Nothing is quite as frustrating as knowing you have something and not being able to find it. And when you work from home — whether you're meeting with clients or just handling the family finances — frustrating can quickly turn into agonizing. Instead of scrambling, employ a 'First Order Retrievability' organization philosophy, like Adam Savage of Mythbusters.
Nobody knows tools better than the Mythbusters. When your job involves creating unusual scenarios from scratch, you need to have a warehouse full of gear available at easy reach. So how does Adam Savage, the one without the Colonel Mustard Moustache, keep it all organized?
On his website, Adam writes:
"Ahh, my toolboxes. Obsessed with working quickly, I've spent years designing toolboxes with what I call 'First Order Retrievability'. That is, that nothing need be moved out of the way to get to anything else. [Below] is version 2.0. The Scissor lifts are so that, when seated, I needn't lean over too far to get to the tool I need."
That's his tool box above, in a photo for Wired Magazine, where he recently shared his 'First Order Retrievability' philosophy with the world.
At home, you don't need to invest time or money into an articulated aluminum toolbox like Mr. Mythbuster here. Instead, use the foundation of First Order Retrievability — that nothing should be moved out of the way to get to anything else — to inform your workspace choices. Here's a few tips:
• Consider the tools of your trade. If the tools and materials you work with are small and compact, you'll want your office storage to be the same. Small tools would get lost and cluttered inside large drawers or bins.
• Don't underestimate the power of drawer organizers. Divide large storage spaces into smaller ones with dividers (DIY cereal box dividers work just as well as store-bought ones) and maintain the "everything in its place" strategy to make everything easy to get to.
• No workspace is perfect. If you can't make every office "tool" available to you at first reach, make sure your most common items — pens, scissors, whatever! — are stored with First Order in mind.
(Images: Emily and Meeko's Sunny First Apartment, Wired)
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I love this! This is how I organize, but I didn't have a zippy name to call it. It's amazing how having a name for something will help bring others in the family (namely, children) more in line. And that it's a MythBusters thing makes it even more reputable for my middle schoolers :-) Thanks!
i just reorganized my kitchen with this in mind, i didn't quite succeed at total First Order Retrievability, i dont have the budget or resources to fully customize it, but i did manage to get my most used things to First Order Retrievability and most everything else to Second Order Retrievability. I have super super deep pantry cabinets tho so a few lesser used items are in the verrry back.
Hmmm, how does Buster fit into all this? Love his toolbox!
Never going to happen for me! I have to cram too much crafting material into too small a space, and I NEEEEED it all, so can't get rid of things to make accessibility easier. ;^) I make the first part of any project gathering from storage the things for that project, though, so they are then at my fingertips. (What I really need is a studio...)
Oh, absolutely. As soon as you have to move one thing to get to another, the functionality is GONE!
I'm into tons of tiny drawers. Every time I find an old card catalog on Craigslist, I buy it. Scissors in one drawer, glue in another, markers in another, dog medicine in another, light bulbs in another. And LABELS so you always know where everything is!
I've got a really good spatial memory, so it didn't occur to me to label the many identical boxes of stuff in the closet. Until I realized that if I didn't label them, the rest of the household was going to ask manyX/day "where's Y?"
This is so what I aspire to! My home office is still a work in progress but I'm getting there slowly. I can vouch for the DIY cereal box dividers - I use cut down cereal boxes (to about 3 inches deep) to sub-divide larger boxes such as shoe boxes to make good storage for things like phone chargers.... And write the name of the item inside the bottom of the box with a marker pen so that everyone knows what goes where. Much cheaper than purchasing drawer dividers, and easily modified if you need to change things around. Plus you're recycling cardboard so it's a win-win all around. If you've never tried it, give it a go...it really does make a huge difference. Divide and conquer!