06.06.2016

0800

Materials:

• Metal rings
• Carabiners
• Shoelace

 

In an earlier post, titled Always Consider Gravity, I wrote about my consideration of gravity when it came to organizing my spaces.  This consideration also applies to individual items and each system that’s working within it.

Consider my purse/shoulder bag. I carry a few items in my shoulder bag that needs to be organized easily. I specifically choose this bag due to it’s height and the materials it was made with. However, the reason why I needed a tall shoulder bag was for the fact that I would be carrying around items that were tall in height, and if I used a bag that sat horizontally- I would be constantly digging through my bag to find items. With this bag, I can eliminate the digging around part and not waste time.

I always attach rings to the interior framework of my bags. I always have carabiners attached to everything I carry around so it makes sense that I create a spot for them to be attached to. For this reason, I usually will have at least two rings attached inside the frame of my bag.

Nowadays, I seem to always carry around a set of utensils, a coffee tumbler, water bottle, cell phone, keys and my wallet. There are days when I may leave the coffee tumbler and utensils at home, depending on my activity for the day. For the most part, I will always have my wallet, cell phone, keys and water bottle with me. I usually hook my wallet and keys together on one ring and on the other ring will be my water bottle and utensils. Because the water bottle is heavy compared to the combined weight of my other items, it usually gets it’s own ring. The extra bag that’s attached to the same ring as my water bottle is the bag I carry my utensils in. It’s also the bag I will carry my lunch in during the workweek. I don’t like to carry an external bag for lunches because I don’t like to carry items in my hand. If there is no other choice, I’ll carry items by hand, but I prefer my hands to be free. So during the work week, I’ll pack my breakfast, lunch and a smoothie into that bag for each day I go to work. On the weekends, that bag tends to be less utilized.

In a way I’ve divided my bag up into the “food” end or “all the other stuff” end. I’ve always organized the inside of my purses and bags this way and it seems to work. I organized my backpack similar to this method during graduate school and also during undergrad; partly because I like my bags organized and partly because as an art & design student, you carry a lot of stuff to class and organization is necessary.

I don’t like searching for my keys or wallet because that wastes time, which irritates me. I like my items convenient and in place ready to be used. These are some of my hacks, I hope they may come in handy for you as well.