I’m not a natural organizer, but I’m starting to appreciate things that help me organize as I get older.
Have any of you run into some sort of widget or gadget or box or even app that you almost brushed off, but then started using it and now it’s the neatest thing ever?
I guess I’m looking for things you almost wrote off as boring-as-shit before you used it and were converted.
I haven’t missed or been late for an appointment in probably a decade.
Literally just put it in your calendar and add a notification for enough time ahead of it.
I also snooze emails instead of letting my inbox clutter. I have an empty email inbox. Those concert tickets will pop into my inbox right around the day of.
I pre-send texts with a timer. Like if I know I’m driving 5 hrs to see my folks, I’ll pre-send a text for that day that says “on my way, should be there around _____”
That way all I need to do is update them if something goes wrong.
Idk, cell phones make being present, available, and on time, really fucking easy. Like I have severe ADHD, if I am always on time and you’re not, you’re fucking up somewhere. Use the tools in your pocket. It’s easy.
I’ve never heard of pre-sending texts. Is it linked to a specific type of phone?
(I use Android and never have had an iPhone, so sorry if I’m asking something obvious!)
Long press the send button, Holmes 😎
May vary by SMS app. I use googles SMS app on Android.
Holy shit, it’s true.
I’m telling all my friends.
In scheduled texts, of course XD
“You may be wondering why I’m texting you at 3:17 in the morning…”
… because I CAN and with this simple trick you can too.
When you can’t even remember to put the event in your calendar, what are you supposed to do? Make a reminder to put the reminder in your calendar?
I put it in when the event is created.
Like I take my phone out when I’m at the desk making an appt for whatever.
Well, the issue is I can’t remember to create the event in the calendar in the first place.
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Cable box, but roll your cables and tape them together before you chuk them in. Has saved the day, particularly before major trips.
My variant on this is a bunch of toilet paper and paper towel rolls upright in a box with the cables folded up and slipped into the rolls with the connection ends up. Need a USB-C to HDMI? Easy to find. Ethernet, DVI, whatever, all there, easy to find.
Oh, I like that. Make use of something that’d otherwise be trash.
That works for things like Christmas lights too
Yeah, I kind of oops’d my way into this. Have a plastic tub, and I use…not zip ties, but reusable variants of them…to keep various cables together.
It’s mostly SATA cables, HDMI or DVI cables, and computer power cables and a few small power/USB strips. There’s a weird satisfaction to needing a cable for something, opening the tub, and being able to just lift the right one out without dealing with a rat’s nest of whatever.
Have a plastic tub, and I use…not zip ties, but reusable variants of them
Double-sided Velcro works great for this. They sell pre cut strips but it’s cheaper to buy a whole roll of it and cut it as needed. I actually made a jig to cut the roll down the middle so I could get twice as much. I’m pretty much set for life on that stuff now.
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Danish cookie tins. mic drop
Are you my grandmother?
I’ve been recently introduced to Logseq, a journal/notes/knowledge management app that is based on networked knowledge (links,references and tags), instead of hierarchical (folder structure) knowledge management type, and it has been a gamechanger.
It has a pretty basic TODO features, but the way linking and references work is really smooth to work with. You get a dated journal page for each day, and can just randomly add blocks of notes that reference pages, topics or tags, and it gets automatically linked to the page you referenced. So if I open the page for a project, it contains content of every block that mentioned it, along with context, so you quickly get an overview.
The best feature is that you can also write queries, that fill the block with data you want, so I can for example create a block for a meeting, tag it with project, and write a query that lists notes from every other meeting tagged with the same project. Or I can have a query for every TODO item tagged with a project, to see them at one place.
The node graph feature is also nice, which visualises links between pages, so you can get an overview about related things, and it also has a Whiteboards and Flashcard features, just as it can do basic time trackings for blocks tagged as TODO.
It’s pretty intuitive to use, and so far it’s one of the first note-taking and knowledge management app that has managed to stick with me for longer than a week.
And a quick tip - if you decide to use it, check out how to setup an automatic git syncing, so you can sync your notes between devices without paying for the cloud sync feature.
Was constantly in need of more Tupperware type containers for left overs or meal planning and I started noticing that’s exactly what the packaging for the lunch meat I got was. So now I don’t throw those out. I just take the paper label off, clean em up and use them for storing things. It doesn’t even have to be food! They’re a good size for all sorts of things and they are stackable.
Look out for the type of plastic it’s made of. Some plastic are less reusable by design (the disposable ones typically) harder to clean, and tend to harbor more bacteria.
