"Only touch things one time"...I'm sure you have heard this saying several times.  Every time I hear it, I cringe because it isn't realistic in my house and I feel at times it can be really inefficient. Take for example when I am in the kitchen cleaning or organizing.  I am focused on the room I'm in, not on taking items upstairs.  I typically place the item in our upstairs transport bin and keep it moving.  I do this with too little clothes in my daughter's room too.  For anyone with a young child, you know you can blink and the same pair of shorts she/he had on the week before are now too snug to even pull up.  In our house, they are quickly and efficiently tossed into the "too little" bin until we have a full bin and can address the clothes in batches (read my <a href="http://thehappinessbucket.com/2015/09/04/thborganize-creating-batches/" target="_blank">latest post on batching your work</a>).  I'm all about efficiency and there is something about only touching something once that just irritates my being lol.

So, one way I like to "Batch" items throughout my home is by using containers (baskets mostly), to help corral items that belong together or in another room.  This helps cut down on the disorganized and cluttered piles that can appear seemingly out of nowhere.  I have a few in my home, but the one I use more than any other is my upstairs/downstairs basket.  We only have one that lives downstairs, but I have known people to have one at the top and bottom of their stairs.  This container serves multiple purposes (1) it keeps you from making multiple trips up and down the stairs (2) it makes the trip a little safer as you are carrying a container of items and not trying to balance individual items as you navigate the stairs (3) allows you to not waste a trip, by multi-tasking the trip you are already taking up the stairs.

I encourage you to think of ways you can use containers to batch your tasks throughout your home.  To help you, we are covering several in our <a href="http://thehappinessbucket.com/30daychallenge/">30-Day Declutter Challenge</a>, why not join it today and get your "batch on".