i have bad organizational skills

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except it's a Windows computer, natch.

Sommermute (Wintermute), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:23 (twenty years ago) link

Folders are good, if you're feeling really ambitious you could color-code them -- it makes it easier to sort everything out quickly.

Larcole (Nicole), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:28 (twenty years ago) link

As tis been a few years since school, I'm less organised than I should be. Lars' idea is a good one, though I'm unsure I have the patience;>

I usually put the addresses in my cell phone. Look for the section that says "Organiser" on yours. If you're going to use a comp, be sure you use a dedicated floppy disk: you won't won't to fill the disk with other crap.

Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:34 (twenty years ago) link

I have a DON'T LOOK REAL SCARY folder for pressing items that I don't want to deal with.

It has a Tarot picture of the whatever of Swords where the person is sitting up in bed weeping on it. Somehow the irony and futility make it easier to open the folder and easier to find urgent items.

It is in the same filing cabinet as the *No-Fi Vodka*[tm]

Orbit (Orbit), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:34 (twenty years ago) link

Computers break, then yr screwed :)

jel -- (jel), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:37 (twenty years ago) link

I tend to rely on desk drawers for this and that and a couple of boxes for the tax info.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:38 (twenty years ago) link

I have a little filing cabinet and everything, it's really sickening. But that's what a records management class will do for you.

Larcole (Nicole), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:40 (twenty years ago) link

taping little pictures right on the folders seems to me like an exceedingly good idea!!

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:43 (twenty years ago) link

But that's what a records management class will do for you.

Ah, but that's also a career skill that will help you with disorganised employers;>

Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:45 (twenty years ago) link

"do you have any systems for remembering a thought you had, or an address, or keeping old papers and stuff?"

Keep a pad of paper by your phone or computer, date each page, it is great for doodles, messages, phone numbers and jotting down any brilliance you may have during the coarse of the day. Papers and stuffs can go in accordion folders, get the ones with separating pockets.

danielle g. (danielle g.), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:23 (twenty years ago) link

Fall in love with someone with good organizational skills. My b/f got a 99 in his tax law class but guess who got to do his 1040EZ?

teeny (teeny), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:35 (twenty years ago) link

i have colored folders, a palm, a small file cabinet & still i have organizational issues. i can find anything i want but everything looks like cr*p.

kephm, Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:37 (twenty years ago) link

You could always cover everything in glitter.

Larcole (Nicole), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:52 (twenty years ago) link

Glitter makes anything look good.

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:55 (twenty years ago) link

Except Mariah Carey, obviously

oops (Oops), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:58 (twenty years ago) link

However, nothing can make Glitter look good.

xpost fuck you oops.

teeny (teeny), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:59 (twenty years ago) link

if you are v.organised, you code each fleck of glitter with a weeny letter, so you can sort it all again after you drop it maybe

mark s (mark s), Thursday, 31 July 2003 19:00 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...
I am doing FILING.

Would anyone give me some fun tips?

the bellefox, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:27 (nineteen years ago) link

invest in a good cigarette lighter

dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:37 (nineteen years ago) link

That is funny!

the bellefox, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:38 (nineteen years ago) link

I need to get organized. My life is in shambles.

Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Read A Confederacy of Dunces for filing ideas.
Or, more usefully, invest in headphones.

beanz (beanz), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:40 (nineteen years ago) link

I lost my copy of A Confederacy of Dunces. I really need a new one. Man, I love that book.

na (Nick A.), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:41 (nineteen years ago) link

The Shambles, in York, is quite a prestigious location.

Early viewing is recommended.

the bellefox, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:42 (nineteen years ago) link

I am doing FILING.
Would anyone give me some fun tips?

use the small one for your nails and the big one for the bars of your cell.

MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:44 (nineteen years ago) link

Cor I wouldn't want to LIVE in the Shambles. You'd have to be above a dodgy wool shop or something and the buildings look like they're going to collapse on a tourist's head any minute. Which could be embarassing if you were in the bath.

Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, filing. It's all about the colour-coding.

Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:46 (nineteen years ago) link

You think The Shambles is bad? I once went on holiday to Smithereens and that BLEW! It rained all week. The following year's outing to Kingdom Come wasn't as bad as I thought it would be though.

dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:47 (nineteen years ago) link

i need someone to do my ironing for me.

ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:48 (nineteen years ago) link

If you are Rivers Cuomo, don't forget to file bands that start with "The" under T and solo artists by their first names. Also if you are Rivers Cuomo, don't forget that you are dumb.

na (Nick A.), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:48 (nineteen years ago) link

I have filed and cleared out my work trays this afternoon. I did a lot of very therapeutic shredding. Ahhhh sweet shredding bliss.

Archel is right re: colour coding. Labelling is also key: if you don't label things now you'll never be arsed to find them again, no matter how neat the filing.

Do your own delicious ironing, Chu.

Liz :x (Liz :x), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Yes and use descriptive labels, nothing like 'August 2004' or 'Stuff' etc.

Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:51 (nineteen years ago) link

i desperately need to file, or throw things away, or something. i was trying to pack up a few things in my house last night and when i pulled down a shoe box that i thought was empty, i got a rain of receipts from july/august 2002. i also need a big shelf to organize my records. at this point i'm afraid to check how many have been warped through improper storage.

lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Mostly I just keep the tax receipts organized by year. Beyond that is a bit of a mystery (but I try and reduce the amount of unnecessary records every time I move, at least).

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:53 (nineteen years ago) link

August 2004 is descriptive!

the bellefox, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:54 (nineteen years ago) link

This is more work than personal, but:

filing - always make sure you make a note of your filing system, and tell someone else, otherwise you'll forget and/or be hit by a bus and then no-one will be able to find anything.

A basic computer list - in word, excel or even access would be good cos then you can use any text search. You can make a note of dates then, too, which is useful for deciding when you can throw things away.

Photocopy fax's on that really thin shiny paper, cos they only last a couple of years before they fade into nothing.

Vicky (Vicky), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:54 (nineteen years ago) link

It's more interesting to be disorganised.

"In the search for order lies the root of neurosis"

Bob Six (bobbysix), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:54 (nineteen years ago) link

i do my own ironing liz. i'm just not fast enough to cope with my ever expanding wardrobe - i need to start wearing clothes only once and then give them away.

ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:54 (nineteen years ago) link

I am not sure whether I understand Vicky's point about a basic computer list.

the bellefox, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:55 (nineteen years ago) link

If it's work stuff, and other people want to find things, then create a word file, or excel spread sheet, or whatever, give a brief description of the file, and then give it's location, or colour, or whatever.

Vicky (Vicky), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 14:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Also for computer work: use a consistent and fully informative filename system for letters etc. that someone may want to access on a shared drive or something e.g.
[type of document] [addressee] [subject] [date of creation].
The number of times I've gone into a temp job and been enraged by rubbish filenaming...

Liz :x (Liz :x), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:02 (nineteen years ago) link

If you think of something that you need to do later, don't just think 'oh I must do that later' - WRITE IT DOWN on a post-it note. Or you will forget.

Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:04 (nineteen years ago) link

but don't make the filename so fucking long that no one can actually read the filename obv

ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:05 (nineteen years ago) link

Filofox, I don't understand. Can't you just throw everything into a box? And then put the date on the outside of the box, and then in five years time, you can throw the box away.

That's how I file things. And no doubt that's why the tax office still thinks I owe it money. Ha! Ha!

accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:08 (nineteen years ago) link

I have seen your office.

the finefox, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:11 (nineteen years ago) link

I like how you make that sound like a threat. You should go into the moneylending game.

accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:13 (nineteen years ago) link

I know where things are roughly, it's just that it'd take a lot of time to retrieve them. Why can't I throw things away? I mean I often find travel cards from 1999 stuffed in draws.

jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:32 (nineteen years ago) link

They might come in handy.

the bellefox, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:33 (nineteen years ago) link

my mother says i inheirited a hoarding gene from my grandmother, who saved things like used string and stacks of czech-language newspapers from the '30s. i'm not quite at that point, but i think i'm working up to it.

lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:44 (nineteen years ago) link

I. PERSONAL DATA: That which relates to my identity, education, rights as a citizen and personal property, excluding warranties and insurance paperwork, and also excluding items that go in the wallet, or the Passport.

