The OHIO Rule of Organizing Is a Simple, Yet Game-Changing Formula for a Tidier Home

It's easy to get distracted when tidying up your home. As you're on your way to do one thing, you notice or remember another task you need to complete—and you may never return to the original task at hand. This exact habit, while all-too familiar, can become a major source of clutter. As soon as you start setting things down around the house, with plans to "deal with them later" once you tend to something else, you're on your way down a slippery slope to overwhelming clutter. Luckily, there's a pretty simple way to curb this habit and stop clutter in its tracks. You just have to follow the OHIO rule. Below, learn about this straightforward yet game-changing rule and how you can use it keep your home more organized.

Related: 7 Non-Negotiable House Rules Our Editors Live By for Tidier Spaces

What Is the OHIO Rule of Decluttering?

The OHIO rule is an acronym for "Only Handle It Once." In the context of home organizing, it means that instead of setting something down or placing something in a temporary spot to be dealt with later, you should aim to deal with it right away. Only handling something once, in theory, means you're dealing with clutter before it can even become clutter and putting things back where they belong right away.

Our research editor, Maya Kukes, swears by this rule to keep a tidier home. "If you pick something up and need to put it somewhere, don't place it in an in-between place," Kukes says. "I.e. if the book needs to go back on the bookshelf, you put it on the bookshelf now, don't place it on the table in the middle of the room with the intention of putting it there later. Handling things only once is more efficient and cuts down on clutter."

It's tricky to track down specifically where this "Only Handle It Once" idea originated, because it has been applied it so many scenarios. However, financial executive Robert Pozen popularized the method in his 2012 book Extreme Productivity, where he writes about applying the method to your email inbox (which entails dealing with emails as soon as you open them—making a decision in that moment to either respond, trash, or file them away).

The more you think about the rule, you more you can imagine endless ways to apply it to everyday life and productivity, but we think using it to cut down on clutter at home is a great place to start.

How to Use the OHIO Rule in Your Own Home

It's easy to see how this rule can be applied the moment you enter your home. Just think about what you do when you get home from a long day out: You probably take off your shoes, drop your bag and coat, and change into comfy clothing. But, do you put your shoes back on the rack where they belong? Or do you just kick them off, leaving them in a hazardous spot in the middle of the hallway? And when you take off your outside clothes, do they go straight in a hamper or back in a closet or drawer? Or, do you drape them over a chair (which will turn into a mountain of clothing by the end of the week)? Applying the OHIO rule to this daily routine can easily address common sources of clutter.

You can apply this rule to mail and paper clutter too. Many of us bring the mail inside, quickly flip through it, then set it on the counter to return to at a later date. But, the truth is, that quick glance is usually all you need to identify which items of mail you need to keep and which you can toss right then and there.

The better you are at integrating this rule in a few small instances around your home, the more it will become second nature—and you'll find it way easier to maintain a more organized space.

Read the original article on Real Simple