29th August
A place for everything and everything in its place (Religious Tract Society in 1799)
- The notion that everything should have a place to be stored in and that it should be tidily returned there when not in use.
Several early citations in nautical context
Frederick Marryat's Masterman Ready; or the Wreck of the Pacific, 1842:
"In a well-conducted man-of-war every thing is in its place, and there is a place for every thing."
A modified version of the phrase was in use in the USA slightly earlier. This is from an item headed 'Brother Jonathan's Wife's Advice to her Daughter on her Marriage', in the Hagerstown Mail, Maryland, January 1841:
"A place for everything and everything in time are good family mottos."
There are many version of phrases quoted in the earlier context, but judging from the context of the orginal phrase, it seems that it can be use to describe a different picture in a greater meaning. I'm marvelled by the origin of proverbs.