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Are you a tidy person? What has prompted the question? I have just noticed - and photographed - the builder's screw box. As I passed it I glanced down and saw his packs of screws, each graded according to size, each in its own little compartment ready for use. And I thought of my embroidery shelves where everything starts out like that but rapidly deteriorates. And I thought of the kitchen drawer where we keep everything which "might come in handy". And I decided that the world is probably divided into two kinds of people - those who have a place for everything and everything in its place - and those who mean well but allow things to get out of hand. I am afraid I must put myself into that second category. I suppose there might be a third category where those who just get on with their lives and let things accumulate might live.

So today dear bloggy friends, I pose a question for you. What kind of a person are you? Do you have everything categorised and filed away neatly; do you try hard but sometimes let things get untidy; or do you blithely go on while all around you becomes chaos? And, more importantly, does this matter? Answers on a postcard please (if you are one of those people who can lay your hands on a blank postcard immediately)!

The photos show the builder's toolbox, my study shelves and thekitchen drawer.
Posted by The Weaver of Grass at 06:22 
I'm definitly on the 'untidy' side of the classroom here. I try and I try and have found that I am at my tidiest when we are selling a house and must be ready for showing - every drawer, linen closet and shelf is a vision of order. We love Pondside, so selling seems a bit drastic, but I have to do something to impose order!

2 September 2009 at 07:56 
I guess you could say I am a little of both. I feel comfortable with a certain amount of clutter about me, like a nest. But, I don't let it get out of hand.(don't go peeking in my closets, now)

2 September 2009 at 08:01 
Hello Weaver,

Untidy, I'm afraid! I like it when everything is neat but it rarely stays that way for long - except in the shop of course!

2 September 2009 at 08:10 
Rummage, rummage, I know I've got some blank postcards somewhere! I am in your second category I think - full of good intentions but not good at putting everything straight back in the right place when it has been used. At this very moment I am sitting in the middle of a stupendous muddle. It will get tidied - soon - ish!!

2 September 2009 at 09:07 
I TRY to stay tidy, not because I am an organizer, but because I can't remember if I just I drop stuff. So I make myself put things back in the same place so I don't spend ALL my time searching---just some of the time. Fun question.

2 September 2009 at 09:42 Leilani Lee said...

The husband has all his nails and screws and bolts neatly organized in little bins. I would like to be neat and organized, but things seem to deteriorate rather quickly into muddle.

2 September 2009 at 09:49 Raggy said...

I used to be extremely tidy in my younger days, that was until I met my present husband who is not tidy at all. He says that life is to short to spend all your time tidying up. Well it seems to me that he spends all of his time looking for things that he has lost. So over the years I have become a little less tidy but it isn't long before it all gets on top of me and I have a huge sort out. My stock room doesn't stay like that I'm afraid for long. Ho Hum!

2 September 2009 at 10:25 Professor A B Yaffle said...

I am tidy and methodical
Not only do I like to be but I find I can be more efficient, knowing exactly where everything is. I also therefore know whether I have all that I need
Occasionally I get in a mess, especially after I have been extremely busy, but I love the process of tidying things up and maybe discovering a better or neater system
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter, what ever floats your boat
The only time it ever becomes an issue is when two people of opposite traits have to share the same space
Remember The Odd Couple?

2 September 2009 at 10:37 
Hmm.. well.. I start out with good intentions, like straightening out the closet, clearing the desk of clutter, going through the kitchen -junk- drawer.. but in the end it's always the same...disorganized once again. I live with an EXTREMELY organized spouse, however.. and it has certainly caused friction between us. Relatively clean and orderly is good enough for me... and he has learned to live with it. For me, life is too short so sweat the small stuff, or worry about where the small "stuff" is supposed to be. ofcourse, when I can't find my keys?.. now that drives me crazy. Literally. :-) and I have no idea where I put the postcards, so..sorry.

2 September 2009 at 10:57 
Middle ground too, much to my dismay. I am by nature a very tidy and methodical person, but life (and in particular, other, small, lives) get in the way, and by the end of the day I'm too tired to put things away properly! This actually causes some distress. I can't do anything like work or think in a messy room.
I think I need a bigger house.
Interestingly, the three best friends I have had in my life (and still have - some go back twenty-five years) are all absolute slatterns, who live in degrees of chaos I cannot fully compute. Opposites attract, or do I crave something they have?

