An Organization System for My Organization System

I am THAT girl. You know the one. The one that has things everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE. The one with the scattered mess of a life that seems really calm inside in spite of it. The one that coins phrases like, “Organized mess”. Oh, that’s me. An outsider would likely get lost in my little storm that I call life. But I could find a thumbtack in it in less than 30 seconds, and not because I stepped on it. It drives my boyfriend nuts, makes my Mother crazy, and I’m probably setting a REALLY bad example for my son.
But I’m not content in this crazy world of mine. I’d love some order. Some organization. Some peace. So I try systems. I try all kinds of little ways to bring some order into my chaos. There have been apps, and PDAs and calendars.
I once went through a post it phase. Oh wasn’t that fun! I had post-its all over the place. I bought post-its of all sizes and colors. I wrote notes and reminders and to-dos, all on different types of post-its. Post-its were the key to my happiness! “I need a post-it to remind me to buy more post-its!” Eventually I realized, this was just creating more of a mess.
Then there was the notebook era. Oh, I had a notebook for my home schedule, and a notebook for my work schedule. I had a notebook for each and every project at work. I had a notebook for the kid’s projects. Soon, my life was full of notebooks. Tons and tons of half used, coffee stained notebooks that I could barely keep track of. And then I started to fill the notebooks with post-its….I think you see where I’m going here.
I needed something better. Something that could organize me, and keep me on track. Something that I could hold onto, and not create more clutter. And then a co-worker of mine introduced me to bullet-journaling. She says to me “Hey Lo, have you heard about bullet-journaling?” “No, I said, what is that?” and she explains to me this neat little system. It’s minimalist, and simple, and amaaazing. Se leads me to this website (bulletjournal.com) and I watch the video and read the site, and I think “This could possibly change my life!” Immediately I go to the store, and I buy a journal. I get just a small one, not too many pages, because this plan, after all, might just fail like the others. I set up my journal, Index, calendars, to-dos, and I fell so accomplished. I take it to work the next day and spend the first 10 minutes of my day sketching out my to-do list. By the end of the day, somehow, my desk is cleaner than it’s been in a year, and I’ve been more productive actually doing what is ON my list of things to do than… EVER! This is the start of a new era! I go home and use my to-do list to start cleaning and clearing out the junk in my house. I use it to take care of my personal errands, and lay out my housework. My bullet-journal quickly becomes as attached to me as my cell phone! Seriously, I almost took it to the bar once…it’s real guys, it’s so so real. 
 
I’ve been using this bullet-journaling method for about 3 weeks now and no, my life isn’t suddenly perfect, and I’m not suddenly a neat and organized goddess. BUT, I am happier, my mind is clearer, my junk is slowly decreasing, and I am more focused than ever before. I think I have finally found the system to rule them all. (Though I am fighting the urge to fill it with post-its…)
Have you had a similar experience? Do you have trouble finding the right system to organize your life? What are some ways that you keep your life in order? Tell me about them/ Has anyone else tried bullet-journaling? What do you think about it?