Dear Elsa,
This might seem like a silly question, but I need to keep certain details together right now and storing a to-do list in my dreamy mind is not an option. So, do you have any tips for organization for Pisces? I feel like so many things are scattered. I can’t tell you how many daytime-type planners I’ve owned…
Pisces
United States
Pisces, I’m sorry but I can’t help you in the least. As some of us say, it is a miracle I can find my own ass.
Personally I use the alarm on my cell phone multiple times a day. I set it when I am supposed to do something and then it goes off and I try to remember if the alarm is real or not real. In other words do I have something I am supposed to do at this time (like a consultation) or did I have something I was supposed to do at this time yesterday and I forgot to cancel the alarm?
And then I stand there like the brain damaged and try to decide so you see what I mean. I can’t help you but maybe someone else can…
Organizational tips for Pisces! If you’ve got one, share it.
Hahhaha. I have neptune loosely cnj my mercury so . . I use my cell phone too. It actually has a ‘scheduler’ function that lets me put a note in so that I know what the heck I’m reminding msyelf of.
I also have a sticky note permanently taped to my door with
KEYS
Wallet
cellphone
written on it (I wish it always worked).
Similarly I have a file folder paper clipped closed right by the door (taped to the wall at eye level)I cut out the middle and put in some plastic stuff so that it’s see-through. And if there’s a bill or something that I need to take with me to get paid, in it goes so its visible everytime I leave (mostly).
I find BIG BRIGHT and VERY VISIBLE is key to keeping me organized. and sticky notes have saved my bacon more than once.
The above sounds like there might be odds and ends involved (paperwork?) and when it comes to that I often swing by the local office supply place and pick up a bright folder thing, the kind that has a flap that closes with those elastic things (so that stuff doesn’t float away on me) and I try and remember to leave it somewhere obvious until I don’t need it anymore.
So my best friend, a double Pisces, used to crack me up in college because she would wake up every day and make a to-do list. She didn’t try to filter the items on it – everything that floated through her mind would go on it. Everything from “get dressed” to “do taxes.” Now I realize that the ritual probably came from her Virgo ascendant. But maybe accessing the polarity is the key – just *pretend* to be a Virgo and make a list, on whatever surface you want. And leave it out lying around where you’ll accidentally run across it all day, instead of in a planner which is too formal and totemic, I think.
I’m a Virgo, and I have a list of where all my old to-do lists are kept. (No, not really.)
Having recently, for several years, had to remember things for two people (that is, plus my mom who began to suffer from dementia 8 years ago), I found that there is no substitute for “Everything has a place, and everything in its (dedicated) place.” So first thing, go out and buy some places to put things in. Japanese ‘tansu’ with all the typcial little tiny drawers work very well. Then memorize which drawer contains what. Skip the book/magazine on how to organize things. It’s just more clutter.
Also, if it’s an appointment/date, go over to the calendar and write it down on there in big black letters. You can keep these old calandars in a box for years (because you don’t have time to actually keep a real journal.)
If it’s “stuff,” get rid of it: sooner is better; “no, you’re not ever going to use any of it.”
The “everything has a place” thing helps me too (Merc conj Neptune). I also email myself a lot.
I’ll second Elsa’s cell phone alarm trick. My cell phone lets me name the alarms, and I do – “Meds,” “Dishes,” etc. That way I don’t have to remember what the alarm was for!
(Neptune trine Mercury in Virgo, FWIW.)
Hey, yeah, I’ve got the Merc conjunct Neptune thing too. I email myself AND am slowly moving myself completely into cyberspace. I’ve got to keep on the move (Sag rising, 9th house Sun), after all.
You know, I’m NOT a pisces, but I’m horribly disorganized in my own way, especially if my environment is working against my nature.
1. Look at your physical environment. Does it resemble what your 4th and 6th houses say you prefer? Do you feel at home enough in your own place to function there?
2. Consider your Merc and Mars placements. How do you LIKE to communicate? What gets you moving? If you understand that, then apply it to your organizational style. Remembering and managing information is about processing it in the way that works for you.
