Today I’m setting up an Exit Cabinet, a place to store all of the things that I need to take with me when I leave the house.

Right now, the items I need to gather and bring with me are scattered about. My bag is on the floor of the coat closet. The deposits I need to take to the bank and the items I need to mail at the post office sit in a pile on my desk. The books I need to return to the library get piled on the table in the living room. My cell phone sits on a kitchen counter. Our grocery list is typically on the table along with a pen. The toy a friend left here that I need to bring when we see him this afternoon is sitting on our china cabinet.

Even as I type this, I can see it’s too many piles in too many places. It should come as no surprise that when I get distracted on the way out the door, I often forget things that I meant to grab. No wonder I feel so frantic when it’s time to leave.

So instead of having a bunch of things piled in different places around the house that I need to remember to grab on my way out, I’m establishing one place to put everything that comes with me when I leave the house.

That way, everything that I need to take with me when I go will be in one place. This will reduce clutter around my house (no more myriad of “to go” piles). It will help me to remember to get things out of my house that do not belong here. And, most importantly, I won’t have to try to remember to grab all of these different piles before I go. I’ll just need to check my one place.

So I am taking a cabinet, clearing it of everything else, and calling it my Exit Cabinet. You can do this with a drawer, with a basket, a bag, or with any specific place. What matters is not what form it takes, but that everything that needs to leave the house (and nothing else!) goes to this specific spot every single time.

Now I’ll only have one place to look for things before we depart. I can feel myself breathing easier already.