BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

How I Organize

I don't know if this is really the best way to organize but it sure works for me.  So I figured I would share with everyone and if it works for anyone else feel free to use it!

OK... so here's my "how I organize things" blog post for any of you who might be into organizing things.

My main system revolves around a sharpie, masking tape, and packing tape.

Ok... after I have those 3 items... now I need some kind of container.  So those 3 items are sitting on top of a rubbermaid box.

I take the packing tape and place that on the side of the box... then I take the masking tape and place that on top of the packing tape... then I write with the sharpie what I am going to throw inside that box.

Make sense?  Ok so here's an example picture:

 

Seeeeee... Now I know what's in the boxes!  So then what I do is buy like 2 or 3 or 5 of the boxes.  And I put different things in them.  And then I stack them up in a closet like they are stacked there.

Although the cool thing about those big ones is you can use them for other things... like a coffee table... or a keyboard stand:

 

 

Yep.  I was using this today to work on musics and lay down recording ideas.

Ok so but what if I have smaller items and I don't want to use a big giant-e-normice box like that????

Ok well I do the same thing with the two types of tapes and the sharpie... but with smaller boxes...

 

Super neat and organized right?!?!  Those containers along with the other ones are just cheap sub 10 dollar containers from Walmart.  So all the supplies I use can be bought from Walmart for pretty cheap.  Nothing fancy pantcy going on here.

Well how about if you have lets say work in the form of papers???

Hmm ok well for paperwork I do this:

 

 

It's really the exact same idea across the board.  I'm just changing the type of container.  AND As you can kinda see I can then put the manilla folders into the small containers and then the big containers into the bigger ones... but I don't normally do that.  I just have a couple of the smaller boxes with manilla folders in them and those boxes are labeled and the folders are also labeled.

But if you wanted to... you can put stuff in stuff.  Anywho this is my organizational method I've created to keep my life in order.

Now you might be asking yourself... why the double tape?  OR why the tape at all???  Just sharpie up the container or envelope!

Well... here's why:

First... I make a lot of spelling/grammar/bad handwriting mistakes when not typing on a computer.  I also get dislexic sometimes and draw things backwards upside down switch letters... you name it... I've done it... But if I'm using masking tape, I can even just rip off part of a word and tape in a new piece and then keep going!

Scratching things out always just looked so yucky to me.  I've never liked that.  So this lets me fix my mistakes when handwriting things.  That way at least I can read what I wrote which was always a big problem growing up in school.

Second... I've found that generally I tend to always seem to re-label things eventually.  I mean given enough time I usually have to re-label stuff because one thing or another changes... like where I get my car serviced or which bank I use... or where my teeth get cleaned... Or I change what I use the boxes for and maybe I've got tooo much of one thing and then I have to add a second box or I ebay things like mad and then I combine boxes!  I never can think of what's going to happen until it happens.  But this lets me change things when they do change.  So then instead of having to toss the container or envelope (Or scribble/scratch things out and write in another place) I can just rip off the masking tape and put a new piece on and then write up with a sharpie what the new item is!

And that's is the reason for the packing tape... if you don't re-label soon and the label sticks around for a year or two or even a few months I've found that the masking tape leaves a yuck gross residue.  Well it doesn't seem to leave this with packing tape... and then I just leave the packing tape on the plastic once it's on there because there are no permeant changes to the lower packing tape layer since the masking tape just sits on top.

I basically got this whole idea from the ability to change folder names on your computer and then put folders inside of folders.  I do this a lot.  So if you are a computery person and use folders and organize your things on a computer in subfolders and change folder names a lot you will probably like this method of organizing things.

So there you go... I find it to be super useful and it helps me keep things all sorted out so I don't go banana's trying to figure out where certain paperwork went or where I put a cable adapter for my external hard drives.

I guess the only bad thing is... if a thief ever showed up it would make things awfully convenient for stealing my stuffs being that it is all labeled and what not.

Let's hope that never happens.