For example: I need uncomplicated, concrete reminders (merc in capricorn), but my Mars in Libra wants it delivered with style. Unfortunately, those cool organizers never worked for me either. So here’s what I learned–Keep it visual–front and center. That motivates my Mars in Libra. I use a HUGE desk calendar and keep it on the wall in a central place (the kitchen) to remember what’s supposed to happen and when. That’s unavoidably concrete!
3. Decorate the calendar. This also feeds my mars/libra. Sounds silly, but my daughter and I love filling the wall calendar with stickers and doodles about the month’s events. It gives us both little emotional memory anchors about the events. And my sun/merc capricorn loves to mark off the days–done, done, done!
4. Other people’s organizers don’t work for me. So, knowing I needed something to carry around with me, I bought a gridded DIY Moleskein journal and made my own personal calendar. Everything goes in there: appts. personal notes, reading notes, i ching hex readings, stickers, receipts, doodles–whatever. And the best part is that I can decide, week to week, how to structure the pages. It’s my own creation!
4. Finally, start small. Get one bitty bitty goal down and celebrate that before you do anything else. Flylady suggests this: clean your kitchen sink before you go to bed. Like a personal devotional, every night. It doesn’t matter if you have dirty dishes in there, pull them out, wash the sink and walk away. Later you can look at the dirty dishes, but waking up to a clean, empty sink is powerful psychological mojo. Hear me now, believe me later. Serious mojo. Clean sink. The rest of your life may look like crap, but you’ve got one guaranteed spot of redemption right there in your kitchen!
Good luck! Hope to hear what you eventually works for you.
I second the cell phone alarm trick! The only thing I use it for is my BC pills, but it works like a charm.
You said you’ve owned a bunch of planner/organizers, but were they plain, monocolored, boring ones? Maybe you could make yourself a cover for one that you can be excited about opening everyday.
google calendar. when you enter a date, you can set it to send you a reminder email at whatever frequency/lead time you want.
sometimes I write things on the inside of my wrist in sharpie pen.
Thanks for all these tips. I am currently using post-its, lists, binders, etc.
I hate “stuff” so I really don’t have a bunch of junk. I do have a lot of projects (like to create).
Things are particularly intense b/c we’re building a house. This means we have lots more “stuff” to manage right now (tools, paint, equipment parts, ugh!). Just build me a tee pee baby, really! 🙂
I like the flylady clean sink too. I honestly never thought to pull out the dirty dishes and just clean the sink though. I might try that.
Cell phone is w/hubby sometimes, so not reliable option. I do have a fabulous Timex watch that has THREE alarms on it. I hate wearing a watch, so I strap it to a belt loop or keep it on my desk or something.
I really like this tip and it was already on my list to buy:
“pick up a bright folder thing, the kind that has a flap that closes with those elastic things (so that stuff doesn’t float away on me)”
I like the idea of decorating the calendar. I’m super picky about my calendar. I’ve used the pretty Franklin Planners and nothing, none of them work. I think i like plain and simple, so a notebook and simple calendar seems to work. Funny thing is that was what I used at the beginning of my career (like 20 years ago) and it always worked for me. The whole planner thing is just too structured for me. I’ll get a pretty envelope-type thing with elastic to hold things together.
I’m gonna start taking time at the end of each day to clean the purse, sort stuff and “put things in their place.”
Thanks for all the tips and for any others to come!
Pisces
in regard to cleaning the purse– I find it helpful to have more than one purse and switch them on a regular basis. this requires going through everything and deciding what stays and what gets thrown out.
Thanks Satori,
I don’t have that many purses. I do have this perfect little back-pack one that my sister gave to me b/c I travel a lot. She was dead on with it b/c it really is perfect for me. It has many compartments, but not too many. Keeps things straight easily.
Even if I did have more purses, I would probably forget to switch them – unless I made a post-it note!
cool! I can’t carry backpack purses like a backpack cos I forget they’re there and therefore tend to leave them behind as I don’t do the whole subconscious “purse on arm– check!” thing. 😀
I have three children and I haven’t misplaced any of them! well, okay, there was that one time… 😉
s, you could write a magazine article on the topic although I confess I could not read it straight through. I am utterly hopeless in this area and I always have been. Bright colored posters thrown all over the place, my mind still files them randomly, this ADD thing is severe. I like to pay stuff on line but when they make me create accounts, I always forget passwords and logins. People who make it easy to get paid are much more likely to get paid.
from the virgo virgo virgo (who does have lists of lists and seasonally organized too) told me that you should try really try many different ways of organizing yourself. What works for one person does NOT work for the next.
