According to New Scientist magazine, “People tend to mislay an average of nine items a week and waste 15 minutes a day searching for them.” Not only do we waste valuable time searching for lost things, we’re also causing unnecessary stress and frustration when we can’t find what we need. How many times have you had a bad day because you couldn’t find what you needed in the morning?

So how do we prevent losing our things, getting frustrated at ourselves when we can’t find them, and wasting those 15 minutes? The secret is to create a home for every item you own. Decide where this home will be as soon as the item enters your house (or office, or car) and make sure it always gets put there when you’re not using it.

If you aren’t sure where an item’s home should be, think about where you use it (keys are often hung by the front door, for example) or where you think you will look first when you need to retrieve it. For small things that often get relegated to the junk drawer, try grouping these things together based on function (batteries, lightbulbs, and cords together or clips, rubber bands, and twist ties together) so you get in the habit of looking in the same place every time you need that type of item.

Once you get in the habit of grouping things together and establishing logical homes for each item, it will become easier to assign homes to new items and you will find yourself spending less time looking for things when you need them.

So, what will you do with your extra 15 minutes a day?