This Wednesday: a quiz--are you organized or disorganized?

Usually Wednesday is Tip Day, but surprise, today is a quiz instead.

Most people understand that it's a pain to be disorganized. Disorganized people spend a lot of time hunting for their keys; they have to order a replacement birth certificate; they know they must have a dozen hammers, because it’s always been easier to buy a new one than to locate one in the house.

Often, however, people don’t realize how disorganized they are. Are you? Take this quiz.

At a minimum, you should know exactly where to find these possessions (assuming, of course, you own them—and you should):

 stamps
 your passport and if you’re married, your spouse’s passport
 a corkscrew
 Bandaids
 a safety pin
 a flashlight
 a functioning alarm clock
 paperclips or a stapler
 your phone charger
 a spare set of keys
 your doctor’s phone number
 cinnamon
 your tax statements from 2003
 fabric stain remover
 a pair of mittens
 spare AA batteries

Congratulate yourself for being well-organized if you can also say exactly where you’d find these objects:

 a tape measure
 your high-school yearbook
 a Swiss army knife
 a pencil sharpener
 a copy of Pride and Prejudice or The Da Vinci Code
 the instruction manual for your camera
 silver polish
 a vase the proper size to hold a bunch of tulips
 food coloring
 a tube of lip balm
 a cheese knife
 an extension cord
 a recipe for a favorite food your mother or father used to make
 a pack of playing cards
 a pad of sticky notes (Post-Its)

One observation: disorganized people often aim to put things away approximately. They’ll keep something “in a kitchen drawer” or “in my office.” It’s much more satisfying to put things away in an exact location—like a particular kitchen drawer. It takes some effort, at first, to decide where everything belongs, but once you’ve put objects in their proper places, it’s much easier to return them there.

organization, daily life, clutter

Comments

[CBooker]

Ms. Rubin --

By your measure, I'm extremely well organized, yet I rarely feel that way. It's usually that I'm looking for something very specific or trying to remember where I put something.

Your blog is very enjoyable and I look forward to reading more of your work, both online and in print.

[lhstrachan]

My house is full of clutter, and my life feels completely chaotic, but I can immediately find every item on the list. Perhaps I'm not as disorganized as I convince myself I am.

[Dirty Butter]

I'm kind of like that last commenter. I knew where almost every one of those items were, but I know my house is cluttered. Hmmmm. TOO MUCH STUFF!!

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[Bob M]

I'm like the others. I scored well but frequently experience frustration beyond the edge of those lists.

Of course, we don't have mittens here in Sydney.

[Jackie]

My place looks like a tornado hit it as I spend far too much time on the internet but funnily enough I know where everything is. I think it's called organised chaos :-)

[Selfhelp]

Very good post on organization. Thank you for sharing. I would like to share Steps To Organize Your Home Office. It's very long post so I am leaving the Link here.

http://www.selfhelpzone.com/organizing/steps-to-organize-your-home-office/

[theobromacrunch]

wow i never consider myself as a neat freak but i can find the things in your list. i guess having a place of your own always has a perks.

[Taylor Kay Massanelli]

It is a great thing to have a website like this you must be very proud of yourself

[JhayAnn1]

Well, I guess I am pretty organized! Yay! I find it hard to believe though, but after reading the above, I've come to realize that the reason I feel so disorganized is because of my memory problems.

I'm a veteran, so the VA is trying to help me, but so far's we can tell - I suffer from short-term memory loss that covers a span of now to 2 weeks.

Being organized (via a household notebook, my PDA with a million alarms/reminders, a set place for everything, etc.) has helped tremendously! Now I just need to remember to bring my PDA with me everywhere I go... ;-)

[LP]

This checklist only works if you actually, literally, get up and go to where you think these items are. Almost everyone believes they know exactly where something lives in their house, but can you access it in one try?

[Emily-Sarah]

Oh, Gretchen, I'm more organized than I thought! This made me especially happy ... because my desk is occupied by too many stacks of paper and disgruntled little items that have been begging to find their proper place. I'd felt awful the last few week that I can't seem to get caught up -- and felt so disorganized. Now I'm happy because while my desk IS currently messy, I realize my office and my house are not hopeless at all. :-) Thanks!