Household Transfer Containers: How to Put Your Stuff Away

We received a reader’s question about transfer containers and how to put your stuff away:

I recently purchased your book and I am loving incorporating some things into our life! I am curious though, about the “transfer containers.”

Who actually “transfers” the items, and when? I have gotten myself into the habit of putting things on the stairs that go up, and then taking them each time I make a trip upstairs.

But with the room transfer containers, they hold LOTS of things that go to LOTS of different rooms, and it seems a bit overwhelming to the child to run all over the house putting even more away after they think they are finished. Any pointers?

Thanks again for all your ideas, I can’t wait to order your other books! I have heard a lot of these principles before, but you make them very “digestible.” I really appreciate how you reiterate the same principles over and over so by the time I’m through the book, they’re really nailed in my head!

How to Put Your Stuff Away: TRANSFER CONTAINERS

It is best to have a transfer container for each area of the home. This is the easiest way for how to put your stuff away when cleaning and organizing a room. This way, things can be kept tidy, and you won’t wear yourself out putting things away in the same rooms over and over again. When cleaning a room using our fast clean and deep clean cards for instance (See Deep Cleaning House), you would put all items that don’t go in that particular room, into the transfer container, so that you can focus on the task at hand. Once you are finished cleaning a room, your last task is to put items away that are in your “transfer container” and transfer them to their appropriate location.

If the child is very young, he would bring the “transfer” container to you, you would be in charge of transferring, and he would be done with just cleaning the room. As the children grow older, you might give them one or two items to “transfer” on their way out the door to play or up the stairs to watch TV. As the children mature even more, handling the “transfer” bucket items becomes part of their chores. In this way, they appreciate more and more the importance of “putting it away, not putting it down.”

In a multi-level home, I suggest having individual personal containers for each member of the family situated in a convenient closet on each level. Then the “transfer” bucket items go into the appropriate bucket on the level of the room being cleaned for individual members to retrieve at their own convenience. This saves many a mother’s trip up and down stairs being the “maid” of the home. ~ Marie

There you go! Now you know how to put your stuff away efficiently! Now get to work! 🙂

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Tina M

I'm six-foot tall mother of three and I'm enjoying the view! I'm currently fighting a battle with Lyme disease and am determined to come out victorious. I enjoy warm summer rain, peanut butter everything, having dance parties with my husband and kids, natural remedies and healthy living. Most days I'm just looking for another excuse to avoid the piles of laundry.