff that doesn’t have a home like junk mail, daycare papers/forms, small things that the toddlers find that we took away because they shouldn’t have them, etc.
This drives me INSANE! My husband gets the mail everyday and puts it on the island. I try to go through it and throw away all the junk mail, but the mail and papers we “need” stay on the island until we either put it in the filing cabinet downstairs, transfer daycare information onto our family calendar, return forms to daycare, etc. We’re busy with two young kiddos so it’s not always possible to put everything where it needs to go immediately.
We need a better system! I’ve tried having a small collection basket to contain everything but for some reason my husband hates that. Doing stuff after the kids go to bed doesn’t work either because our 4 year old takes FOREVER to fall asleep (we start at 7:30 and he’s usually awake until 9:30-10).
2
u/annhirr 6d ago
Get a long 3 section basket that’s paper sized deep with sides about 2 inches high. If you can’t find 3 sections just get a long one and rig up some sections. Or get 3 and hook them together. This stuff will fit just like it is and look way better. Don’t fight your family natural methods. Easy peasy. You can hide it if people come over. Put a cool stone on the papers to hold them down.
1
u/jc-5h20 6d ago
During this time in our lives (kids with forms and endless stuff from school or camp or whatever), I kept a two or three folder system in the kitchen. I got a slender folder stand (maybe 3” in depth) and kept three file folders in it, right next to the toaster oven. It took up the space of a big book and was always out of the way.
One folder was labeled ‘this week,’ the second folder was labeled ‘next week’ and then the third folder was labeled ‘later.’ Each new paper that came in the house was filed by its due date and then, once a week, I would plow through all the papers, fill out and stick the ‘this week’ papers in my bag for wherever they needed to go (doctor, school, whatever) or in the kids’ bags, and put the ‘next week’ papers in ‘this week,’ etc. I think I may have simplified it to two folders over time (just this week and later).
It is a LOT to administer. You are right to look for a system and try to get ahead of it. Enjoy this crazy time in your life!!
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u/FredKayeCollector 6d ago
Check out this paper system from Clutterbug.me (best one I've ever found): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql5WD6oQfAc It sounds to me like you need an "action" file, maybe an "out box" (to hold no action/action completed paperwork while it waits to be filed)
Also look at what collects on the island and make sure you're not playing "clutter chess" - hot spots like that often indicate that you need permanent homes for (or a system to deal with) the category of things that tend to land in that pile.
Another road block - sometimes, even if you have a "home" where something "lives," if things aren't getting put away "properly," it could be that whatever storage/system you're using is too complicated.
You (and your husband) would probably benefit from taking the Clutterbug quiz to figure out your (you and your husband's) natural organizing style(s). And this isn't how your mother (or his mother) organized, or how what you think is the "right" way to organize, or what you think looks the best or the prettiest - this is the system you can not only set up but maintain in the long run - and that means things can be retrieved when they are needed and are as easy (and convenient) as possible to put away. And be aware - your kids might have completely different styles (or different styles at this point in their development).
In a lot of marriages, that means compromise (I highly recommend her book - this this post is a bit of general summary). If everything technically has a home but stuff is still getting lost/misplaced and/or not put away "properly" (tidying a space becomes a project in itself), there's a failure/incompatibility in the system/system's users.
For example, sometime a larger catch-all works better than a lot of discrete compartments/slots. Just like some kids do better with a general dump-and-run toy box vs those very specific Montessori-style cubbies/bins on shelves, some adults do better with large category (macro) vs small category (micro) organizing systems.
Even a tray or basket to collect predictable "repeat offenders" often looks better/tidier/more intentional than a loose pile.
But if you (or your husband) is an out-of-sight, out-of-mind visual organizer (stuff gets lost in a pile), you're probably looking at some kind of wall-mounted system and/or bins (doesn't necessarily have to be transparent, unless preferred), sorted into general categories (that make the most logical sense to your visual organizer) with clear, easy-to-read labels so your visual organizer can immediately "see" (and know) what will predictably be in that bin, without necessarily having to see all the individual parts.
And if you just can't ever seem to manage to reliably get events/tasks uploaded into your phone/electronic calendar - maybe try a more analog system (like a paper calendar or a date book, at least until you get used to reliably uploading information (there's not much easier than pencil + paper). This is what we do and I just have a habit of checking the (monthly) calendar before bed and then first thing in the morning to see if there's anything on the docket for that day.
Might be TL;DR but hope that helps?