We are not tidy people and that

fact is quite obvious the moment you walk into our house. I like to think the house is clean but it is definitely not tidy.
At the moment it is slightly worse than usual. There are about two hundred brown paper bags piled in boxes in the living area. Each bag now contains a ball of wool, a pattern and some knitting needles. These will be passed out at the Quilt and Craft Fair at the end of the first week in November so they will decorate the living area for another month. The knitters put the bags together at their meeting on the first Saturday of the month. They had to be done then in order to have them at the fair. The fair coincides with their next meeting. The President asked if they could be stored at our place as her own is a one bedroom residence in the city centre.
When they arrived she also mentioned that "not all the bags have needles...we ran out". Right. A pattern and yarn are not much use without needles. I spent half of yesterday morning digging through a large box which contains knitting needles and other assorted items left by my mother. She used straight needles but always seemed to buy a new pair for each new garment. There were a good many needles there. I found pairs. I added them to the bags. I am not sure that the needles match the yarn terribly well but I am hopeful. The pattern is for a small scarf in a loose stitch so it is less of an issue than it might be.
Such emergencies are clearly a good reason for keeping such things - even if it does clutter up the house. The box is now much less cluttered anyway.
There are other things that can go to the church 'garage sale' too. I cleared out another pile of cookery books in order to get to the knitting needles. My mother was not a vegetarian. Why did she need so many vegetarian cookbooks. I do not think she ever cooked a vegetarian meal. I do but I do not need those sort of books to do it. I rarely use a cookery book. I am simply too lazy to do that.
There are other things I am too lazy to use as well, like certain kitchen appliances. I swear by a sharp knife rather than a multitude of things designed to chop vegetables. My mother used the latter and then had the fuss of cleaning them. I am far from dextrous but I still prefer to use a knife. It is less bother. I plan on quietly removing more of these things. Someone may use them - or they may think they will.
Will it help with tidiness? I rather doubt it. My father had periodic fits of tidying things away when I was young. We dreaded it. We could never find anything because things would go in the most unexpected places. Now he does not put things away because, when he does, he cannot find anything.
It seems to me there is a dreadful warning in that.