Welcome to the first installment of our Well Organized Life series!
Keep Reading If:
- You're frequently carry around too much stuff (just in case!)
- It takes forever to find anything in your bag
- Your gear gets thrashed fast & this is not a skate video
- You get a thrill out of planning & being efficient
In this series we'll showcase our favorite tools and techniques for... what's that? A well organized life! This time, our focus is how to effortlessly carry our everyday daily-use desktop goods from home to school, work and back again. Back to School season is upon us as the official summer months wane and students everywhere prepare for fall classes. Buying supplies has always been the one thing that made summer's end acceptable to me as a kid, but lugging around evvvery notebook and textbook and handout every day? My back hurts thinking about it.
No, we're not carrying every thing we might need.
We're only going to carry what we know we will use.
(Do you know how happy I am that KonMari is a thing?)
So what are we looking at here? Personal production goods! Planning tools! Laptop. Pens and pencils. Notebooks and planner. And a few cases of varying sizes. Ignoring the cases for right now, this is stuff that could easily be tossed into a tote bag or backpack with the rest of your things as-is. That's cool, live that life on the edge. I'm imagining your headphone cord wrapping hopelessly around your favorite pen. Your favorite notebook getting grease stains from a coffee break croissant bag you shove in there. Did you even bring your planner? You're digging and not in the good way!
No, before you throw it all in and run off, let's strategize.
Cases Rule Everything Around Me.
Ok, the laptop goes into the document clutch. The notebooks & planner go into the linen zip pouch. The writing utensils go in the pen case. Great! We're like halfway there. Everything is grouped according to purpose, and we went from having to keep track of like ten things to just three. Let's keep going!
Wow that's looking good. Let's take it one step further.
Damn, that's sexy. Now we have just two things to keep tabs on. The notebooks, planner, and laptop are all tucked into one case. You can just throw it in the bag. And if you just needed your analogue tools and no laptop, it's a literal snap to open the document clutch and pull out the notebook case. Grab and go. Don't forget the pen case, which can do double duty as a phone case and wallet. Hot. So organized. Wow.
Putting like objects into cases simplifies what you have to keep track of in your bag. Instead of wondering, did I remember to bring my planner? you can ask yourself, did I bring my notebook case where my planner lives? Reach into your bag and the notebook case is there, pull it out, and hey there's your planner.
Using smaller cases within your bag also limits how much you can carry. For example, if your pen case has become super stuffed, it may be time to clean house and determine what you're actually using on a day-to-day basis. Say you dump out your pen case and there's like four mechanical pencils in there. Why is that? Do you use them all? Is one a pity carry, like you think it looks really good but the lead always breaks? Do you want to give space to a good looking but unreliable situation like that?
Utilizing cases also makes it easier to switch bags and know you have what you need. Like oh, me and Fatima have a co-working date and I don't want the distraction of my laptop... Lemme just grab my notebooks and roll out.
That's beautiful.
Stay tuned for our next back to school installment of A Well Organized Life series. ^~^/
Featured Supplies
- Delfonics Craig A4 Carrying Case
- Oh My Whiskers 2016-2017 Yearly Planner
- HiBi Everyday Tools A5 Notebook
- iiro Stripe Notebook
- Owl Products Coffee Notebook
- Fog Linen Work Large Pouch
- Petite Tri Sharpener
- Slendy+ Steel Body Eraser
- HiBi Everyday Tools Ballpoint Pen
- Palomino Blackwing Volume 56: Joe DiMaggio pencil
- Delfonics Craig Slim Fold Clutch
Becca
Hi! I´m in middle school, and I carry a ton of stuff, so cases won’t work because I have A4 notebooks, A4 folders and 1.5 inch binders. Any tips for staying organized?