Upstairs, Downstairs

(Hi, I am back! After several rounds of antibiotics-necessary illness in our house, and everyone finally getting close-to-enough sleep, I am finally trying to resume normal posting. So far 2012 is not as productive as I had hoped. Anyway, thanks for your patience.)

No, the title of this post is not referring to the fabulous British sitcom, cool as it is. I am, however, referring to the items that inevitably seem to wind up on the wrong floor of your home. At my house, this means diapers, laundry, mail/papers, dishes, and toys that migrate faster than you can say "boo," especially when you have a two-story foyer and it's *so fun* to throw things over the railing (if you are two)!

The other night, my darling husband was out playing volleyball, and the kids were in bed, so I spent about two hours just rearranging things in my house. The orderliness of my bedroom is now unmatched! I grabbed a handled basket and just starting tossing in everything that needed to go up or down. I tried to continue working on decluttering one room at a time, but had to make several trips to unload/put away.
After that was done, I filled the basket with things that needed to go back into my older son's bedroom and left that outside his door so that I could handle them next day. I find myself doing this more and more often. I am thankful for a piece of furniture outside the boys' rooms, where I can put two stacks of laundry or toys. At least items are somewhat sorted and ready to go back where they belong, since one or both are sleeping when I have time to fold laundry or declutter.

I am vowing to try and keep up with this project, keeping the basket handy so that when I tidy up at the end of each evening, I can toss everything in and carry it up. Items that need to go downstairs are placed on a corner table at the top of the steps so I can easily grab it on a trip down the next morning.

How do you deal with the constant up-and-down? Do you have a system like this for stuff that needs to go in and out of the car? I'd love to hear it!