Husband Organizing

Maybe I'm the only one who has this problem.

But I think not.

The problem I speak of occurs when Mr. 31 gets ready to leave the house: "Where are my keys?"

Two minutes later: "Have you seen my glasses?"

30 seconds later: Mr. 31 still wandering around the house opening drawers and sticking his hand between couch cushions. Me: "What are you looking for?" Mr. 31: "My wallet."

For example, earlier in the week I walked around the house and looked for the things he would need to leave the house, snapping pictures with my iPhone as I went (so sorry for the quality of the pictures):

That would be (clockwise from top left): his glasses, wedding ring, and earbuds for his phone in the office; his watch in the living room; his wallet in the dining room; and his keys in the kitchen. At least they're all on the first floor.

We've tried various tactics to keep his things in one place. Obviously unsuccessfully.

So, I've decided to tackle the problem head on AGAIN. This time I'm attacking the problem with the tactic of "if the place where the things are to go is RIGHT BY the door, then it will be really easy for Mr. 31 to just dump the stuff right there." Seems logical.

There are two drawers in the kitchen right by the main door that we go in and out of that I decided to appropriate. They were holding tablecloths, cloth napkins, and a box holding fancy serveware. So all of those things needed a place to go.

For that, I decided to empty a drawer in a hutch in my dining room, which was the last spot that I tried getting my husband to corral all his stuff. It has since become a true junk drawer, holding all sorts of goodies and, to be honest, trash. It was really kind of frightening.

After emptying and cleaning the drawers, I decided to line them. I didn't have contact paper or equivalent, so I decided to go with leftover wallpaper from my dining room. It works, right?

I attempted to pull the old lining out of the kitchen drawers, but evidently the liner is integral to the structural integrity of the drawers. Not wanting to rebuild drawers, I left it underneath the wallpaper.

Then I loaded the dining room drawer up with all my tablecloths, runners, and napkins.

In the kitchen, I kept the serveware and an apron in one drawer and used the other for Mr. 31's stuff.

Look how neat it is!

I also want to show you the proximity of the drawer to the door, so you can see that he literally has to take one step into the door, open the drawer, and dump his stuff in.

Here's hoping we've got the solution!!

I'll be linking up to the usual suspects!