To-Do Lists and Inspiration Management 101

I think this note-to-self was to remind me to type these recipes into my electronic recipe file?

Are you like me? Do you scribble down notes to yourself about things you need to do? Or about inspirations you get? Do you save magazine articles, paint swatches and sketches?

This was one of my garden layouts. I always draw things up before I dig!

I have stacks of papers, pictures and items that contain important (to me, anyway) ideas about projects I want to accomplish, design ideas, gardening lessons learned... stacks of information that I don't want to toss because I haven't acted on them yet, or because they inspire me!

Great ideas for my library that I read in my back issues of Victorian Homes

I like to really plot things out before I do them!

The years have piled up along with the stacks of papers, magazines, brochures, and other reminders of great inspirations. They are (sort of) organized into categories. I have them in labeled boxes and file cabinets.

Some of my brilliant ideas are kept in this antique file cabinet!

But whenever I want to access some of my thousands of ideas, I have to search through hundreds of other things before I ever find what I'm looking for. And then I'm distracted by other bits of information I come across, and often forget what I was searching for in the first place!

I really am organized with my "things," just not with my "ideas"

I need some kind of system. Something I can access through the computer. Then I can throw away all my paperwork. After all, that is what "going paperless" is all about, right?

See? I know right where I keep my wedding dress, in case I never need it again!

I need to scan in all my old drawings and photo references. Then I need to transcribe all my cryptic notes to myself.

It's getting to be too much information to store the old-fashioned way!

Finally, I need to make all this information searchable. I will have to keyword everything so that I can find it all with the click of my mouse.

Kitchen wall ideas? Here it is. My ideas for next year's garden? No problem.

I will need a program that does it all! Does anyone have any suggestions? I've used Filemaker and Portfolio in the past. They are programs that seem to handle both photo and copy content, and are searchable. Are there any programs that are newer and easier to use?

Also, I don't want to ever lose my ability to access this data. If I toss out all my old paperwork, it's gone for good. With the way programs come and go these days, and with system upgrades unsupported by some programs, I'm afraid that down the line, all my information may be lost and unaccessible.

It would be SO SWEET to create a searchable file for all the articles and pictures

I use as reference in my 25-year collection of Victorian Homes magazines!

It would be wonderful to be so organized! I love organization, and I really do have so many other things organized and easily accessible. I would love to have all my ideas organized as well!

Let me know how you handle this kind of organization, what works for you, and what doesn't. I would love to hear your ideas!