- I keep the material I used for creative projects in two places. One is a large box filled with everything I do not expect to use soon, mostly larger parts, which is on top of my cupboard. The other is a container with three drawers that is in front of my desk. And yes, this is an argument for the trite motto: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” 😉
The advantages this has is not only that you find the stuff when you need it, but also that it gives you ideas when you look at it — or through it.
For example, when I bought a new jacket one or two weeks ago, I was quite comfortable wearing it. But one thing bugged me — the Velcro on the sleeves at the wrists (where you can adjust the width of the opening for the hands) kept sticking to the other places of the jacket where the opposite kind of Velcro was used (esp. in the middle where you close the jacket to cover the zipper). It was quite annoying. But when I came home one day I was looking at the container in front of my desk and taking off the jacket at the same time — and I remembered that I had bought some Velcro when I was sewing a PDA arm holder. Including the opposite of the Velcro that was at the wrists on the sleeves of my jacket. And this got me thinking … a few minutes later I had cut the Velcro in the right size to cover the part of the Velcro on my jacket that was exposed.
Both jacket and Velcro are black (it pays to have clear color preferences for clothes ;-)) so you don’t see it unless you know it’s there. And it works — the wrist part of the sleeves do not stick anymore to other parts of the jacket because the unused part of the Velcro is covered.
So, yeah, having a place for everything and keeping every everything in its place really pays off. 🙂