2 September 2009 at 11:25 
Living quarters, tidy.
Closet, drawers and attics...not so much.

2 September 2009 at 11:39 
I think I am definitely a mix of the second and third. I try hard to get organised but then when it all starts to overflow I just let it happen until I can't find a surface to work on and then it all starts again. As for whether it matters - definitely not.

2 September 2009 at 12:26 
Me? A happy jumble of organised chaos I'd say! Hubby is very organised & tidy, so he keeps me in order! Bless him!

2 September 2009 at 13:16 Poet in Residence said...

Tdiy? Yse t'htas me, a palce fro erevyth ign and eveth erying in ist plaec -);

2 September 2009 at 13:34 Robin Mac said...

I am definitely a mixture of both - kitchen and closets very organised, I know where everything is - but my workroom -oh dear! I start off with good intentions, but the mess just generates so quickly - but then I have to have a huge tidyup and rediscover all these magical things I had bought and forgotten about - did I really need them....hmmm....

2 September 2009 at 13:38 
hi weaver - well obviously a burning question judging by the range of responses here! i love a natural order about my home - sometimes there are piles if someone is working on something and walks away - the piles can last for an hour or weeks. if i am creating something i need organized chaos. if i am preparing something i like organization. then there are the three other people i share this home with. each has their own particular perspective and lifestyle!!! have a lovely evening in the dale. steven

2 September 2009 at 13:52 
I'm tidy due to finickity relatives and occasional rental inspections, but like to plonk myself down in friend's untidy houses where I really feel relaxed and at home.I feel I have to "come up to scratch" in my own home though.Husband and daughter are always puzzled why I feel the need still, to conform to others standards. They don't care! Work-wise I find it hard to work in chaos. Couldn't stand collapsing mountains of paperwork, or tripping over things.Guess I'm middle-ground in the home basically, trained/influenced by in-laws with a painful A++ in organization!! (When I create, it's wonderfully chaotic, but never such a large project that can't be shoved somewhere at a moment's notice - usually the bottom of the wardrobe on top of the jumbled shoes and untidy handbags!)

2 September 2009 at 15:05 
I stand with a foot in both worlds I think. Most of the house is tidy-ish, LOL, for most of the time except husby's work desk and my art table. His desk is always covered in paerwork-Mr Messy in style there. And my art area, well evrything is filed away neatly in it's own wee spaces, mostly so I know where to find it if I need it. BUT, that is until I am headlong into art and then the table is utter chaos until it's over and it all gets put back where ti belongs again. Life is a constant struggle of chaos, guilt and cleanup, LOL! and I wouldn't change a thing, well maybe a bigger studio space!

2 September 2009 at 15:33 
Obviously a topic we all want to comment on . . . My husband has drawers and cabinets just like your carpenter's. He is immaculate and order just seems to come naturally to him.

I like order too, but when working on a project I tend to need piles and clusters of things around me. However, my kitchen is orderly and immaculate - when I'm not working in it.

2 September 2009 at 17:16 
I used to be a tidy person, but now! Well if I am doing something in my work room things get tossed every where, but I do finally HAVE to tidy again to stay sane.
I dont mind some clutter but not so that I cant find a chair to sit on.

2 September 2009 at 17:51 
I know where everything is, so it is organized. It may not be everyone's way to organize stuff, but if I want the blue cookbook, it's in my hand in seconds. I rarely loose anything unless I put it in a safe place. Then it is never found. I have too much stuff right now, so my house is cluttered. The furniture bank are arriving tomorrow to help us with our clutter problem. We will donate the excess to them.

2 September 2009 at 18:47 
Chaos reigns 9 months of the year - glitter, mica, metallic papers, German paper scraps, and fabric trims - until the studio is packed away for a long Christmas season. We start the process all over again at the first of the year.

2 September 2009 at 19:25 
We creatives often hoard treasure chests of things that will resonate - and thus help us create.

