Establishing Your Launching and Landing Pad

Pre-pandemic, my clients’ popular frustration was that they struggled with getting themselves and their family out the door on time, every time.  Here are some of the common reasons why:

• They can’t find their car keys or cell phone.
• Everyone leaves a trail of items on the way entering the house, creating a chaotic area getting out the next day.
• Mornings are a frenzy of activity and tracking down a child’s misplaced schoolwork, sports gear, school lunch, etc.

Let me introduce you to the Launching and Landing pad.  In professional organizer language, this refers to where you “launch” out of your home into your day and “land” back in when you return.   It’s the transitional space between being outside your home and inside your home.  This launching and landing pad aims to get you in and out with less stress and where you need to be on time.

• This space can be used for infants and toddlers to house the diaper bag and activity bag (swim lessons, gym classes, and playgroups).
• For school-age kids, this is where they pick up their backpacks and lunches each morning.
• For adults, this is where their purse, bag, wallet, keys, cell phones, etc., will be contained until they leave home. It’s an ideal place for a charging station.

I realize many of you are not leaving your home daily or engaging in activities that require you to find all the things you normally needed to find to get you out the door pre-pandemic.  Once it is safe to be leaving your home daily and life resumes to whatever the new normal is, you’ll be glad you set up your launching and landing pad while sheltering in place.

Setting Up a Launching and Landing Pad

To create a launching and landing pad, ask, “what is the exit/entrance that I use most often?” It might be your front door, it might be the door leading to your garage,  or it might be near your entry coat closet.  Wherever it is, that is where you want to locate your launching and landing pad.  To help you place the items you take with you when you leave your home, add cubbies or shelf with baskets, one for each person in the home.  Install hooks or a wall system to hang jackets and backpacks and a bench for storing shoes, hats, gloves, scarves. Provide a basket for any school mail or assignments that need parental review and/or signature.   Add a container for your PPE (masks, disposable gloves, and pocket hand-sanitizer) and one for disinfectant wipes.

The goal of the launching and landing pad is to not carry these items further into the home.  If you leave your everyday items in the launching and landing pad, you won’t need to hunt them down the next time you leave your home.