Janet Wilder wrote:

> At some point in my 40's I had to get organized in order to keep my job.
> A friend made it clear when she gave me the gift of a little sign that
> said: "I finally got it all together and now I can't remember where I
> put it"

I was in the same situation. I had a job that required me to keep track of the
tools I needed for the job, protective equipment and all the paperwork that went
along with it, plus I had to maintain files on all the inspections I did and
charges laid etc. To complicate things, I worked out of a vehicle and two different
offices. There were two guys who I worked with who were extremely well organized.
They had a place for everything and everything in its place.My work space was a
little messier. The ironic thing was that I was always able to find things quicker
than they could. They spent a lot more time organizing things than I ever had to
spend finding my stuff.

One guy kept all his court files in alphabetical order, keeping his inspection
reports and his charges in separate files. I kept mine in chronological order. When
I was finished for the day, all my stuff went into the back of the file folder for
that month. So when I had to retrieve files, all I needed to track them down was
the date, and they had all gone in by date. I thought it was easier.

A few years ago, my sister in law house sat for us and while we were away she
organized my pantry and spice shelves, arranging everything in alphabetical order.
It took me weeks to get it back to the state of disorganization that I am
comfortable with. The worst part was the herbs and spices. I had them in order of
use. Tall bottles of sauces went on the lower shelf because it was a little
higher. The rest of the stuff was stored by frequency of use. The most commonly
used items were on the lower shelves and the stuff I rarely use was on the upper
shelves. There didn't seem much point in putting things used almost daily at the
back of the top shelf. It works for me. I know where to look for most things.