Looking for home office solutions, we stumbled across an online blurb that separates organizational types into two categories: hiders and seekers. Although we generally believe that more than two types exist for just about everything, we did find ourselves questioning which category we belong to...
The article (from Smead's organizing tips) defines "hiders" as people who "can’t stand to see anything sitting out – the desk or countertop must be clear before they can concentrate" and "seekers" as people who "tend to panic when things are hidden away." We usually fall into the "hider" category (our living room is an exercise in hidden storage), although there are some things (like bills and to-do lists) that we prefer to keep in plain sight. What about you? Are you a hider, seeker, or somewhere in-between?


Commercial Flour Sa...
I strive to be a hider but I think I'm somewhere in between right now.
I think I am a hider my heart. However, I get lazy and become a seeker if that makes any sense.
seeker, definitely. the first thing my friends do when they come over is close all my cabinet doors, but i like having them open so i can see everything!
Sharinly, perhaps you should just remove your cabinet doors?
I'd like to have everything have a place but the reality is this: many many piles of stuff. Papers, magazines, photos, books...for instance on top of my scanner right now is a box of old family photos that need scanning, a manila folder with family info, and a packet of card stock. And some random paper sticking out that I'm not sure I can identify from here. Probably a recipe.
Got it: What would you call the category of people who are prone to being scattered but who fight it in pursuit of having a magazine-photo worthy office?
http://embritadesign.blogspot.com
Hider. I can't concentrate if everything is in plain sight.
definitely in between
EmmieB: I know the feeling! Try my best to be organized and have my home look like a photo shoot ready setting, but never makes it there.
I would like to be a hider, but find that I tend to forget that I have things when I try and be super-organized and put things away. Out of sight, out of mind.
Then I end up going out and buying more of things that I already have because I don't know I have them/can't find them.
Hmm -I love open shelves and hate drawers, so I guess I'm a seeker?
But I can't stand having anything on surfaces I need to use (coffee table, desk), so maybe I'm a hider?
At work it translates to piler vs. filer.
I am a piler - who would love to be a filer, but would miss the strange comfort of being surrounded by stuff. And agree with Marie, if I can't see it, I forget about it.
Hider, can't concentrate with things strewn about, although I too can get lazy and let "organized" piles of stuff accumulate.
Hider... but it definitely doesn't help me keep track of things with everything in boxes, drawers, and closets. If stuff is in the open, it has to be in piles.
OMG I'm a hider and my husbands a seeker...it's a nightmare! :( i often triumph after spending hours filing all of his piles. i call him a reverse Roomba.
well, i think i'm a wanna be hider. i see others at work with clean desks and i want to have more drawers. on the other hand i want a plant and a few things at easy access. i love the look of open shelves as others have said, but i hate piles of paper and boxes. i like to see surface area- makes me feel uncomfortable when there is stuff just everywhere.
When it comes to my desk, I'm a definite seeker, but that doesnt apply to the rest of my house
Hider for sure
Wow! I never heard anyone put it this way. I am a seeker, but I have always tried being a hider.
I'm not just a seeker, I'm a surface abuser. *sigh* Am trying to become a hider, but it's hard to remember where stuff is. When stuff can be anywhere, I rarely have trouble finding it. My problem with hiding is that I go through a list of possible hiding places before thinking of a brilliant solution, then I promptly forget said brilliant solution and remember only the previous list.
At work, piles are considered an official organizing system. We label our piles, but they're still piles. I have three huge 8-foot-tall bookshelves filled with piles, plus a table covered in stacks. A hider would have a heart attack in this place!
Funny))
I'm definitely a hider in everything except my desk and home-office bookshelves. In that area I'm a rabid seeker.
I hide away all the pots and pans... and spices, and utensils, and glasses... in the kitchen; I hide away all the DVDs in the living room - can't stand seeing even a single one of them lying around! In fact, I frantically try to hide into boxes or drawers anything I set my eyes on. The only things I leave on display in the living room are the books.
But my desk is a mess, and I have to have it that way. I need to have everything in plain sight and within easy reach there, or I absolutely cannot concentrate.
I never noticed this stark contrast before. Interesting... Thanks for the post!
I am definitely a seeker, while I don't panic if I can't see stuff any available surface invariably gets covered in stuff.
