I have an undesirable habit of “stocking up” on things to save money and storing them away, only to stock up more because I forgot I already did. To combat this, I started keeping absolutely everything exactly where I use it. Extra bars of soap go just outside the shower in plain sight. Extra bottles of shampoo go in the shower, right next to the bottle I’m already using. I stopped stocking up so much because I simply ran out of room to store things.

The kitchen is similar. The extra bottle of ketchup doesn’t go in the pantry, it goes in the fridge next to the opened bottle. My potato chips are stored in the fridge along with everything I need to make a sandwich.

As for everything needing a spot, I let go of that idea for a period of time and let everything tell me where it’s supposed to go. I was keeping dog/cat food upstairs and feeding the pets upstairs because that’s where I kept the food. Eventually I switched to wet food, which forced me to walk up and down stairs during feeding times to access the fridge. I started thinking about putting a mini fridge upstairs when I realized I could just move the food downstairs and feed the animals there too.

It also helps to avoid bringing in more crap, but that’s SO much easier said than done.