Tiddlywiki. Simple in theory one you get your head around it. I live on a boat, and use it for inventory. Every item is entered, along with quantity and location so I can search and find where things are. Depending on the thing, additional information is stored as well. For food stuffs, nutrition info, brand, place I bought it, and price (useful going between countries). Recipes link to ingredients, so I can filter on what I have or what I need. For tech items, serial number, manuals, warranty information, and the like. And for certain items, checklists, or maintenance tasks, I link to the inventory item of my tools, so I know what I need and where to get it before starting a job.
For example, I have an entry for the outboard motor. I know that if I’m filling it with fuel, I need 2 stroke oil, gasoline, fuel filter. If I have to adjust the turning resistance, I know I’ll need a 10mm wrench. If I have to change the lower unit oil, I need a pump for oil, container for old oil, flathead screw driver for the plug, etc.
Because of browser security I think TiddlyWiki has gotten a bit hard to use. 10 yrs ago I could write and update files without any security popups or cli flags or admin permissions.
Only in single file mode (meaning opening the HTML as a file:// URL, making changes, and saving it again). Hosting it on a server, desktop, or raspberry pi with node is ridiculously simple these days. It’s completely backwards compatible, but TW5 changed the architecture quite a bit. You can drop that 10 year old file into a blank node instance, and it comes out perfectly.
Not my advice because I have not tried it out but obsidian should be good. I think it’s an organisier app based on nodes.
Huh, it looks very useful. Like a personal wiki. I might give it a whirl.
I tend to have a lot of bits in drawers, so any type of small sturdy plastic or cardboard boxes are used to help keep drawers tidy. My fave are old business card boxes. Great for things like batteries, clips, lipsticks, hair bands.
I started using sort of odd shaped zipper bags (the kind that come with a piece of furniture or electronics) so instead of 100 little things bouncing around the drawer it’s more like a dozen small baggies.
1-gallon jugs of Arizona iced tea. I drink a ton of the sugar-free Arnold Palmer, and the jugs, as well as their screw on caps, are just high quality. They are thick, high quality plastic, and the cap is sturdy with a good seal. I use them for keeping pre-treated water for topping up my fish tank, isopropyl alcohol for the wash station of my resin 3d printer, and other stuff like that. We also use them for cat food/litter storage and dispensing. I have also used them to store coins, when I had a job that involved cash tips that were mostly coins. I’m sure there are a ton of other uses for such a container. The jug is free if you’re going to spend the $3 on the iced tea anyway. Buying a similar quality jug/container at Walmart costs twice as much, or more, and doesn’t come with anything to drink inside.
Gridfinity.
I’m new to 3D printing but Gridfinity is a game changer. Make your own storage, but this is made to fit into a standard grid, incredibly flexible and useful.
I agree to a certain extent, the idea behind it is pretty awesome. I printed a bunch of grids and organizing pieces a few weeks after the original video dropped, and was pretty impressed by how well most of it worked. The rub comes in with the model sites being fraught with “bad” models that people have tweaked to suit their printers or the hardware they want to use so not everything can be used right away. That kinda thing is hard to measure on screen, in a mesh, so makes a lot of wasted plastic/time.
I bought two pieces of the new Milwaukee Packout tool box/organizer shit. Super expensive. Was a bit turned off at the price but I wanted something that stacked. After a series of mistakes the entire thing flew out my trailer and landed in the interstate going 70+ mph. Mother fucker didn’t dint or come open or anything. Barely a scratch. It didn’t even unstack. I spent $300 dollars on a few more pieces and it’s been wonderful.
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Storage-Solutions/PACKOUT
Before I had a car with a remote, I really liked Keyport organizers. They’re a good way to stop keys from getting clanky and stabby in your pocket. And they have a snazzy flashlight and pocket knife. They’re a fun fidget too.
Oh my gawd!! Looking into this now! Because of my job, I constantly need to carry far too many keys around, including my damn car key fob — meaning when I lean over, I sometimes end up pressing a button on my fob! These look like problem solvers!
They’re awesome. I was kind of disappointed when our old car died and I updated to a vehicle with a fob.
I have never seen one of those before. Those look really cool!
Thank you!
I mean, boxes in general are my organising style. I keep a lot of aquariums so I bought 8 shoebox sized boxes, one for substrate, one for decor, one for water testing, etc.
In my bathroom I used to have a lot of stuff so I bought a few wicker baskets, hair stuff, skin care, and make up, then a tall cupboard with fabric boxes for cleaning products, toothcare, hair dyes, bath bombs, you know. I have boxes everywhere.
