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My sense of organization and things having their own place has come mostly from not wanting to waste time looking for stuff when I'm on the road or adventuring.
I like knowing where my stuff is. I find it frustrating to need something for setting up, or for cooking, or for a day hike/bike ride/canoe paddle, or for a night of dark sky photography work, or even just to clean up, and have to look in several places and dig through crap before I find what I need. It's a waste of time,really, and can be easily remedied by being organized in simple ways
before I go in a way that lets me
stay organized while out.
Being organized for vehicle-based adventure is vastly different than being organized, or not, in a house. I use things differently, in different sequence, and have far less places my stuff can go back to before I need it again.
It can be simple, really. When I'm organized for a long adventure, I love that I can find my gear in total darkness if need be; that if I reach inside this door and up to the right there is a carabiner with my headlamps, for example. I love knowing if I ask someone to grab my rain jacket or a hammer and pegs, I can state clearly right where it will be. That's not OCD, that's making life easier for myself and those around me, and can often be the difference between a successful and memorable adventure or one of "I can't wait 'til I get back home!"
It can also be the difference between disaster and survival.
A lot of this, for me, comes from usually going out for multiple months and not for a couple weeks or less. If going out for a short time, I used to be more willy-nilly about being organized, because I simply did not have as much gear packed into the same space.
When I am going further afield and don't have a definite return date is when I take more photography gear, off-grid experiments, all-season wardrobe, books, more tools for wrenching and recovery, more food, and on and on. I gear up for a far wider variety of situations, environments, and possibilities.
I've found, though, over time that if I keep the same organizational sense for short adventures as I do for extended adventures, I don't have to think as much about what to grab for either load out.
I've written and said it before: If you listen, your gear will tell you where it wants to live. If I find myself always setting my ax down inside the back doors, I make a place for it there, instead of having to put it away somewhere else less logical later.
For me, the WHOLE idea behind being organized is to make things
easier, for there
NOT to be anything in the way of getting on with my day, whether on the highway or camping in the willy-wacks.
@ThundahBeagle has it exactly right about organizing for workflow vs hindrance. If organizing or staying organized is getting in my way with activities or is holding anyone else up, that's not really being organized, is it. That's a bit over the line.
Boxes: Get the right cases and containers and they weigh hardly anything. Your organization will save space and time, not waste it.
@North40overland, those FRO Wolfpacks are terrific, long-lasting and space-saving cases, in my experience, and well worth having. I like their Cub Packs even more now that I've used them, too, for several years.
Hearing anything: Gear rattling when I hit a bump doesn't bother me. A repetitive chirp, creak, or grating noise will, though. That means something is wearing against something else and needs to be addressed. To try and eliminate
every occasional rattle or noise though would be, for me, obsessive.
One last point:
Being organized does not always mean being neat and tidy. What works for me may not work at all for someone else. I know what's in every case, container, and day pack in the mess below:
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Interesting thread and to see how different folks see, and handle, their own organization.
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