The proverbial notion that there should be ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’ is the idea that everything should have somewhere to be stored and that it should be tidily returned there when not in use.

This proverb is variously associated with Samuel Smiles, Mrs Isabella Beeton and Benjamin Franklin. The Oxford Book of Quotations dates it from the 17th century. Such a reference is usually accurate, although the authors supply no evidence for their assertion. If correct, it would pre-date all of the above notables.

If it is indeed that old, it has made heroic efforts to keep itself out of print. It may be that the Oxford book is making a reference to a line in A Century of Sermons, John Hacket, Bishop of Lichfield, 1675:

The Lord hath set every thing in its place and order.

That isnt the full proverb as we now use it though, which I can’t find any printed citations of from before the late 18th century. It appears in a story published by the Religious Tract Society in 1799 – The Naughty Girl Won:

Before, however, Lucy had been an hour in the house she had contrived a place for everything and put everything in its place.