I’m doing the A to Z Challenge in April using the theme “What to Pack on Your Creative Journey.” Today, we’re going to get our metaphorical suitcase organized.

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. ~A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh Best Friends Library

Creative journeys require lots of stuff. It’s not always an advantage to pack light, but it saves time and money to keep all those things organized.

Depending on the nature of your creative journey you may need to store pens and paper, brushes and canvas, or wigs and costumes.

An organizing project is a great way to store things in practical ways. Some people get caught up in the organizing (which can be fun and creative) and never quite get to the creative project that they intended. There are two times to take on an organizing project:

• When you’re just beginning a new project
• When a previous organization system falls apart because your needs have changed or grown

This suitcase is an example of a once-common plywood object type, and one that helps demonstrate the very wide range of late 19th and early 20th century object types which were made of plywood.
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

My favorite way of organizing comes from the book Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern. After a powerful process of looking at your psychological obstacles and analyzing your needs, she tackles the organizing project with the mnemonic SPACE – Sort, Purge, Assign a home, Containerize, and Equalize.

I haven’t completed an organizing project since we all learned about how things can spark joy (or not) from Marie Kondo and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I’m looking forward to that the next time that my office & art supply closet needs a refresh.

What works for you to get and keep things organized?