What works for me:
I’m a very computer based person but none of my organization is online – except work product. I use paper.
I have one calendar that travels with me – things get written down in the days’ places that I need to be/go. It opens to a week at a time and so there is enough room if I write small.
I then have a pile of notecards.
@computer
@store
@house
@me
@phone
@writing
things are often listed twice as I don’t clean between categories but I write down what I need to do at each of those places. Then when I have extra time on the computer I pull out that notecard from my calendar (just shoved in the back) and scan it. I often add things throughout the day and sometimes cross them off.
Your categories might be different:
@tools
@homedepot
@contractors
@computer
etc. etc. Surprisingly it took some time but it totally works for me. My Virgo virgo virgo shakes his head whenever I talk about being down because everything is a mess. Says to me “being organized takes time, every day”
Good luck 🙂
Satori, my mom is a Pisces and she once misplaced my baby sister… while that baby was on her hip! Literally, she raised the red alert and begged everyone to go looking for the baby while everyone stared at her in disbelief. My baby sis just rode along and didn’t make a peep for a while.
😀 I had to be extra careful when toting my youngest in her sling cos I was predisposed to walking around freely and blithely knocking her head on stacks of cans in the grocery store. this may explain a few things about her behavior.
LMAO!
you guys are making me feel like a virgo slacker. lists OF lists? eeek!
i like to keep envelopes and just put my notes and what i need for the day in them before i go out running around. busy day, big envelope. quiet day, regular envelope.
it also doesn’t exist in my life unless it’s in my outlook. but i work from home and have it accessible all the time.
Loonsounds
RE: the user name/password accounts. . .I got a simple address book that has A through Z pages. I put all my passwords in there and keep it close to my desk and NEVER take it out of the house. This is a life saver!
Oh, I don’t put full passwords in there. Like, if my password was fishbowl, I’d put f…l or something to jog my memory.
Hah! You don’t put in the full passwords? What if the trigger doesn’t work? Lots of times the website will let you put in a ‘hint’ and those fail me all the time also! It is not so much stupidity, i am just what they used to call ‘addle-headed.’
~Smirk~ (that one is for Satori).
Mudlike, with your virgovirgovirgo helper, what are you? From your post I would gues that maybe you are a virgovirgovirgovirgo?
Probably the best tip I can offer is to be flexible about what works.
In other words, you may find a system that works for a while, only to discover that it doesn’t work later.
At that time, find another system. The system itself is not important. Being more organized is. So if you need to change or alter your system as time goes on, don’t hesitate to do so.
I can say from experience that this has helped me a lot – to remember that the system itself is not the goal. More oganization is.
Good luck to you.
Loonsounds – nope. Just a lonely old virgo moon. nothing else in the sign. The virgo virgo virgo I kind of make fun of because he teases me about the taurus thing. He’s really just a virgo sun with a pisces moon and has had an enormous influence on my life.
He made his living and was very well known in his field for his ability to organize data. I give that post because every 6 months or a year I have to dig out from under a pile, have way too many commitments in life and it would all fall apart if I didn’t struggle and try and try and struggle to keep some sort of organization going.
I can, actually, relate to pisces quite well – organization is a bugaboo and those specialized systems all suck. They obviously aren’t made by real people with real lives.
I knew there had to be some major Virgo in there somewhere ). Yup, many is the day I miss my Virgo ex husbands way of just magically FIXING stuff. Some other things about his his Virgo-ness not so much.
Jennifer…that is fantastic advise. Thank you!
Also, “s” thanks for the excellent tips. I will use them for sure!
Pisces
Pisces: you are better advised to take on a lover who will worship you by organizing these mundane details. Since your sign is often the object of unrequited love, you can make these worshipful lovers useful by setting them to work.
Man, reading how everyone keeps organized makes me realize how freaking useless I am.
Even my So is more organized than I am, and his filing system consists of, wait for it, plastic bags. No kidding. He just throws files of things in them with abandon…
Post-it notes don’t work for me because I don’t see them. I put notes up on my door and realized about 3 weeks later I had intended to do something (buy a spike to put receipts on) and hadn’t.
