Couples Best Steer Clear of Closet Organizers

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 14, 2001 | by Stephen Goode

Some people are organized; others aren't and never will be. We all know that, especially those of us who never are organized but always plan to be -- sometime in the future. But did you know that being organized influences other aspects of daily life, or maybe it's the other way around: Your daily life and how you handle it may determine how well you're organized.

Whatever the cause, IKEA, the leading home-furnishings retailer, recently did a survey it called "You Can't Be Too Organized" in which it interrogated 620 randomly chosen folks nationwide to uncover some connections between organization and the rest of life. Some interesting trends were uncovered:

* Women with shoe racks were seven times more likely to be on time for work than women without shoe racks.

* Men were three times as likely to cook dinner if they owned a spice rack than if they did not own a spice rack.

* Married men were four times more likely to leave their pajamas on the floor in the morning than single men.

* Women were four times as likely as men to organize their compact discs by genre. Thirty-two percent of women surveyed said they alphabetized their CD collections.

* Only 11 percent of respondents knew where their Social Security cards were located.

* Men who owned a Palm Pilot were four times more likely to forget their spouse's birthday than men who didn't own a Palm Pilot.

* Men spend an average of one hour and 20 minutes per week looking for the remote control compared with women, who spend an average of seven minutes per week searching for the remote.

* Women who color code their linen closets report spending more time with their friends than women who do not color code their linen closets.

* Men who organize their home offices are more likely to spend time playing with their children than men whose home offices are in disarray.

* Couples with closet organizers argue three times more per month than couples who do not have closet organizers.

* Sixty-seven percent of women who color code their files at work exercise regularly, while only 21 percent of women who have no filing system at work regularly exercise.

And last, the one that struck for the people as the oddest: Women who owned a dish drainer were found to be three times as likely to make more money than their husbands as women who did not own a dish drainer.