Organizing Life

Two weeks ago I eagerly attended the grand opening of The Container Store in nearby shopping district Cherry Creek.  I bought a custom drawer organizer and rushed home to score plastic pieces making a very sweet flatware drawer.  I am obsessed with giving everything a place in my home.  With little question, I like the new post  from Zen Habits on keeping your life organized.

Of their list of 20 ideas, I’m only employing a few.

A stack of 3×5 index cards. It can be a ubiquitous capture device; keep context-based to-do lists; you project list, notes. Very modifiable, portable, fast, easy to use.

The garbage can. Reduce before organizing. Toss anything that’s not absolutely needed, and you won’t have a need to organize. It’s liberating, too!

Filofax-like organizer. Keeps all your info in a central spot: calendar, to do list, project list, watch-list, later-list, notebook and inbox, important addresses and phone numbers, important information to have on hand, tickler, diary.

Landing strip near your front door. It’s for unloading your stuff as you come in, so it stays organized, and so you don’t forget it as you leave the house. You can make your landing strip any way you like, but one reader’s setup consists of a set of hooks for backpacks, lunch kits, etc.; a box which holds keys, sunglasses, cell phones, etc.; and a basket for shoes as they come off by the front door. The reader also keeps alibrary books in a bag that hangs off one of the hooks. Simple and perfect.

I’d like to try a few others though.  Check out the full list at Keep Your Life Organized.