That is certainly unusual.

Post #445,398 by Andrew Grygus 2/25/25 2:52:20 PM 2/25/25 2:52:20 PM Reply	That is certainly unusual. I identify by shape, even if only a tiny bit of the item is visible due to other things on top of it. Of course, color is a helpful factor. And there are times I'm looking for something and don't see it practically right in front of me. My tools are concentrated in a few well known places, so getting them together for a project is usually not too difficult. Searching for outdoor tools like shovels can be a lot more difficult. Of course not finding them is not always my fault. Every time contractors do work here tools disappear without trace.
Post #445,399 by drook 2/25/25 3:42:00 PM 2/26/25 3:43:26 PM Reply	I have poor object permanence It's usually toddlers and those with ADHD, so this is one of many symptoms suggesting I'm undiagnosed. If I put something down and turn around, if someone moves it, when I turn back it's just gone from my world. I won't notice it's missing until I need it, then I'll go back to where it's "supposed to be" and ... nope. I cope by having a "right place" for everything. If it's not there, I ask my wife. She'll come and point to a spot 6 inches from where I'm looking and there it'll be. -- Drew Edited by drook Feb. 26, 2025, 03:43:26 PM EST Expand All History
Post #445,400 by crazy 2/25/25 5:47:03 PM 2/25/25 5:47:03 PM Reply	Yeah, same thing happens to me Even worse is when I move it. I might shuffle something 6 in away and then it's gone. And then M will point it out to me. She's used to it. I just found a remote that I lost about a month ago. Ordered a replacement and programmed it. And then I simply picked up the seat cushion that I know I looked under 20 times before and there it was. We blame the cats. I can't have a place for everything. At least not yet. I have a huge number of semi-opaque bins filled with tools that I shuffle around left and right while looking for things. Yesterday I started taking everything out for the next organization pass but the fan showed up so I knew what my priority was. I still won't have a place for everything when I'm done. I will cover every square inch of this room with shelves and hanging things and well marked identified everything and it still won't matter, it won't be enough. I will never have enough space. But I'll have really brightly marked well identified things that I can see in the distance and they will be nothing like anything else within my visual path.
Post #445,401 by crazy 2/25/25 5:47:20 PM 2/25/25 5:47:20 PM Reply	Yeah, same thing happens to me Even worse is when I move it. I might shuffle something 6 in away and then it's gone. And then M will point it out to me. She's used to it. I just found a remote that I lost about a month ago. Ordered a replacement and programmed it. And then I simply picked up the seat cushion that I know I looked under 20 times before and there it was. We blame the cats. I can't have a place for everything. At least not yet. I have a huge number of semi-opaque bins filled with tools that I shuffle around left and right while looking for things. Yesterday I started taking everything out for the next organization pass but the fan showed up so I knew what my priority was. I still won't have a place for everything when I'm done. I will cover every square inch of this room with shelves and hanging things and well marked identified everything and it still won't matter, it won't be enough. I will never have enough space. But I'll have really brightly marked well identified things that I can see in the distance and they will be nothing like anything else within my visual path.
Post #445,402 by Andrew Grygus 2/26/25 2:14:40 AM 2/26/25 2:14:40 AM Reply	There is one thing I'm always loosing . . . . . and can't remember where I left it. That's my shopping cart in the grocery store.
Post #445,403 by crazy 2/26/25 3:29:38 AM 2/26/25 3:29:38 AM Reply	I don't use them I have a wife. I haven't gone shopping in years without it being a simple pickup of item or two. On the other hand, today I went and drove an hour to pay my taxes and I was starving on the way. So I stopped off at the grocery outlet and I blew 50 bucks on a combination of candy and alcohol. They have cheap coffee bourbon. It tastes great and keeps me going. So anyway, I carry a handbasket whenever I shop to limit myself. If I can't carry it then I'm not allowed to have it. But I'm not stupid about it. The second it weighs anything that annoys me I place it at the end of an aisle and I wander the aisle and I come back and drop stuff off. Sometimes it's after I go around the next aisle and come back. Sooner or later someone's going to take that basket and put stuff back. That's okay, I'll go get it again.
