Stacker? Stuffer? Or other?

When you live with someone you get to know their habits. Habits are most often connotated as negative, yet we all have them.

My mom learned to deal with the one that, as an adult I realize, was probably very difficult for her. My mom was one of those very organized people. Not only in her work (I am organized from a work perspective), but also home. My home isn't horrible wrt to organization, but it needs help on occasion.

Anyways, the thing that drove my mom nearly insane is that I am a stacker. I have stacks of stuff. If I pick up something and am not sure what to do with it, I put it in a stack. And there is organization to my madness, I have stacks of books, stacks of bills, stacks of kids' papers from school... And at work I have a stack of lab notebooks, stack of stuff to go up to my lab, stacks of post-it notes.

I do go through my stacks. But this is a side effect of my type of multi-tasking. I generate stacks and then at some point I sit down and deal with my stacks. I have a bit of pack-rat to me though. At first glance, I can't get rid of anything. But give me a little time and distance and I am much more brutal with what goes to the trash.

Stacking works for me.

And it doesn't bother my husband. And in fact, he is probably a stacker too and contributes to my systems.

I have recently discovered a new system that was foreign to me. Stuffers.

A "stuffer" by my definition, instead of making stacks (like me) or putting stuff in a proper spot (like my mom) stuffs things in random drawers, containers, pockets and nooks.

I was working on my holiday vacation to do list and clearing off my desk area when I discovered random stuff (coins, paper clips, note pads, pens, pencil sharpeners) stuffed in random and IMO, just wrong places. My rationalle with stacking is that eventually, the items will get to the right places. It may be tomorrow, or three months from now, but it gets there.

With stuffing, not only will I never ever find said item I might be looking for, but you have to remove it from the stored spot and then find a new spot.

Ah well.

It's what makes us all individuals.

And I will try really, really hard not to steam when I find handfuls of change dropped in my phone charging station. Or paper clips in my remote caddy. Or Lego pieces in my pencil jar. Or spare keys stuck in my bamboo notepad holder. Or my notepads in the fruit bowl...