organized: a realistic lament

I don't know what my personality type is. I'm whatever type gets stressed out trying to answer all the personality test questions and just clicks out and goes back to facebook. I'm pretty sure I am far, far away from a Type A, because I have a lot of friends who know what day it is and have labeled bins, and they all say they are Type A. It's great to have Type A friends, they come over and reorganize your stuff and when they help you move, you don't end up having the plunger in with the dish soap, unless they are busy putting newspaper in boxes and don't notice you "helping".

I have always had this not-secret desire to be a more organized person. I dream of bookshelves full of boxes and containers with labels, and no randomosity strewn about. I have seen such spaces, like at my sister's house, or on the interwebs. It never works out at my house. For one thing, I can't figure out the containers. I stand in the aisle at Dollar Tree, because it is exactly the same as Pottery Barn, Pinterest says, and I look at all the containers, and I think, what size do I need? what shape? how many? and I end up buying 2 random crates and then they don't fit on the shelf. Is it a learned skill, knowing what containers to buy? I buy paper trays and pencil cans and baskets and they sit unused next to giant stacks of half-used papers and ziploc bags of pencils, mixed with some shards of clay and an apple core. IN A BAG, because it's organized.

A couple of years ago I bought an indoor shed thingy. You know, like a big Rubbermaid cabinet that locks, so I could put my supplies in it and be like a real teacher, a grownup one. That, along with a couple of IKEA bookshelves, is still in its box, protecting what is very likely a colony of black widows in the garage. Good intentions, that's what I have.

So I decided to take the bull by the horns and paint the sunroom and build all the shelves and maybe even buy a label maker... I mean, if I can do 100 situps, (and I always thought that was impossible) then surely I can organize a shelf. Right? Thank you type A's, for saying of course I could organize a simple shelf. You are right, I probably could organize it. Then one day I would be looking for the tape, and the erasers would be in the way. So I'd take the erasers out of their labeled muffin tin compartment, and I'd scooch the paper clips over and I'd knock down a mason jar of thumbtacks, and then someone would eat one and I'd stop to google "my toddler swallowed a thumbtack" and then I'd forget the whole thing and eventually you wouldn't even be able to see any labels because the whole thing would be a metaphorical spaghetti dinner in a tornado.

I'm still going to TRY it. I expect to have moderate success followed by not-quite-crushing defeat.