The other day I needed some gauze from my downstairs bathroom closet. When I went to get it, though, I realized that the closet needed a good spring cleaning.

Over the past several months, things had migrated. There was nail polish and hair bands in with the band aids and gauze. There was makeup in the box that is supposed to hold just nail polish, and there were hand towels scattered on every shelf.

Now a professional organizer would tell me to take stock of what I have to store, put like things together and figure out a storage plan. First I would need to measure my shelves and then measure my little piles of like things to see how big of a container I would need.

Right.

I can just see it now.

First I take everything out of the closet and pile it on the floor. I’d probably have to use the family room floor since the bathroom is so small.

But the empty shelves would make it easy to measure, right?

Now I have to sort through all the stuff and pile like things together (all over the family room floor).

Once I get things sorted, I can measure each pile to see how big of a container it will need. Be sure to write all this down, cause you’ll never remember it.

Oh, and you should probably decide if the pile has enough stuff in it. I mean, what if all you had was one bandaid and a little roll of gauze but you really need some more bandaids and gauze, plus Neosporin and peroxide?

The container that will hold one bandaid and a little bit of gauze will never hold all that.

OK. Now that I have my measurements, I need to go to the store. And yes, the family room floor is still covered.

At the store, I have to find containers that are the right size. They should also be pretty, match each other, and be affordable.

Good luck with that.

Now, here’s the way it works in my little ADD world:

I gather up a bunch of containers from around the house. They may or may not have something in them. Unless they are being used elsewhere on another shelf for real storage, they are fair game.

I pick one that looks like it will hold what I need it to and give it a try. Then after things have been containerized, I play around with them on the shelves until they fit.

I have been known to use random jars, shoe boxes and cans as storage if needed. You can always pretty them up with some paper. Or not.

Martha might not approve of my organizational style, but I say if it works, it’s a good thing.