Tidy in Ten - Week 3: Drop Zone (Shoes)
If you haven't already - check out week 2 (coats) first. Once you have your coats picked up off the floor you should be able to see your shoes which we'll tidy up this week. The process for tackling shoes within your drop zone is going to be very similar to the coats. The major difference is just that we have isolated these two into separate tasks at different times to optimize for your time.
What
Shoes and footwear are generally self explanatory, but let's add socks into the mix as well.
socks
shoes
When
When you choose to address this task may be dependent upon the location of your drop zone and what is most convenient for you. Some examples:
Between loads of laundry if your drop zone and laundry are located together
While watching TV if your drop zone coincides with a main living space
While dinner is cooking if your drop zone is next to your kitchen entrance
That moment when you've tripped over one shoe too many and you just cannot take it anymore
How
The objective is for the drop zone to be reserved for frequent, quick access items. Since this is just a quick tidy, we won't look into implementing fully new systems or products.
Collect all socks and put them into the dirty clothes hamper. Even if you think they may be clean - is it worth spending the time to figure out? Just add them all to the wash and get them out of your drop zone.
Remove all out of season footwear that isn't being used. Ideally this would be the same storage spot as your out of season coats from week 2. These out of season items are otherwise clutter in your drop zone and make it harder to use and maintain.
Time permitting, sort through your pairs of shoes. Pair up each shoe with its partner and group by owner. Kids can definitely help here!
Recycle or re-home all shoes without a 'match'. You may wish to keep a bin off to the side with the unmatched shoes so that as missing partners arise you may match the shoes up again. They are serving you zero purpose being in your drop zone - you won't be wearing just one shoe (well, unless you only have one foot or are in a cast, etc. but let's consider those edge cases).
Place the most used shoes for each household member in the most easily accessible location of your drop zone, and all others contained off to the side. For example, daily sneakers on the boot tray, but spare flip flops in the cubbies and rain boots on the shoe rack.
Maintain
Add shoes to your weekly drop zone maintenance along with the coats. Go through the exercises above. The more routine this becomes, the less time it should take.