Post #445,404 by crazy 2/26/25 3:36:57 AM 2/26/25 3:36:57 AM Reply	Here is a possible mitigation for you I have a whole bunch of surgical trays of varying sizes. I keep all kinds of little tools and bits and saw blades and whatever extension I am using etc nearby. I have another one for stuff I'm emptying into. I keep a package of Ziploc bags handy for isolating. Anything that I take apart and I make sure that certain categories of items get its own Ziploc bag at that point. When I return to the room, I then toss the Ziploc bags in a pile and they're already pre-sorted to drop into whatever jar or bin they should go into. I have another for whatever real tools I'm using that will fit. They are reflective and sometimes they are the wrong tray for the job but I put a black background bit of fabric or foam or I put a white one etc. When I'm done I gather the tools and the supplies and everything I used for the task and I take a picture. I'll be doing the same thing or something near it in the future or I'll be taking this apart. I want to know everything I used to put it together. I found I have a very limited subset of tools and blades and bits that I'm using all the time. I keep those in an isolated spot in the front of the tool gather area. I then buy duplicates of those so there's backups in the correct slot in the assortments. I do the same thing for spices in the kitchen. I do the same thing for snacks. Same thing for bathroom supplies and cleaning supplies. I never want to look for a specific thing that I use all the time in a bunch of stuff that I rarely use. I have a priority cache of whatever I am using in an area and I keep a separate cabinet or rack or whatever that is closest to wherever I might use it. M does the same with me. We figure out exactly what we use and we keep the common items the closest.
Post #445,406 by drook 2/26/25 3:49:39 PM 2/26/25 3:49:39 PM Reply	Oh god, the spices If I take down the crushed red pepper flakes from between the garlic and the cajun seasoning, when I finish I put it back between the garlic and the cajun. (These are, as you guessed, not hypothetical.) Everyone else in the house will put it back "on the spice shelf," which has a lazy Susan, meaning everything gets to be "in front" when you put it away. I'll spin that thing around a half-dozen times and not see the jar right in front of my face. -- Drew
Post #445,408 by crazy 2/27/25 2:03:17 AM 2/27/25 2:03:17 AM Reply	Then stop it How much of your life will you allow other people to waste?
Post #445,411 by malraux 2/27/25 9:16:19 AM 2/27/25 9:16:19 AM Reply	Went through this too. I'd reorganize the spice cupboard alphabetically, and my wonderful wife, who is Brownian motion personified when it comes to putting things back where they came from, would deorganize it over the following weeks. Wash, rinse, repeat, etc. I finally had to pitch a fit, but now they stay organized. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #445,412 by crazy 2/27/25 9:19:47 AM 2/27/25 9:19:47 AM Reply	Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope Sure you pitched to fit. Sure, it stays right. And she grumbles every time she puts things back. You were grumbling when you pulled them out, right? I've learned. Gently guide to desired result. Provide a smooth flow of transition. Allow for simultaneous solutions. Make her part of the solution, not the problem.
Post #445,414 by drook 2/27/25 1:28:11 PM 2/27/25 1:28:11 PM Reply	We both grumble I grumble when I can't find something, she grumbles when she has to come find it for me. Honestly, I put up with me grumbling, because I know I'm the one with the problem. I just wish she didn't get frustrated when she has to help, because some days her mother has been stepping on every last nerve and I don't like being the final straw (to mix metaphors). -- Drew
Post #445,423 by malraux 2/28/25 12:17:54 PM 2/28/25 12:17:54 PM Reply	You don't understand. She was the one complaining about the disorder, but she was the one causing it. My son and I were like, uh, we put them back where we find them. You don't. Case closed. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #445,421 by CRConrad 2/28/25 9:19:56 AM 2/28/25 9:19:56 AM Reply	I agree on the "Nope. Nope. Nope", but for a different reason: ...organize the spice cupboard alphabetically Alphabetically??? WTF... is wrong with you? Keeping the Anchos most of the way distant from the Poblanos, and the white pepper almost exactly as far away from the black as it can get?!? Sure, keep 'em organised... But by criteria that make at least some fucking sense in the context. -- Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking Everything Mail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
Post #445,422 by malraux 2/28/25 12:15:47 PM 2/28/25 12:15:47 PM Reply	Insanity. I don't know if we have anchos. Or poblanos. Or red pepper. Or black pepper. All I need to know is that if there's nothing in the spot where it should be, then we don't have it. And why does it matter, context or not? Who uses white and black pepper at the same time? Why would it matter even if I did? Why should I need to know the relation between coriander seeds and cilantro, or nutmeg and mace, in order to find them? What does savory vs. sweet matter if you know the name? Alphabetically is the quickest: roll through a list of spices, pull them out, and then when it's time to put them back do it in order into the empty spots. No problem solving needed. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #445,425 by crazy 2/28/25 12:28:03 PM 2/28/25 12:28:03 PM Reply	Yes and no Adam Savage agrees with me. This just showed up in my feed. https://youtu.be/RwxdovijdZo?si=1dO-31NmSyu6QM9Q Alphabetical to look up things that you're not used to using makes perfect sense. Keep a copy within the alphabet. Cache another locally with an additional copy within reach for common used items. The additional copy is my addition to the concept. People who work in the physical world should take a little bit of Education from people who work with computers and then try to duplicate where you can. I'm going to add the fluorescent color tape to the spices that I use most. I won't even have to read the labels. I'll look at a rack of 50 spices and within them I'll know there's 10 that I care about and within them I'll know the three to grab immediately. No matter where they are. I will just know.
