Cleaning

Well, my girlfriend is doing some "cleaning", and it got me thinking. Cleaning around here is a never-ending process. It seems that her idea of tidy doesn't mesh with mine.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

My girlfriend's idea of cleaning is a little different. Although her "cleaning" incorporates my "cleaning", she takes it to another level. Cleaning, for her, also entails moving things from places they don't belong. For her, cleaning is organization and reorganization. Very little regard is given to where things should be, rather her entire focus is on where they should not be.

This, perhaps, doesn't seem like a bad idea at first. However, one must ask, "How did these out-of-place things get out of place to begin with?"

When she gets something new she puts it someplace that isn't full. Often there is no objective reason to put it where she puts it at all. The first, and only reason to put things where she puts them is: nothing else was there already. Not only does this make it impossible for me to find things later, at times, she is unable to find them either.

The fact is, many things are out-of-place because no thought has been given to where they should be. In fact, an item is often assigned its "place of belonging" simply by not being moved from that place for a period of time. Similarly, things that are frequently move or used may never acquire a place to call their own.

A Place for Everything

My idea of cleaning is removing dirt, dust, and other transient matter from the surface of a fixed surface. For me there is a definite, permanent underlying organization which requires periodic maintenance.

When I get something new I try to find a place where it belongs. As a rule I try to keep like things together. I try to keep things with sympathetic purposes together. A stapler, for instance, can reasonably be expected to belong on a desk, the TV remote goes on the side table next to the couch where we watch TV, and pasta sauce goes next to pasta.