I Say Tomato; You Say Light Bulb

I suppose life would be much less interesting if everyone had the same, exact, idea about how we ought to organize stuff. Easier, maybe, but less interesting. We all have varied ideas about how storage spaces should be organized. And, what exactly should be in those storage spaces

Clothes? Arrange clothing by season? By color? By frequency of wear? By when and where the clothes are worn? Or, the popular, whatever! style of closet organization. And what are you going to do with your shoes? Are you the kind of person who has so many clothes that you put the out-of-season clothes in a different closet. (And, do you really have an extra closet?) And, will you remember what’s in the other closet? Will you buy a winter coat, forgetting that you already have a winter coat, but you forgot about it, because it was in a trunk in the garage?

Games? Sort by the age group that plays the game? Sort by size of box the game is in? Sort by family popularity of the game? And would that mean that the Monopoly game would end up on the top, not easily accessible shelf in the closet?

Puzzles? Are you actually going to work a puzzle a second time, anyway? And, you could try to sell the puzzle in a garage sale, but who would be willing to purchase a puzzle that might have a few missing pieces?

Can you get in the closet where the games and puzzles are? I can get in my game and puzzle closet . . . if I take the vacuum cleaner out first.

And what about books? Should the cookbooks be in the kitchen? (I know, that does seem sensible, but . . .) If I have a holiday cookbook that only gets used a couple of weeks a year, should that one get shelf space in the kitchen if I’m only going to look at it in December. I know an interior designer who thought books should be shelved by color, which, I agree, would be attractive, but what if I’m wanting to do some research and I cannot recall what color the Thesaurus was. (Of course, that’s silly, who actually uses a real Thesaurus these days, when there’s one online.)

Do you have a junk drawer? And, if so, why? Really? Junk? Of course, it’s probably a miscellaneous stuff drawer (I don’t have any junk, do you?).

You might have a place where you keep your well-organized stash of fabric/patterns/yarn/knitting needles/crochet hooks/thread/needles and pins/and those sorts of things.

You might create wonderful photograph albums/memory books/scrapbooks. And where will you keep all the things you need for putting together the photograph albums/memory books/scrapbooks?

Christmas? The tree/the lights/the ornaments/the wrapping paper/the ribbon/the tape/the gift tags/the greeting cards/the tree skirt/the candles/the holiday tablecloth and napkins and placemats (I’m going to have to stop!)

And, of course, what I’m keeping, organizing, and storing is probably much different from what you’re keeping, organizing, and storing. Not necessarily better, just different.

Hmmm. Maybe I need to be re-thinking what my storage areas say about me.