How To Find Anything In Your House
At A Moments Notice

In our house everyone thinks that I know where everything is at all times. That's my job , right?

I can't believe how many times a day someone says, Mom, where is that little dohinky that goes on the what-ja-ma-callit, you know the one that I had last Tues at 5:30 p.m. in the garage while you were at the store? What is a "dohinky" anyway? Actually, I shouldn't ask that , "dohinky" is my kind of lingo. The fact still stands that I can't know where everything is at all times with so many bodies running around.

 My husband is the worst for thinking that I can find that one piece of paper that has been sitting on the desk right where he put it for who knows how long until I (supposedly) come cleaning and moved it, or the car part that he bought about a year ago that was in the garage, which I (must have) relocated while "cleaning". I have learned one thing. Don't touch your husbands things!! That item that you are sick of seeing, that has been lying around having never been touched for 5 years, will be needed the day after you throw it away. And the desk that looks like a tornado hit, is his way of organizing. If you straighten the piles, he can't find it anymore.

The thing that has amazes me is that most of the time I DO come up with what ever is missing, even if I'm not the one who moved the article in question.

I've spent years trying to be an organized person. I remember when we were first married. During the day my husband would call to talk and see what I was doing. Every day when he would ask, "Well, what are you doing today?" The reply was usually "I'm getting things organized." His reply back was "Didn't you do that yesterday?" I did and I do that every day, to some degree or another. As the years have gone on and more people occupy my life and time, the task of being organized becomes harder. I find that if I do take some time periodically to just put everything back in it's place, life goes on much more easily. I try to emphasize to my family to always put things away each time that they use something. They do a pretty good job, most of the time. There are those crazy times, like during soccer season (that sometimes seems never ending) or during school finals, or the Christmas season etc., when everything seems to fall apart.

A few years ago my husband was working with a computer Utilities program. I asked him what it was doing and he explained it to me. He said that it was reorganizing all of the files. He said, (trying to teach me about how it works), "Try to imagine a room about the size of our bedroom and imagine that there are filing cabinets on every wall of the room with about eight secretaries that work on different subject matter. They are trying to keep the files in line and take care of business all at the same time. Would there ever be a file put in a wrong place? Most likely". The Utilities program was putting all of the files back where they go!

It reminded me of our kids and the way they work at home. They do pretty well, but there are "files" that get put in the wrong place. I am the "utilities program" that comes behind and gets everything put where it needs to be. I keep all the "files" straight. It takes some time, but just as the computer needs optimization at times, so does your home, and life.

Isn't it interesting how although circumstances may change, true principles stay the same? Just think of yourself as the "Home Utility Program" from now on. You can then find anything in your house at a moment's notice (well, most of the time).