Let's stop feeling guilty before the linnear organizers - though we do admire them and there's space for us all. That makes the salad!

Aloha my Sistah!

(I'm your sort, in case that wasn't evident ;-)


2 September 2009 at 20:49 Hildred and Charles said...

Intermittently tidy, but quite well organized. I hate, with a passion, wasting time looking for things!
Life is too short and moments too precious.

On the other hand I look upon time spent rummaging through old papers, pictures and memorabilia as time well spent.

My 'company eyes' are a great inspiration and energizer...

2 September 2009 at 21:30 
I'm not the tidiest person in the world at all, but I'm fairly well organised. I have boxes for my poetry in progress and all my craft items (magazine cuttings and reuseable papers for collage, reuseable card for greetings cards, scrap materials for sewing) plus each work in progress has its own place. But the places themselves are pretty disorgnised but i like to think that adds a nice element of serendipity to my crafting and writing

2 September 2009 at 23:50 
I was the libran perfectionist. Each bobbin in its place, my desk drawers a picture of neatness,I could lay my hands on any book at any time. Tablecloths sorted for the differet extentions of the table and matching napkins starched and ready. Those were the days my friend I thought they'd never end, but end they did.
After the fire, everything was new to me from the used goods from the Salvos to the necessary items we had purchased... since everything was strange I could find nothing at all and the right size bowl had to be searched for and what did it look like anyway?
Two more heart operations and a decade or two later, age and (im)mobility have taken their toll and our cramped living conditions in our howel have stopped me caring about all that and I have at last learned to really live and not be a slave to a showcase of a house. The only things I keep really tidy are my paints. I like the feeling of being able to stretch out my hand for a tube of Naples yellow or burt Sienna and pick it up without having to look.

3 September 2009 at 04:45 
I try to be well organised, as I hate clutter.

Philip K Dick the SF writer, used (invented?) a great word for bits and pieces/clutter: "kipple". Kipple multiplies when you're not looking: booklets, leaflets, receipts, small things you don't need, etc.

3 September 2009 at 05:10 
Gosh! How that has stirred up the mud at the bottom of the pond. If you are all a cross-section of people then we seem to have everything from ultra tidy to living in a mess - and that about sums up life, wouldn't you say? There are one or two very drastic solutions to the problem - selling the house???;Maybe Arija sums it up best - "after the fire" things changed for her - I suppose after that kind of tragedy one's priorities get put in the right order.
Thanks so much for all your comments - they are so interesting to read through - it seems we are all full of good intentions but creativity often gets in the way - and why shouldn't it. Must dash now to start cleaning out that untidy kitchen drawer - I really am ashamed of that photograph! Poet needs a spellcheck on his comnputer to keep him tidy I think.

3 September 2009 at 07:32 
My children and my husband belonged to the second or third category, which caused me a lot of time tidying their rooms. So, yes I belong to the first category, I am afraid. LOL!

3 September 2009 at 07:41 
Goodness me - after seeing my desk mess picture, do you need to ask? I'm a chaos merchant with occasional overtones of organisation. Would like to have the places to keep evrything in their special ones! Buck House might be big enough for me? :)

3 September 2009 at 10:05 Eryl Shields said...

I am obsessively tidy, but, I don't have enough space to put everything neatly away, and, I live with someone who wouldn't even notice if he had to wade through rubble to get from one room to another. So I try and be relaxed about the guddle and only tidy and clean once a week. It takes a full day though, and it still never looks as neat as I'd like.

3 September 2009 at 16:03 BT said...

Oh dear Weaver, I, too and the second sort. I do mean well, and often have a 'purge' and sort everything out. Material into colours, beads into pots, pencils and pens, but alas, nothing ever stays that way for long! Jim is even worse, dare I say!!

3 September 2009 at 16:36 
I forgot to mention 'the kitchen drawer' as it was always called in my parents' house, and now is in ours. Ours is just the same as yours. lol.
 nothing wrong with a bit of snow. Do you like my new bed? Whatever you are - come out! Do you like my new hairdo? Well, are we going for a walk or what? Come out rabbits! We know you're in there! My latest photograph. Look how I've grown! Best buddies