Post #445,429 by malraux 2/28/25 4:31:37 PM 2/28/25 4:31:37 PM Reply	Alphabetical is a good denominator for two people with different default categorization systems too. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #445,436 by pwhysall 3/2/25 3:19:03 PM 3/2/25 3:19:03 PM Reply	Not for me I keep my mustards together, my sugars together, herbs together, sweet spices, savoury spices, oils, vinegars, etc. Alphabetical would make sense in an abstract sense, but fuck me, my cupboard would be a mess, what with the cider vinegar being next to the cinnamon and a long way from the white wine vinegar.
Post #445,437 by crazy 3/2/25 5:20:29 PM 3/2/25 5:20:29 PM Reply	Agreed Common solutions that allow two people to be equally annoyed are bad solutions. The solution that allows one person to be happy and the other person to be annoyed better be in favor of the person doing the majority work involved in grabbing the things. If that person compromises that person is an idiot. Either way, I just spent 2 hours happily organizing tools and bits. I boiled rusty bits in vinegar for 2 hours and cleaned them up. I love my clean non-rusty bits. Now I'm going to organize them and bathe them in oil and store them away.
Post #445,438 by malraux 3/3/25 10:26:42 AM 3/3/25 10:26:42 AM Reply	The only things that are alphabetical are the bottled spices. All the same shape, harder to find. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #445,417 by Andrew Grygus 2/27/25 11:38:21 PM 2/27/25 11:38:21 PM Reply	I almost always have to suffle . . . . . through my spices. While the most used 8 are lined up in a drawer under the kitchen counter and easily recognized. Another 42 are on a shelf, stacked two high, three deep and 7 wide, not in any order, though I try to keep Aleppo Mild, Aleppo Extra Hot, and a couple of other chili flake at the front. There are a fair number of others, especially ones in larger containers, stored on other shelves. There are also 30 or so spice mixes kept separately without order. Some are getting too old and I should sort through them again.
Post #445,409 by crazy 2/27/25 7:38:01 AM 2/27/25 7:38:01 AM Reply	Here's something I just discovered The paper towel block. What's the paper towel block? It's a chunk of would that slightly wider than the paper towel standing on it. It could have a dowel in the center but it's not. It's just resting there. It's not very thick and it's not very heavy but you don't move it by default. I had it there simply because it was a block filled with screws that was holding two other boards together. It was the underside of a shelf support. And I left the paper towel on it. Not on purpose. The paper towel block became the mental anchor for us. Not on purpose. It just happened. We naturally dropped the paper towel there. Occasionally we shift the block to a better spot. Now I know I need multiple paper towel holders at a couple of distinct locations and one that wanders. Why do people have a single spot of paper towel in their kitchen? I'm sure the same thing applies to the plastic wrap and much of the other storage materials. I'll find out.
Post #445,413 by Andrew Grygus 2/27/25 12:52:10 PM 2/27/25 12:52:10 PM Reply	I have paper towels in one place . . . . . in the kitchen, because everywhere else I use paper napkins which stack neatly.
Post #445,415 by drook 2/27/25 1:32:48 PM 2/27/25 1:32:48 PM Reply	Trying to think of anything I keep in multiple places We keep soap and hand towels next to every sink. There are paper towels next to the kitchen sink, over the deep sink in the basement, and under the bathroom sink upstairs. But I can't think of anything we have multiples of in one room. -- Drew

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