When I worked in a grocery store, we had something called “putbacks.”  (I imagine that most of you who have ever worked retail are familiar with this concept.)  It isn’t very efficient to send an employee running across the store every time there is an item that needs to be put back on the shelf.  Instead, containers are left near the front of the store – usually either boxes or shopping carts – and “putbacks” are collected in these containers.  When there are a few minutes of downtime, or when the containers are full, someone is assigned to put all of them away at once.

This concept can also be adapted for efficiency in the home.  If you’re right where the item belongs, by all means, put it away immediately!  But you’ll waste precious steps running things up or down the stairs or halfway across the house all day.  Instead, try strategically placing “putback” containers throughout the house, and either take them with you when you’re headed a certain direction or schedule a time to take the contents back to their homes.

In our house, we’ve implemented this to a degree, but not as much as we probably could.  We have a drawer (upstairs) for things to go downstairs, a box for things to go out with us on errands, and a box for clothing that needs to be packed.  All of these are very helpful!  But we don’t have a space downstairs for things to go upstairs, and anything that belongs at the opposite end of the same floor tends to just get piled.  I need to work on this!

All in all, though, “putbacks” work for me. 🙂