A. All personal information goes in the folder. The folder is mobile, but only inhabits three places for any period longer than a few hours:

1. Inside the bag.
2. On the desk.
3. In the bottom drawer.

B. Bills and other official correspondence are not kept in the folder except for very brief periods when there is nowhere else to put them.

C. Whenever the folder is used, it is cleaned. Outdated documentation or any records that have become obsolete are placed in an archival envelope in the bottom drawer, or they are destroyed.

II. WORK-RELATED MATERIALS: Those items required for the efficient execution of my professional tasks, excluding reference texts.


A. For work-related items, a large alligator clip serves to hold together a sheaf of documents and a notepad which is kept in the cabinet. The sheaf is mobile, but only inhabits two places for any significant lengths of time:

1. On the desk.
2. In the top cabinet.

B. Whenever the sheaf is used, it is cleaned. Obsolete materials are fed to the shredder.

III. MISCELLANY: Insurance paperwork, reference texts, manuals, guides, warranties, and other documentation not specifically dealt with above.


A. Miscellany should be place in an evelope or drawer with items of a similar nature. There are several clearly defined respositories for certain types of materials already in use:

1. The foreign language dictionary and textbook pile.
2. The synthesizer manual drawer.
3. The kitchen appliance manual heap.
4. The warranty card stack.
5. The insurance policy envelope.

B. As new forms of miscellany are encountered they are grouped together and put somewhere that is clearly delineated from the places with other miscellany is already being put.

C. When a collection of miscellany is used, it is cleaned, and if the miscellany appears to be exceeding the space allowed by its current location, new locations are evaluated. If no suitable locations exist, the miscellany is made to fit by use of force. Obsolete miscellany or completely worthless documents go down the trash chute.

IV. PORTABLE DOCUMENTS. The Passport, items shaped like a credit card, and the Checkbook.


A. The Passport is portable but only used for foreign travel. If there is no foreign travel imminent, the Passport is kept in the top drawer at all times.

B. Items shaped like a credit card are kept in the wallet. The wallet is portable but only occupies two locations for any significant length of time:


1. The pants pocket.
2. The shelf.

C. The Checkbook is portable but is only moved in rare circumstances. It occupies one of only two places at nearly all times:

1. The desk.
2. The top drawer.

D. The condition of portable documents is reviewed when they are used. If a portable document has lost its usefulness (expired), a new one is acquired with all due haste.

V. CRAP: Materials that serve no purpose by their continued existence, to include catalogs, old magazines, and unsolicited correspondence, among other items.


A. Crap is mobile, but only occupies one of two places for any significant length of time:

1. The desk
2. The floor

B. When crap is identified, it goes in the trash.

TOMBOT, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 15:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, I guess it could do PF...

Contents of top draw to my left:

* Earache sampler tape from around 1991/2 featuring - Morbid Angel, Entombed, Bolt Thrower, Napalm Deat, Massacre and Godflesh (oh, I think I might listen to this)
* Random bits of lego
* Icicle & bells - X-mas decorations
* Matchsticks from the Taj Mahal restaurant in Ealing W5
* 1995 diary, given up on after 2 weeks
* 6 notebooks - dating back to the mid '90's - mainly containing rubbishy song lyrics, doodles and tablature
* Book of blank postcards
* School reports dating back to the late 1980's
* Random bank statements, random university letters
* Wrapping paper
* TV instruction book
* Various postcards and cards
* 6 spiral bound notebooks - mainly film scripts
* Large amount of novelty key rings (seal, musket, frog, Isle of Wight, Nirvana etc)
* Easter Egg thing
* PENS
* Broken compass
* Screw drivers
* Toy car
* This weird ball that lights and flashes when you throw it against something.
* Sewing kit from a Christmas cracker...

And I had a sort out the other week...

jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:13 (nineteen years ago) link

DO MORE WITH LESS

TOMBOT, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:15 (nineteen years ago) link

I mean screwdrivers, not screw drivers!

