Many years ago, my mother would periodically notify the family that we needed to get the house organized.  We lived in Michigan and very often this coincided with a change of seasons. If we were moving from summer to fall, we needed to pack up the shorts and swimsuits.  Put up the baseball gear and drag out the football, sweatshirts and jackets.  We stowed the barbecue equipment and winterized the screened in porch and outdoor faucets.  When Thanksgiving was near, we needed to prepare for the winter holidays.  Drag out the Christmas stuff, ice skates, hockey equipment, sleds and toboggins.  The grandaddy of them all was “Spring Cleaning”. The first day the temperature reached sixty five degrees in March we needed to clean the entire house, inside and out and reorganize everything we owned. 

During these transitions it was obvious that I always fell below my mother’s bar for household organization. 

I stored most of my sports gear in a closet under the steps.  It would take several hours to move from one season to another because all the stuff was piled haphazardly in the closet.  What kind of stuff?  A full set of goalie pads and a full set of skater’s pads for hockey, including the extremely important cup.  Fifteen or twenty pucks.  A complete set of equipment for a baseball catcher, two fielder’s gloves (one for baseball and one for softball) and a trapper just in case I ever played first base.  There was a badminton net, four rackets and two different canisters of “birdies” (one feathers and one plastics).  Four baseball bats, including a homemade lead bat for warming up in the ondeck circle and a massive thirty six inch, ten pound, Louisville Slugger in case Man Mountain Dean showed up for a pickup game. 

Organizing a three foot by seven foot, under stair, closet is an art not a science.  It is very easy to comingle the catcher’s gear with the goalie equipment. Four times a year I would segregate everything by season and by sport.  To keep mom happy, I would toss out an entire shoebox full of unnecessary stuff.  Maybe a couple chewed up hockey pucks, a few golf balls with slices in them and a cracked frisbee. The rest, I would arrange in four piles based on the seasons.  If it was March, the spring stuff went in the front of the closet followed by the summer stuff.  The football, kicking tee, shoulder pads, and helmet went behind the summer stuff and all of the winter sports gear was jammed in the very back of the closet. 

The organization would last less than a week. When I went looking for my Ken Roswell wood tennis racket and a sleeve of Wilson tennis balls, order was destroyed.  If someone called to say; “We are playing hockey this afternoon at West Park and you are in goal”, I would dive into the closet to dig out all of the equipment.  After twenty minutes of diligent searching, I can’t find the Terry Sawchuck catching glove so I substitute the rarely used first baseman’s glove that I located fifteen minutes earlier.  Fortunately, I found the most prized piece of hockey equipment, the cup, very early in the search.                  

So early on, it was clear that my mother and I viewed organization differently.  To her, being organized meant getting rid of things that you did not use very often.  To me, it meant putting all of the great stuff that you may use every year or two in a convenient place so you can find it when you need it.  During the transitions, mom would unload all of the things we had not used for a year.  I would be searching for a place to store a left handed five iron, left handed three wood and dual sided putter in case my cousin, Dave “Lefty” Donnelly, came to visit from Indianapolis and wanted to play golf. 

In addition, in my view of organization, if something is “really cool”, regardless of whether or not you ever used it, you should keep it.

It doesn’t take long to recognize the likely results of both perspectives.  After I moved out fifty eight years ago my mom’s house became a lot more simplified and organized.  Because I decided to keep “really cool things” like my extensive Lionel Train collection and every metal truck I had been given for Christmas since 1951, my house is a little cluttered.

Organizing is an interesting and important part of life.  It is entirely based on perspective.  For my mom, if she had not used something in a year, it was gone.  Her perspective was that unused stuff interfered with living.  She may be right.  When you are going through your closets, if your point of view is “Do I ever wear this thing or use this thing?”, it becomes very easy to toss it out.  What remains is stuff you really use.  It is easy to find when you need it and you can safely walk around in your closet.  Occasionally, I can put myself in that mind set. 

However, I view organization differently. 

For example, I used to smoke cigars.  Many years ago, I quit but I still enjoy a fine Macanudo on very special occasions.  I always light one up a day or two after Michigan’s football team beats the dreaded Buckeyes.  Many years ago, my wife gave me a fine teak humidor. It has a small brass plaque on top engraved with my initials. Clearly, it is one of the coolest things I have ever owned.  From my mother’s point of view, I should have tossed the wood box fifteen years ago.  My perspective is that the humidor is very cool and I am likely to use it now and then.  In 2023, I bought three Macanudos. I bought one for the OSU victory and another to fire up if we won the Big Ten championship.  The third one was for celebrating the National Championship if we were fortunate enough to make it that far.  Over the span of five weeks, we hit all of those magical goals.  Because I was shrewd enough to save the beloved humidor, I kept the last cigar soft and fresh for all of that time.  In addition, I was able to light all three of them with a classic 1960’s Zippo lighter with a block M on the side that I have been keeping for more than fifty five years. 

So my perspective for tossing something out is “Is it cool?” and “Will I enjoy using it again?”. 

Mom and I can sort through the same closet and easily make solid decisions based on our different perspectives.  The difference is her toss out pile is a lot bigger than mine.  She will be happy that she can find her new winter coat.  I am happy that I can wear my “Last Game at Tiger Stadium Hat”, that I bought at the game in 1999, to the season opener in April 2026.  Keep or toss?  It’s black and white for both of us.  I end up with a lot more stuff but I use almost all of it.  It may take a few years but I am ready when the need arises.    

I am sticking with my view of organization.  I truly am happy that I have saved so much “really cool stuff”.  So is the storage locker company.