Popular opinion dictates that the floor is nothing more than a surface upon which to walk from place to place and should be kept free from detritus in order to do so efficiently. I, however, disagree. Logic (which is often contrary to popular opinion) dictates that the floor is a convenient surface upon which to store anything that might need to be accessed readily.
Clothes, for instance. Why should one put clothes in a drawer, kept from the air and out of sight? How many articles of clothing lie neglected on the bottom of a drawer or the back of a closet for years? More than we'd all care to admit I'm sure. Why should something always be kept in the same place?
Keys for example. If one can remember to always place the keys on their designated rack or hook, then all is fine. But this is not always the case, if keys are not properly put back, for instance, if there is no time to put them away. What then? Panic ensues and a frantic search for lost keys is unceremoniously begun.
I propose, since something which is either in plain sight or put in a unique place is not lost, that things easily lost such as keys should be placed on the floor, that way they are either in plain sight or not far from the surface. I reason that you could either remember the place for everything, thus taxing your long term memory and causing early greyness, or you could remember where you put something on the floor, much easier and only requiring short term memory.
What of walking about from place to place? you may inquire. My answer is: paths. Convenient walkways that allow you to reach commonly accessed rooms and areas and minimize the wear on the floor as a whole. Granted, this approach is not universally applicable, if one has guests over one should indeed clean one's floor, but what better chance to refresh one's memory of the placement of a particular object?
Indeed it is time to re-evaluate the floor as a storage surface and not just a giant useless walkway.