Piles on the Stairs: Proceed with Caution

The other day, I put a couple of papers on the stairs to take up with me next time I go up.  I told my husband that's why I put them there.  Then he asked a very sensible question: "Should we get a basket to collect things on the stairs?"

NO!

Right now, those papers are intruders on the stairs. They are the only things there, and they don't belong. I've made a pact with myself that if something is on the stairs, I MUST take it up with me the next time I go.  But, if there is a basket there, I know that things will begin to "live" in the basket.  The basket gives those papers, socks, gadgets, etc. permission to be on the stairs. Once things have permission to be there, the longer they will stay.

If you decide to put things on the stairs like I did, proceed with caution - both organizationally and in terms of safety. 

Amanda Darlack is a professional organizer with Living Peace LLC and a preschool teacher at Gordon-Conwell Nursery School in South Hamilton.

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