"AMPowers" wrote in message
...
purple_stars wrote:
another thought that comes to mind because i've been
focused on it a
lot lately is simply buying containers for things....

I think there were two really important points listed in
this thread:
containers and inventories.

The first point, which I've come to call my "Container
Theory of Life
Possessions" is simple: don't own something unless you can
first
purchase the appropriate container for it.

In my life I've noticed that I tended to buy things, say a
really cool
bicycle, but would just stick it in my garage. Eventually
something
would fall on it, or it would get dirty or damaged from
something else
it came in contact with. The item would invariably become
damaged,
unusable or lost long before its expected lifetime - and I
had to
replace items more often, thereby spending more money than
was really
necessary.

What I realized was that buying the item (in this case the
bike) was not
enough. What I needed was an appropriate container for
it. For this
item it happened to be a protective case that the bike
could be placed
inside, which would keep it out of harms way and reduce
rusting and
corrosion from the elements.


Your bike got damaged in your garage? And now you keep it
in a protective case? What do you do if you, God forbid,
want to ride it?



I think you can extend this philosophy to almost anything.
Don't have a
car unless you have a garage and/or a car cover. Make
sure everything
you own has a protective case, that the case is kept in a
consistent
location and when not in use, the item is returned to it.

The second point is that everything you own should be
inventoried,
photographed and recorded in an easy to use database.
Create a map of
you space, assign labels to each area and then record the
storage
location of every item you own. When you need to find
something, being
able to go to the database and look up its location can
save hours.
Also, if there is more than one person involved, any
changes of location
and/or status of item can be noted, and immediately
discovered by the
next person.


Are you familiar with the phrase ''Anal retentive''?

SV