The Go Home Basket. Go get one. Go now.

Known by many nicknames, the Go Home Basket has revolutionized my life and my quest for organization (per the 9/25 blog post).  So much so, that I thought the GHB was deserving of a brief synopsis here.  Please allow it a moment in the limelight.

What is it?
The Go Home Basket could undoubtedly have a sexier moniker, but it is what it is, I suppose.  Extolled by many the home organizer, it's essentially a coping mechanism.  Not to be confused with the clutter basket (this one is simple: I keep a basket handy and each evening I take less than 15 minutes to walk through my house with it grabbing items that are out of place, or "neatening."  Then, I can deliver those items to their respective homes with the basket.)

The Go Home Basket lives patiently near my back door, the access point closest to the garage from our home.  In it goes anything that is leaving the house.  That's it: simple.

Each morning, I grab ours on the way to the car.  It saves me enormous amounts of time trying to remember things and chasing them around the house.  They are all contained, and I bring it back inside empty in the evenings.

Q: What goes in it?

A: Anything that doesn't belong in your house.  For us, it might be a magazine or book I promised to loan a friend (but never remember to have with me when I meet her for lunch), food containers to return to my sister's house, an item to exchange at the store along with its receipt, the claim ticket for the shoes being repaired by the cobbler.

A few more examples:

- Our new vehicle still had sticker marks on the window, which bugged me every time I got in the car, but my mental capacity did not allow room for me to remember to do anything about it for more than 30 seconds upon exiting the car.  So, I put some cloths and the Goo Gone in the GHB, and the next day when I carried the basket to the car I remembered to fix the issue.  The Goo Gone went back in the basket to be carried into the house that evening.

- I'm pretty good at remembering to write thank you notes, but have been known to let them sit around the house awaiting stamps.  Although this is less of an issues now that I've purchased bulk stamps and stored them with pens, return labels and thank you notes in our communication center (see the 9/25 blog post), if I do find myself with a batch of unstamped notes, they go in the basket.  I check the basket while out and about and remember to stop by the post office to grab stamps and mail them.  Ditto on any packages, per below.

- Remembering birthdays, weddings and events of friends and family members and prepping gifts isn't a problem.  Getting them mailed is, very often.  So I prep the package at home, address it and throw it in the GHB.  Then, it is with me to be mailed while I'm out running errands.

- List of supplies for a home or craft project?  In the GHB (or Evernote) so I can access it while out.

- This week's prepped (laminated, per previous posts) grocery list?  In the GHB.  Ditto the reusable grocery bags once I've unpacked them, so they can head back to the car where they remain in the trunk.  Because they won't be used if they aren't in the car when needed, will they?

This all probably seems pretty basic to the more sophisticated reader (although I assume I don't have sophisticated readers).  It isn't a revolutionary idea, but it is a revolutionary habit.  I notice that now that things coming or going within our home now congregate in the basket rather than all over the place, and that means they are quick to grab and deliver where they belong.  And that makes me happy, which means I am relaxed and a better parent and spouse.  And that, in essence, is why I've pursued the organizational quest in the first place!