Sweep and hide

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Scenario: You get a text from a dear friend who happens to be in the neighborhood, and could she stop by for a few minutes to say hello.

Do you
A) invite her over, grab a bottle of wine and two glasses, and relax before she arrives?
B) politely decline and tell her you were just about to run out the door (even if you weren't)?
C) inform her that she’s welcome to stop by, but ask that she gives you ten minutes first. Then frantically run around the house with an empty basket, filling it up with random objects that don’t have a home and hiding the container in the spare bedroom/laundry room/closet?

If you answered C, you are a victim of what I like to call the “sweep and hide.” When objects don’t have a designated home or when objects aren’t returned to their designated home, they accumulate around the house quickly, cluttering up the space. If you choose to sweep all of those random objects into a container and hide them for later, chances are that’s where those objects will stay - until the spare bedroom/laundry room/closet gets so full to overflowing that you cannot take it anymore.

When each object has a home, everyone in the household knows where each object lives. Everyone in the household can find said object and everyone in the household can return said object after they are finished using it. If you follow this approach, the next time you get a text from a friend who just happens to be in your neighborhood, more than likely your response will be A instead of B or C.

I know I’d choose relaxed over frenzied any day.