Joy of Simplicity

For the last couple years I have found myself playing the same game every morning upon wanting to the leave the house – the Let’s Find My Keys game.  It’s not fun, it’s rather stressful, and yet I play it nearly every day.  The later I am in leaving, the more exotic the location they would have found to hide.

When DH2U moved in, I suggested we get a key rack. I’d had one in my last place and loved it, and it worked for me, but I hadn’t found one I liked yet for my condo. Ever frugal, he said it wasn’t necessary and that I should simply designate an area for my keys. I’d done that (insert teenage eye roll here, plus a foot stamp for good measure), but unless there is a VERY SPECIFIC place for something, it isn’t a viable solution for me.

I am a firm believer in everything having an EXACT place. Location selection for an object is a time consuming process involving numerous criteria: suitability, need to access the item, versatility of the space, etc. Once chosen, that is then the only place I would ever have to look for it again. No other thing should go there, and if it is not there, I don’t have it.

[Author’s note: Reading this makes me love DH2U all the more!  For my stuff, he respects their spots (but leaves me to put them away – which is perfect for me), but the fridge is a battle I would never win, so I will never try. Instead I simply ask where things might have gone.]

So I felt a bit stuck. The rack was vetoed, and I still had no exclusive home for my keys.  One morning I was running late and literally throwing everything that didn’t belong in my “key area” to try to find them, when DH2U asked what I was looking for.

“What do I look for at this time every day?” I snapped and immediately felt bad.  I felt even worse when he walked across the room and picked up up my keys from the window sill, which to this day I swear I hadn’t been anywhere near there the day before.

This reminded me of an urban legend about the early days of the space program. NASA spent $1.3 million on a pen that could write in zero gravity. The Russians, when faced with the same situation, used a pencil. Unfortunately this isn’t true. Snopes has an interesting article about what actually happened.

But, I didn’t allow facts to keep me from my own simple solution to the key problem:

It was something that I’d had all along – like Dorothy clicking her heals together – that was the perfect solution.

It’s been two weeks now, and I haven’t had to search for my keys once. Occasionally I will stop and just look at my keys hanging up there, where they SHOULD be, and I smile..

What simple solutions have you come up with that make your life easier?  Does DH2U deserve an award for tolerance?