Organized My Basket of Thingamajigs

A neighbor pinged yesterday asking if we had a LAN to laptop cable. I have two areas where I keep my collection of cables, a drawer and a basket. The basket holds frequently used items like cables, adaptors and camera/phone stands. The drawer holds cables I don't use often. 

I must admit, I don't throw away working cables. I did that once and realized I made a mistake. I donated the cables for an old data storage drive. I hadn't transferred the data at that time. I ended up paying a lot to purchase a replacement cable. Gaaah. Since then I haven't thrown away anything unless it doesn't work anymore or definitely of no use. I'm also working on noting the use of each cable.

Anyway, I went through the two storage places, but I didn't have the item. He eventually pinged me and said they were able to purchase it. Since I saw the plight of my thingamajigs, I decided to organize the basket today. I used containers I originally bought for the fridge, but since it's too small I decided to repurpose it to organize my stuff. 

I kept cables in a separate bag (I'll go through it again later this week) and moved camera stuff in another case (donated by Sweetie). I categorized the other items into the following: adapters, chargers (plugs), phone stands, safety plugs, travel adapters and phone chargers (frequently used). I used to keep stuff in ziplocks, but it's harder to clean and tends to gather dust. The containers would be easier to wipe down. I'll add dessicant to make sure they are kept dry. 

I'm in my "organize" era and the funny thing is our architect noticed I've been moving things around, LOL.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Rearranged How I Store My Shirts

I have been trying to find the best solution so I could wear all the shirts I own. I have always arranged them by color, but I usually end up just wearing whatever's in top.

I was reading Threads when I saw a post about how her dad arranged his towels by day. He did this so he can use the towels in order. 

Aha! So I did the unthinkable (for me). I brought out all my shirts and split them for outdoor use and home use. I have more home use shirts, so I mixed the colors up and split them into 3 containers. 

I just finished the first batch and I was able to use some shorts I haven't gotten to in a long time. It's a good way to get to everything in my closet, plus it saves me time from thinking about what to wear. I just get what's in front of the container. 

Maybe I'll do it for my tops too.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Organized Chaos

My desk is cluttered.

My room is even a bigger clutter of things.

But I'd like to believe it's organized chaos.

I can just imagine my Mom rolling her eyes at me whenever I try to justify the mess that was my room. I never changed. If you look at our room you'd know instantly which side is Jay's and which side is mine. Mind you I do know where most of my things are. As I said, organized chaos.

I'd like to believe though that I am a much better organizer when it comes to immaterial things like organizing events, working on projects and well being a program manager. Honestly I used to be very forgetful and I got scolded a lot for leaving my school ID at home. In our school the guard won't let you in if you don't have your ID. I usually realize that I don't have my ID in the schoolbus so I normally get off the bus, go to the bakery to call home and they'd bring my ID to the bakery. My Mom stressed a lot of times that I should always be prepared. As the girl scout motto goes, "Laging handa!"

The scolding worked on me. I also saw how my Mom always prepared for church projects. I was always hanging around the elders when they were planning to build the church in our neighborhood. It was a big audacious project. They had to raise funds to build the big church and I was always in tow during meetings (I was the "pet" and I still am until today haha).

That's why I've made the 5Ps my mantra -- "Proper planning prevents poor performance!" I read this from a tweet so I don't really know who coined it, but I've been following this both for work and life in general. I know it drives my family crazy, but I have to manage my stress levels (bad for the heart!).

One of the things I'm trying to teach bagets is project management. He's more like his Lolo so it's been a huge challenge. Here's what I usually tell him.

1. Define your goal/target.
2. Meet your deadlines by creating a step-by-step list how to get there.
3. Define the completion timeline.
4. Give yourself a treat everytime you complete something. (I spoil myself LOL, but I have not been able to buy myself red shoes because another team is holding up my timelines!).
5. When something goes wrong, iterate fast and repeat from #1.

And my mantra for organizing materials things? Organize stuff by theme and please don't mess it up by re-organizing because I won't be able to find anything.

Remember. 5Ps.