The Bag Lady

I have a confession to make.  I am a bag lady.

Yes, I do love bags of all kinds -- cute tote bags and the like.  It takes a lot of self-control not to buy every cute bag I see at every store I visit.  I just love them, but don't have enough uses for them (or storage to keep them).

But the real problem is that when I come home from a store (Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby, Marshall's, etc.) there are often a couple items left in the plastic grocery bag that I want to save for later after I put away all the stuff for now.  I stick the bag someplace for safe keeping and then when "later" comes, I forget where I put it.

When I go to look in all my usual "storage" places, I find bags and bags that all look pretty much alike except for the store name and logo.  So I'm constantly searching through them to find what I need.  It takes forever to find stuff this way.  And the house is getting all cluttered up with plastic bags.

I mean, seriously.

I tend to put bags with future gift items for people or clearance gift wrapping supplies for next Christmas up in my closet.  In my big bedroom closet is often where I do my gift wrapping, so this makes sense to me.  Except right now, my closet is still buried under bags and bags of packaging and wrapping scraps from the stuff I wrapped up for people for last Christmas.

I keep bags of future craft supplies in and around our homeschool room, generally speaking.  I keep bags of holiday gear (stuff for next Halloween, etc.) in the closet under the stairs, usually.  I keep bags of stuff I don't know where to keep, but it seemed like an excellent bargain at the time, just about anywhere.

Are you starting to see the problem?

There are bags of one or two items stuffed into disorganized cabinets and drawers.  There are bags in various closets in the house.  Sometimes, there are bags hanging from doorknobs and sitting on my nightstand or the end table in the living room.

This is a serious problem.  It's more than just clutter.  Yeah, I have that problem, too.  But these are bags of clutter waiting to be distributed or filed.  Terrible.

I was reminded about my problem this evening when I went looking for the light-up shamrock necklace I got for J on her last special night.  It was in a bag with several beaded shamrock necklaces for the other kids (and my nieces). 

I checked the closet, thinking maybe I stored it there because it was sort of a gift, even though J knew about it.  After looking through several bags of stuff and sifting through the dozen or so little trash bags in there, I moved onto another area. 

I searched every area I could think of where I might have put a bag of necklaces -- twice.  Then, finally, I prayed.  Ha. Prayer is a good last resort, even though it really should be my first resort!

That led me to rechecking my nightstand.  It was right there under a box of tissues.

This is not the first time this has happened.  One year my parents were visiting for Thanksgiving and I bought a special tablecloth for the occasion.  I tucked it away and when it was Thanksgiving Day, I couldn't remember where I put that silly tablecloth.

I found it about six months later shoved in the cabinet with all my candles and vases.  Of course, I put it in the home decorations cabinet.  Go figure.

So in my search for the necklace tonight, I confessed to my husband that I have a bag problem.  He looked at me and nodded.  He said, "Yes, I agree.  You do."

I said, "I could change it ... I'm just not sure I'm ready to!"

Do you have any frustrating habits of your own that drive you crazy about yourself and yet, seem really unlikely that you'll change them any time soon?  Or am I the only one?!