A HIDER in big, bold letters. Can't stand clutter. Can't work if there is anything on the table. Can't cook if the kitchen counter has stuff on it. Can't sleep if the bedroom dresser has things on it.
Seems like I have issues!
I am a hider. People walk into my office at work and the first thing they say is "Wow your office is so clean." At home, I am the same way. I have a hard time working if there are things all over the surface I am trying to work at. Hence when I was working on my thesis last year, I always ended up cleaning the house before I got to work on it.
larchgirl: hehe reverse roomba...too cute ^ ^
I'm a hider -- can't cook, can't be creative or think with "stuff" around. The key though, is to know exactly where you've put the stuff so that you don't waste time looking for it, like a squirrel digging holes all over the garden, looking for one of its may caches of nuts. If I have any doubts, then I start making piles of the "important stuff" which then just leads to a mess...
I'd like to be a hider, but I'm a packrat in practice -- piles of stuff everywhere.
Seeker, seeker, seeker! If I can't see it it doesn't exist in my world.
I can't even keep food in my fridge drawers because I'll forget it's there and then.... ugh!
Total seeker. I have empty drawers and cabinets, with piles of things all around them. I don't tend to use things I can't see... clear storage helps some.
I'm a hider. My sweetie is a seeker. I'm kinda outta control.
Seeker! Seeker! Seeker! My beauty supplies run overboard because I "clean" trying to be a hider and forget all about them! Those and my craft supplies; its horrible. If y'all could do a post on how to keep things looking good but still in plain sight if your a seeker that would help so much!!!<b/>
The only place I am a hider is the kitchen. I can not stand an open cabinet. Since I got throught hte drawers so often (a girls gotta eat :-D) I have no problem losing things in there.
seeker. as in I have to look for everything because I don´t know where anything is.
http://notyourgoddess.blogspot.com/
hider hider hider
hider, but a disorganized one for sure. Things pile up, then I stash them, forget where I have stashed them... and then have to pull everything apart when trying to figure out what drawer holds a certain pile that may or may not have a specific bill/letter/ dmv registration renewal stashed somewhere in the middle of it. :-(
I'm in between. I do what is most practical. If hiding everything causes too much of a waste of time relocating it, then I leave it someplace in sight. However, I can't stand to have stuff which is infrequently accessed at hand (like files or office supplies I rarely use). I don't have much space, so I don't have the luxury of designing a perfect set-up to hide everything close at hand.
Personally, I think a lot of people waste time and energy hiding things rather than just leaving a pencil cup on their desk or whatever.
I am both. I am a seeker when I work and a hider when I am relaxing. My desktop is chaotic, but I find it very distracting to have all that chaos in the room when I am not working. It just reminds me of the work I still have to do. My solution was a desk armoire. The workspace can be disheveled chaos, and when I am done working I can close the door and order returns. There is no need to "organize" the desktop simply for appearances.
It took me many many years to sort out that dynamic and come up with a solution that finally worked.
i am definitely a hider. i am often made fun of for this trait. of course, it does not help that i am also a purger. people are always wondering where all of my stuff is.
I'm a seeker. I'm not really a big fan of everything hidden away. Though there are things that I do believe are better hidden, but for the most part I have no problems seeing my things.
Ha! I'm a hider, which everyone seems to think is positive. In reality, it's only positive if you know where you've hidden things. I'm particularly bad about hiding things that belong to my husband (who is definitely a seeker) and then completely forgetting that I ever touched it.
i don't know if i'm either. as someone else stated here, i'm definitely a purger, because i always go through my things and weed out what i don't need (clothes, pens, papers, etc.). i guess i'm a hider, because even though i own two pieces of cookware, i keep them in the cupboard. my computer desktop at home is pretty much empty (and i'm proud to say that i've turned a couple friends into clean desktop people as well).
OMG I'm a hider and my husbands a seeker...it's a nightmare!
LOL in my house too!!!!!!!!!!
At work, I'm a hider. I really don't even like to have much on my walls, if I can avoid it... otherwise I get distracted.
At home, I'm pretty much the same way. Junk drawers galore.. except for the kitchen, where I prefer to have it all out in the open.
I wonder what that's about?
I am a seeker for sure. I love seeing all my things, that's why I own them. However, I am too messy. I would love to be a tidy seeker, I don't think they are mutually exclusive. I love seeing so many colours and textures around me but I think it would be more enjoyable if I knew that that's where they belonged.