Hub helps organize home

There's never a good time to receive a bill but picking one up at the end of a day, tired after a long days work, would likely rank as one of the worst times.

The bills and assorted mail that we pick up from the mailbox and bring through our front door are, for many of us, unwanted items that are unloaded as quickly as possible on the most convenient surface at hand. More pressing matters like preparing dinner, managing the kids or winding down are on our mind and the stack of mail can wait.

Unfortunately this scenario, common for so many of us, can lead to mail waiting a very long time indeed as the unwanted pile begins its forced migration throughout the house as its once convenient home eventually becomes less so and the pile moves along to a less intrusive locale until it finds permanent residence -- speaking for myself here -- in that mound that's home to all those other things that will get dealt with eventually.

The way to deal with this organizational conundrum is to create a space that's dedicated exclusively to the processing of mail and other miscellaneous items that enter the house. I tend to refer to this area as the hub and try to design it exactly as one -- a centralized place within the home where mail is sorted and dealt with, where essentials like keys and phones are stored and where disparate functions like leaving a note or finding an address are carried out.

I'll typically locate the hub close to the kitchen -- the preferred dumping ground for all things unwanted -- and design it so that homeowner can use it without interfering with other functions in the home. I'll provide mail slots for incoming and outgoing mail and a recycling bin to get rid of unwanted paper and junk mail. I'll allocate space for essential reference items like the yellow pages and address books and create little cubbies for keys, wallets and the like. I'll typically incorporate a bulletin board or erasable writing surface into the design and make the hub the go-to point for all reminders and messages. For households with school age children I'll dedicate space exclusively for the piles of school related material that invariably makes its way home.

Since virtually everything is done online these days providing space for a computer is a must for any successful hub design. The hub must have an electrical outlet and should be hard-wired for both computer and telephone.

For the more technologically inclined I'll incorporate a touch pad console into the hub, allowing the homeowner to adjust everything from the heating to the music all from this one centralized location.

In the end one cannot overstate the importance of creating a space that manages the piles of mail and other disparate items that invade our homes. This seemingly small element can go a long way to easing the frustrations that come with clutter and disorganization.