I gave a friend of mine an eye drop vial that I had in my handbag to relieve her itchy eyes and she said ‘I should make a point of carrying these but I always forget’. Which got me thinking about what it is that I do to ensure that I always have ‘handbag stock‘. Handbag stock includes bandaids, pain killers, eye drop vials and a muesli bar.
My system is to notice when my handbag supply needs replenishing, make a reminder in my Samsung calendar app and make sure that I top up my supply that evening at home.
It’s also through this app that I keep track of when to refresh my mascara (every 3 months) and electric toothbrush head (every month and a half).
I recently wrote about product placement in the home. Following on from that another way I use ‘placement’ to keep myself organised is to mentally assign areas with specific tasks. For example, I know that if there are items (papers, tins of tuna) on a spot of carpet directly in line with the bedroom door that they need to go to work with me. Another placement is that if things are placed on the second stair I know that I need to take them up to my room the next time I pass by. It’s somewhat like bookmarking but to anyone else it would be invisible.
And linking back to replenishing my handbag. At work I will often jot a note on a Post It (things to do, things to buy etc.) which I then put in the same pocket in my handbag at the end of the day. It’s become habit to empty this pocket when I arrive home and action the pile as soon as possible.
A great app that is starting to replace the amazing physical Post It, in my world anyway, is Action Memo (which is an inbuilt app on the Samsung Note – though there are other Post It inspired apps available). It’s a great tool that allows me to make quick notes in scrawly hand writing while on the go.
