Low-ish effort, high reward projects | Mask organization + drop zone

I love some good low-ish effort, high reward projects. The ones that don’t take a ton of time, effort, or resources… but that make a big impact. I’ve been chipping away at our list of home projects and must say, I’m quite pleased with the results. (And with myself. For doing anything beyond the bare minimum lately. It’s still a pandemic, people!). Not only have these projects helped our home (and selves) run more smoothly, they’re also deeply stress-relieving for me when things feel beyond my control.

I cringe at sharing the “befores”… but this is real life. I’m sorry if they traumatize you. Hopefully the “afters” have the opposite effect. I’ll likely share these in a series of a few blog posts. First up? Mask organization and a drop zone for coming and going.

LOW-ISH EFFORT, HIGH REWARD PROJECTS FOR THE HOME

Mask organization + drop station

I still have a few more projects to finish to round out the sunroom, but it’s one of the hardest working rooms in the house. It exits to our parking area, so its door is the one we use most frequently. Since we don’t have a garage, it serves as a mudroom, occasional storage area, and drop zone for backpacks, keys, and these days… masks and hand sanitizer. Once we brought Birdie home, it also became a puppypalooza of leashes, collars, toys, grooming gear, late night bribery treats + pickup bags, etc.

Our originally set-up was a side table I picked up at Homegoods in 2008-ish for my Coolidge Corner apartment (I miss being so close to Trader Joe’s, but I don’t miss that death trap of a parking lot) and a basket of disorganized (but clean) masks and lanyards. Brace yourself. This isn’t good.

Told you it was bad.

I found this small storage cabinet on sale, did a little measuring (I’ve grown as a person), waffled about the color for two weeks, placed the order, and it arrived fully assembled a few days later. A pandemic shipping miracle!

Here’s the breakdown:

The woven bowl is for masks that need to be laundered or tossed (the kids wear disposable masks to hockey). A couple times a week I grab all the mask lanyards, clip the ear loops on the disposable masks (I think we’re supposed to do this for bird safety? Did I make this up?) and throw them out, and put the rest of the masks in the laundry.

The blue + white jar contains…. dog poop bags. Many, many rolls of them. And beside that is my favorite hand sanitizer.

The top drawer is for clean, ready-to-go masks (enough for the week) in labeled pouches (one per person). Our favorites for kids and grownups are from Athleta. We’ve had pretty good luck with the Old Navy ones too (inexpensive + lots of cute patterns), but find the Althleta ones fit and hold up better (they come out of the laundry good as new, no ironing needed).

One basket contains extra supplies: adhesive metal nose strips for masks that need them, extra ear loop adjuster things, hand sanitizer, alcohol wipes, extra filters… unsexy stuff like that. The left bottom basket is mask back stock (extra reusable masks to cycle through each week and an additional box of disposable masks).

The other side is puppy stuff: The top drawer has flashlights and snack containers of treats (easily accessible for late night walks, which *thank you Jesus* we are not really doing anymore). The baskets contain grooming gear (brushes, wipes…. dog dry shampoo that I impulse bought via Target pickup), lint rollers (for the humans), and a long leash for the beach and other excursions.

And that sad table from the “before” got a new life as a side table on the opposite corner of the room. Much better.

Never in a million years did I think “mask organization” would mean anything other than a lovely bin of moisturizing, soothing, exfoliating, etc. facial masks. But here we are. May as well lean into it.

Gathering supplies (the cabinet itself, mask pouches, etc.) took the most time and effort– but the actual set up was a breeze. And getting the system reset each week (back to baseline, where it’s working properly and not a flaming hot mess) takes just a minute or two. Low-ish effort, high reward.

Product list:

• Storage cabinet
• Woven bowl
• Hand sanitizer
• Pouches
• Label maker
• Clear label tape
• Ear loop adjusters
• Adhesive metal nose strips for masks
• Athleta masks (kids size)

Looking for more projects like this? I’ve got you covered — coming soon (stay on the very edge of your seat, ma’ams!):

• Our laundry area
• Skincare storage/display
• Undersink storage*

*The “before” for that last one is particularly mortifying. You’ve been warned.

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Also On Tap for Today:

• Adding this experiment to the low-ish effort project list: How to get your sheets really white with just two ingredients
• Brilliant organizing ideas to borrow from this house tour on The Kitchn
• Updating the kids’ bookshelves (and tackling my own perilously steep TBR pile)

What are some of your favorite ways to destress?