Quest for organization to guide visit to Home Show

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I have a confession to make.|ret||ret||tab|

I am a pack rat, and I come from a family of pack rats. |ret||ret||tab|

In fact, if our family had a motto, it would have to be "Hey, we might need that," our typical response when anyone tries to throw away anything that might have a practical use.|ret||ret||tab|

Perhaps it is our frugal forebears Scandinavian and Scots-Irish immigrants who wasted nothing and threw away nothing who are to blame. |ret||ret||tab|

Then again, maybe it is my grandparents, who began their families during the Great Depression and raised them on ration coupons during World War II. |ret||ret||tab|

For whatever reason, we have for generations accumulated clothing, shoes, knickknacks, magazines, snippets of wire, odd keys without locks, odd locks without keys, suitcases, farm implements, dishes musical instruments, lamps, mirrors, furniture, costume jewelry, perfume bottles, etc. like we're afraid they're going to stop making them tomorrow.|ret||ret||tab|

My older brother has my sister-in-law to help keep his pack-rat tendencies in check. |ret||ret||tab|

My younger brother is the pack-rat black sheep, having apparently benefited from some recessive neatness gene that skipped the rest of the family. |ret||ret||tab|

My mother can get away with having all this stuff around because she has an accessory garage, half of her house's attached two-car garage, an attic and a recently enclosed back porch to store it in. She also operates two flea market booths and can always plead inventory. |ret||ret||tab|

I, however, am an incredible pack rat with no spouse to check me, no accessory structures and few convincing excuses.|ret||ret||tab|

When I became a homeowner almost three years ago, I was at first stunned how little of my new space was filled by my furniture and other belongings.|ret||ret||tab|

Now, I have no space anywhere. I haven't been able to walk through my walk-through closet since mid-1997. |ret||ret||tab|

The unfinished storage area in my attic is packed. |ret||ret||tab|

I have filled the upstairs closet, my bathroom cabinet is overflowing and my free-standing wardrobe is so full of nonclothing items that the clothes don't hang properly.|ret||ret||tab|

In other words, I desperately need to get organized.|ret||ret||tab|

Organization will be my guiding theme as I visit this year's HBA Home & Remodeling Show. |ret||ret||tab|

Do I need modular shelving units? Built-in cabinetry? Should I just buy another wardrobe or dresser? Should I consider adding on to my house? |ret||ret||tab|

The answers to these questions, plus things I haven't even considered yet, will undoubtedly be available at the Home Show.|ret||ret||tab|

Meanwhile, a word to fellow homeowners: While I am a pack rat, I am not 100 percent to blame for the crowded condition of my home. |ret||ret||tab|

New and prospective homeowners should be warned: When your non-home-owning friends find out you've got an attic, basement or partially unfurnished room, you may suddenly find yourself inundated with items that they don't have room for. Things they "thought you could use." |ret||ret||tab|

After all, you've got the space. And it's not like they're really getting rid of whatever it is; they'll get to visit their things every time they come to your house.|ret||ret||tab|

If approached by friends seeking to dump their stuff in your home, unless it's an item you actually want to live with, the appropriate answer is, "No way." It may just be an end table today, but it could be a chair, ottoman and bedroom set tomorrow.|ret||ret||tab|

Trust me, pack rat or no, you will need all your space for yourself. Just as tasks expand to fill the time allotted, so personal property expands to fill the space allotted. And then some. |ret||ret||tab|

Of course, you may reconsider ... if you think you might want to open a flea market booth.[[In-content Ad]]