Very, very well organized, to a fault. And I rarely have to look for my keys. But the Achilles Heel of tight organization, I've discovered, is that a change in routine almost means that something I wish I had is left behind. I also admit I am a person with Too Many Accessories, electronic and otherwise.

I'm pretty well organised. My keys go on a magnetic rack in the hall. I have places for most things and I can usually find what I'm looking for.

But a few weeks ago I lost my house keys while I was out. I have no idea how. I had a small bag with me, put them in the zipped pocket of the bag as I left the house, I got in the car, drove to two places and home again. I backtracked, but no joy. It really disconcerted me, it's not something that's happened to me before.

Having cleaners come in once a week has made me more organised than I used to be. On Thursday night I have a good tidy up, sort out my recycling, make sure my dirty laundry is in the laundry bin and not on the bedroom floor, put away anything I don't want them to touch and then it's easier for them to clean in an organised space.

I tend to use a paper calendar and write things on it, rather than an electronic reminder. I do have a big plastic crate filled with tangled cables. Who doesn't?

I am very very organized. My keys are either in my purse or in my pocket. I keep a shopping list on the fridge -- if I open up the last one of anything, it goes on the list. When I travel I make a list of things to pack. I am not a busy person so there's no need for paper or electronic organizers, but it's pretty upsetting for me if I get careless and run out of something or forget to bring something or forget to pay something.

I think of myself as decently organized- I rarely lose things (keys, phone, wallet, etc), most things in my house have their place. But I definitely have room for improvement- I just moved the last of our unpacked boxes up to the attic. They've been sitting in our front room since July! At least now I don't have to look at them anymore. We just switched all our calendars to Google Calendar and I'm liking it so far- we had one calendar but it was getting overun by Stynxno's work stuff. I like that on Google calendar, I can turn the view of his calendar on and off to get a better sense of my free time.

I struggle to be organized. To save myself, I have as much as possible automated: bill paying, calendar with early reminders, keys in one spot upon entry and alarms preset for early weekend work.

My cell is only a problem when I happen to sit it down in an odd location on something that's dark.... I have no landline so it's a struggle to find it.

I try really really REALLY hard to be organized. I used to lose crap all the time when I was wee and never heard the end of it. (Granted, some of these things were expensive (digital camera oops) but some were a t-shirt or a water bottle.)

But now I live off postits, Google Calendar, Remember the Milk, and obsessive list making. And I still forget things sometimes. (But I did have a happy day yesterday when I emailed my troupe leader and asked her if she knew that a member was having a birthday and she didn't have a card so I went ahead and got one and then later at rehearsal, I had tape and a measuring tape so we could mark out the stage dimensions for the convention--things that she forgot to bring.)

I use post-its, too, Sperose. I got a free sample a while ago of extra-sticky post-its. I have one next to my front door that says 'Lunch' on it. The night before a day when I have to go into the office, I get all my stuff ready that I need to take with me - Oystercard, work pass, phone all charged up, etc. But too many times I've got to work and realised my lunch is still in the fridge. So I stick the 'Lunch' post-it on the door handle the night before. I have to touch it to open the door and this reminds me, if I haven't already remembered, that I need to get my lunch out of the fridge.

I try really hard to be organised. About the only area I'm totally successful is that I always know where my keys are. I used to keep them in the car when it was in the garage, but my new car auto-locks so I've had to get into the habit of always being sure to take them out and they now live on a small table in the hall or, when I'm out, on a ring in the outside pocket of my messenger bag thingy. This bit me a bit the other day - I was walking down the hall in a hurry and dropped my keys on the table as I went past (which is as it should be). The trouble is, I was carrying the lanyard that holds my work ID etc in the same hand. The lanyard caught on the corner of the table and, because I was rushing, kind of turned me into the corner of the wall beside the table. With my forehead! I got quite a deep split that bled all over the place and negated my hurrying totally (and then some!).

I hate being disorganised, but I do really struggle to be so in most cases, except that I'm very prompt. If I say I'll be somewhere at a certain time, it's pretty certain I'll be there then. Or 15 minutes early and getting stressed because then everyone else is late ;-).

dg, my husband installed a little set of 3 shelves with a few hooks on the bottom near our front hall table. It does a great job of discreetly organizing my running stuff (sunglasses, mp3 holder, the chain I sling around my neck with house key and inspirational little medal), plus holds car keys on the hooks. I find the secret to almost all successful organization for me is having a fixed place for everything. And I hope your head is OK now!!!

Oh my, dg! I hope your noggin knot is better! I did something like that (not as hurty) a few weeks ago.... I had to be at work extra early (5 am), and I'm always early too, but I was rushing to get out the door....I quickly pulled on my zip-neck pull-over and it was slightly hung on my head so I tugged extra hard and the zipper scratched the end of my nose.

I didn't realize it was bleeding until after I was on my way to work.

To add insult (to injury (heh) I had to greet all the other employees and tell them where we were having the meeting.

After the tenth person wanting to know what I did to my nose I found a bandaid to cover it. Looked quite silly but was easier.

(As for explaining the scratch, I lied. I said I was playing with my cat and she nailed me. It was a quick and easy story. The truth led to further questions and people quietly shaking their heads) Sorry, cat, you took one for the team.)