You are right Tombot!

I need a skip.

jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 16:18 (nineteen years ago) link

See, this thread has inspired me.. I just went on an organizing WHIRLWIND here at work and now my desk is LIKE GREAT and everything has its place and whew.

Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link

fourteen years pass...

did you ever get this aha sorted

ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 00:27 (five years ago) link

i am working on this too. believe it or not, i've improved. just not very much.

forensic plumber (harbl), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 01:31 (five years ago) link

maybe use a hoonja-doonja for this?? idk

j., Wednesday, 20 February 2019 02:09 (five years ago) link

i never really did.

as luck would have it i stayed late at work yesterday creating a "Trello board". i'm much better organized at work than in the rest of my life.

i have a theory that all human culture is essentially an effort to make up for the fact that people are terrible at remembering anything

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 12:10 (five years ago) link

ppl operate at about 30% efficiency and yknow thank fuck for that

ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 12:11 (five years ago) link

So you never got that palm pilot?

Yerac, Wednesday, 20 February 2019 14:14 (five years ago) link

I have fantastic organizational skills which, unfortunately, are not recognizable as such by pretty much anyone else in the world. C'est la vie!

A functioning gazebo made of Candlebox cassingles (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 14:18 (five years ago) link

Socrates: At the Egyptian city of Naucratis, there was a famous old god, whose name was Theuth; the bird which is called the Ibis is sacred to him, and he was the inventor of many arts, such as arithmetic and calculation and geometry and astronomy and draughts and dice, but his great discovery was the use of letters. Now in those days the god Thamus was the king of the whole country of Egypt; and he dwelt in that great city of Upper Egypt which the Hellenes call Egyptian Thebes, and the god himself is called by them Ammon. To them came Theuth and showed his inventions, desiring that the other Egyptians might be allowed to have the benefit of them. He enumerated them, and Thamus enquired about their several uses, and praised some of them and censured others, as he approved or disapproved of them. It would take a long time to repeat all that Thamus said to Theuth in praise or blame of the various arts. But when they came to letters, This, said Theuth, will make the Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; it is a specific both for the memory and for the wit. Thamus replied: O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.

j., Wednesday, 20 February 2019 14:31 (five years ago) link

Thamus otm.

It used to drive my study partners nuts that I doodled instead of taking notes in class but I was always able to recall the details of some illuminated manuscript the professor had been droning on about while I had been busily drawing the leg erupting from this comical fellow's mouth.

A functioning gazebo made of Candlebox cassingles (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 14:38 (five years ago) link

Likewise, what may appear to you an indiscriminate pile is in fact an intentional construct whose every sedimentary layer I would be happy to detail 4 u.

A functioning gazebo made of Candlebox cassingles (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 14:41 (five years ago) link

i have better organizational skills than like 99% of everyone I know, and I'm actually a shitty person, so these things must correlate, so don't feel bad

sarahell, Wednesday, 20 February 2019 17:36 (five years ago) link

Other ppl trying to impose THEIR organization system on ME is not cool. My program manager (who is not exactly my boss but is my client/overlord) is trying to make me use MS OneNote and I'm like lady I'm forty five fucking years old and have well honed workplace organizational skills, I never lose or forget anything work related ever, gtfo outta here with this "OneNote"

mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Thursday, 21 February 2019 01:34 (five years ago) link

^^^ I heard my last department head was very critical of people who had nothing on their desks because of optics. My desk and inbox were always completely clear, but I put an empty notebook and a stack of policies on it to satisfy onlookers that I was doing work.

Yerac, Thursday, 21 February 2019 01:43 (five years ago) link

Likewise, what may appear to you an indiscriminate pile is in fact an intentional construct whose every sedimentary layer I would be happy to detail 4 u.


i was sortting through my ah filing system once in November and found a Christmas card from a colleague. Thought “bit early but that’s nice”. When she passed I said thanks and she said “what? that was from *last* year.

Fizzles, Thursday, 21 February 2019 07:59 (five years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP4hYtwGFlI

velko, Thursday, 21 February 2019 08:21 (five years ago) link


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