By Christina Morton DesAuguste
Christina is the founder and CEO of The Organizing Company. She’s been organizing professionally since 2013. She has a background working with kids and teenagers, as well as in retail. Her current saving grace during the pandemic: new projects (hint hint).
Let’s talk about your drop zone.
“What is a drop zone?” you may ask. Allow me to paint a picture.
You just finished work, made a pit stop by the grocery store, and picked up the small humans. You pull in the garage and stumble into the mudroom (or for many of us, directly into the kitchen).
You’re kicking off shoes in the pathway, dropping your bags of groceries and a stack of mail on the counter, and throwing your handbag (and probably your coat) on a barstool.
Now you start to prep dinner and need to relocate the mail, the keys, and the handbag (not to mention the kids’ backpacks and lunchboxes and the empty grocery bags) so you have counter space to work.
Your keys never end up in the same spot, so you know tomorrow you’re going to be late to work looking for them. Some of your mail gets opened in a hurry and then it all gets shoved in a drawer where it goes to die. Late fees inevitably follow. You’re flustered and frustrated.
Does that sound like you?
Now, let me paint another picture.
You pull in the garage, unload the groceries, and the kiddos. You open the door to the mudroom (or still the kitchen, because this is still real life not a fairytale with a brand new mudroom).
There’s a console table for your bag, a hook for your keys, and a mat for your boots. There’s a mail bin on the table, or maybe a pretty one hung on the wall above the table. So you drop the mail there and move into the kitchen with just your groceries. The kids follow: hanging their coats, kicking shoes into bins, emptying their lunchboxes (and leaving them in their designated place), and placing Tupperware in the sink.
You put the groceries away, hang your reusable bags on a hook in the drop zone, and since everything is already in its place, you can immediately start making dinner. But, you have a few minutes to spare, so you chat with your kiddos about their day and open a bottle of wine. You know tomorrow morning won’t be crazy and you relax without dread.
Much better.
It’s not impossible to create that second scenario. The key is having a designated place for everything.
For many people, the drop zone ends up being in, or at least near, the kitchen. We all need a place to drop things as we come in the house, and if it’s in your kitchen it’s extra important that it is organized and contained. So let’s chat about how to make the best of that situation (But if you’re remodeling, pretty please don’t have the garage door directly off the kitchen!!).
Your drop zone should serve the overall purpose of catching the things that enter the house and holding the things that are about to exit the house. It is a great place for:
Keys
Shoes
Coats
Purses
Briefcases/Work Bags
Backpacks
Umbrellas
Reusable Shopping Bags
Dog Leashes
Charging Docks
Masks
Sanitizer
Pens, Scissors, Post-Its
And More
It shouldn’t be in the center of the kitchen, or in prime real estate. It makes sense on the outskirts of the kitchen. If possible, I recommend a console table or a shelf that is kitchen adjacent, instead of using your actual kitchen counters.
Look at your vertical space (aka wall space). How can you utilize the wall in your entry to create an awesome drop zone? Hooks, wall pockets and cubbies, and clever shallow shoe organizers all make great use of an empty wall.
Hooks are awesome for keys, backpacks, coats, leashes, and shopping bags. I don’t recommend them for handbags or messenger bags since it may warp your handles. So opt for a floating shelf, or a table to set those things on.
A console table drop zone can also house a charging station for your kids’ tablets and other devices. It’s even better if you have these by their homework area or in the office. But I find a lot of people need them in the kitchen or the devices won’t get charged or remembered the next day. Do what works for you, but if it has to be here make sure it is contained (search for a dock with retractable cords!) And that there are enough chargers.
Here’s something we all have to add it now: masks. Your drop zone should definitely have a place for masks. I recommend a hook for a “gently used” mask that you might still wear later in the day. Then there is a dirty mask or used mask bin so you can drop the nasty ones right in for washing (or trash if you don’t use cloth masks). THEN there also should be a container for fresh masks. Something with a lid so that they aren’t getting dusty or contaminated while they wait to be used. You want to make sure it’s super easy to grab a mask on your way out the door so you don’t forget.
I also have hand sanitizer and wipes in my drop zone. Wipe off my phone upon entry after a gross day. Have sanitized hands when I put on a new mask, etc. All that fun stuff…
Okay. Let’s chat a little bit about mail.
Mail and paperwork make up one of the most challenging categories for our clients. It’s a big reason people call us for help, and is often an add-on even if someone called us for a closet. Mail and papers end up everywhere if you don’t have a good plan and system for them. Let’s prevent that.
So you found a bin/basket to drop your mail in as you enter the door. That’s step one. Check.
Step two is having a system for getting it from that bin to “done.” The biggest tip I can give here is a mind shift. I think what most of us have been taught is to open and deal with mail immediately. “Only touch it once.” “What if there’s a bill?” “What if there’s an event?”
First of all, most things are online so it’s probably not super important. But if you miss all the email warnings that your payment is late and they send you a paper bill, is a few days going to make a difference? Pretty much every company/creditor factors in some time for people to process mail. You shouldn’t get something that is due the next day. It’s a super rare problem to have, so it shouldn’t determine how you manage your day-to-day.
Not to mention, opening mail when you don’t have time to deal with it isn’t helpful. Sure, now you know you owe that bill, but then you set the paper down in some big stack and forget about it. You’re trying to get everyone into the house and ready for dinner and it’s after business hours so you can’t make any calls to schedule appointments/payments anyway.
Opening your mail at the door doesn’t serve you or set you up for success. It stresses you out before dinner (and after a stressful day), and sets you up to forget about important action items.
So instead of trying to open and deal with mail as you enter the house, or even on a daily basis, build in a routine for opening all your week’s mail at one time. Maybe you call it Mail Mondays and you set aside some time in the morning to open things, tackle what action items you uncover (making appointments, paying bills, following up on something), file and shred/recycle what’s left. You can divide and conquer with your spouse, or delegate things after you do the initial sort. It’s good to schedule this time during business hours if possible, so you can go ahead and immediately make those calls that need to happen.
It is batching your tasks. It’s more efficient to do those things all at once than try to do one call a day, or one bill a day. Batch your mail and bills like you batch your errands (or your cookies!) and it will make you more efficient and productive.
Building this routine, or rhythm, means that most weeks you will take care of everything that needs to get done, and that when you miss your regular time you can catch back up quicker. It means that you always know where your mail and bills are: either in the drop zone mail bin, or on your desk because it’s mail day. You never have to go searching through drawers for papers (please don’t put mail in drawers!!). You aren’t forgetting about appointments. You are organized, prepared, and you have a system. You are dictating your schedule; your mail isn’t. Freedom follows.
If it stresses you out to think about only going through mail one day a week, start with two. Maybe you do Monday and Friday. After a month or two you’ll be able to tell if once a week will work for the amount and type of mail that you receive. But make sure you set at least one day. Don’t think, “Okay, I’ll just open my mail once a week.” Because we all know what will happen. This week it will be Tuesday, then next week Thursday, then next thing you know it’s been three weeks. Make it a habit. Be consistent with what day and time of day you’re going to work on this. It won’t happen by accident.
The other big thing we need to talk about is masks.
Download our Mask Organizing Freebie for all the tips on how and where to store your masks!
So, your drop zone needs to have a place for all the things that usually come in the house and get dropped right away. And it needs to include a system for your mail.
What it looks like is up to you! And if you have to have the drop zone in your kitchen at least it can be contained and kept tidy. We can work with that.
Happy Organizing!
Christina + The Organizing Company Team
April 26, 2021
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