Loose Ends
No more storage
Susan Nienow

My next house is not going to have any storage space. I won't even put in bookshelves or cupboards. The kitchen will have the minimum. The bedrooms will have small closets. No hutches, trunks or chests of drawers.

Given an empty space I feel compelled to fill it. That is almost a direct quote from my other half. I disagree with the compelled part. I just like "stuff," so in an attempt at organization, I put it in drawers, boxes and baskets. I line it up on shelves and hang it on clothes rods.

The only empty containers in my house are wastebaskets. The kitchen drawer is full of toothpicks, tape, masking tape, bandages, birthday candles - the kind of things I rarely need and can't find when I am looking for them anyway because the drawer is so full.

I have two desk drawers that barely close. They are so stuffed with pens, pencils, paper clips and return address labels that they're useless. I can't even find my stamps so now I keep them in my wallet. Don't tell my other half - this is not something he would understand.

And those pens. I can't find one so I buy more. When I cleaned out the drawer (two years ago, I think), I had 23 pens, and they all worked. That alone is a record. I can't find any now. That means it is time to clean out the drawer - or buy more pens.

My bookshelves are full of books and magazines and the baskets that I added for interest. Then I filled the baskets - and the decorator box and the jar with a lid. All are overflowing. I bought a cute wastebasket to store wrapping paper in, but because I am an obsessive wrapping paper collector, there are five or six tubes leaning in the corner.

Three file organizers sit on my desk, but I can't use them. They are all bulging. My other half said that's because I turn every container into long-term storage. I disagreed. Not every container is full. I still have about two inches of space in one file drawer and can handle one more file folder in the other.

It's not entirely my fault as I tried to explain to my other half. I seem to be on the "let's send her return address labels so she'll feel guilty about accepting them and send us a donation" charity list. I have a hard time throwing out useful things. I do toss the ones that spell my name wrong.

My bedside table should contain the book I am currently reading, flashlight (it doesn't even have to work), a pad of paper and pencil - the usual stuff. But the drawer is full, so I stack my magazines and books on top. In the morning when I grab for the alarm clock - well, chaos results. My other half isn't racking up any points telling people that my alarm clock sounds like books hitting the floor.