Oh, and I just lost my friend’s only mailbox key. She went on holidays for 2 weeks and I was to look after her place…I realized at day 13 I’d forgotten.
She’s really upset with me but realizes that when life gets overwhelming my brain essentially shuts down and (maybe that’s Mercury opposed Uranus)?
Oh yeah…good thing my friend has no plants or pets to tend to or I’d be in serious shit.
kashmiri–LOL! The only living thing I’ve managed to keep alive is my daughter. And the one time I was entrusted to feed a family pet while they were away, I killed it. Fortunately it was only a goldfish, but god was I embarrassed.
And yeah, you guy’s nailed me on my magazine voice. (shudders) The man I’m divorcing once told me I talk like a magazine article. (double shudder)
Glad you like the ideas, though! 🙂
kashmiri– why DO people ask people like us to do these sorts of things for them?? I say on some level, well they’re asking for it.
you don’t leave the dog alone in the room with the freshly cooked turkey, you don’t look for babysitters in bars, and you don’t ask pisces to pick up your mail.
er, pisceans, not Pisces… she’s been able to hang on to one handbag, apparently, and start the process of building a house!
Try this maybe:
HassleMe
http://www.hassleme.co.uk/
Tell us what to hassle you about, and we’ll nag you via email at semi-unpredictable intervals.
(it’s free)
laff laff laff Sargon.
Kashmiri, I am totally familiar with the plastic bag approach to filing, in my case it is the plastic grocery bags and my biggest problem is the mail.
Satori, you make an excellent point, why DOES my mother hand me loose pieces of mail, even sometimes HER outgoing mail, and expect it to end up anywhere else other than maybe the upper flap over the area of the steering wheeel is one likely first stop…from there is grows legs and walks away.
This ‘problem’ might seem like some niggling little thing, this clutter thing, and yes, I have had a huge pile of clutter in a room with a clutter control book laying on top with it’s cover falling off.
I was wondering something, Mudlike, when you say Lonely Virgo moon, do you mean that it unaspected also? If so, that lonely Virgo moon might be running away with your chart, kinda.
yoikes, no. lonely meaning one planet – the moon in virgo. it has a sh** ton of aspects – some really hard. part of two – no maybe three t-squares. I have what has been described to me as an “interesting” chart. Nothin’ easy.
but hey – that’s why I read elsa and you guys. To learn, to balance, to transcend, even if it’s just a millimeter of transcending that happens oh, once in a blue moon 😉
Sargon – since you brought it up, my hubby is Aries. And, while I know he loves me he doesn’t quite get it that I’ve got a Pisces brain. He thinks I’m like him, “get it done…now.”
And, we’re building this house (he’s the designer and doer of most tasks). Literally we’re building it ourselves except for contractors for certain things like concrete and framing. He’s under huge pressure and relying on me (heaven help us) to remember to do certain things.
Early on, I gave the environmentalist in me complete forgiveness for all the post-its I was going to put into paper recycling.
I don’t think there’s any way to get him to understand me. I know he loves me, but he just doesn’t get how my brain works.
The funny thing is, he’s 11″ taller than me and much stronger physically, but thinks that I’m his size. While we’re doing all these house projects and he just can’t understand why I can’t push a framed wall into place like he can.
Fortunately we can usually laugh about it (I could do a stand-up routine about it), and I actually appreciate that he sees me as an equal, but. . .
🙂
Pisces
Lists, lists lists!
(-An Experienced Virgo)
See now, I don’t trust post-its. Not to stay on all the weird places I want to put notes to myself. I’m a lot less glamorous – I use plain ole masking tape to write my notes on. Then I can stick it anywhere I need to (as much in my way as possible) in order to remember it. On my steering wheel, door, shoe, purse, cell phone, water bottle, wallet – whatever you know you will be coming into contact with before said event.
Or, I will stick it on the back of my hand – it’s so friggn’ annoying, it’s hard to forget. Also, I will write in a bold colour on the back of my hand. Then it’s not out of sight.
Now, if someone has any ideas on what to do with all the paid and unpaid bills on my front seat….
Maybe the tape idea might help, Pisces?
Hi Snapdragon,
I love putting stuff on the steering wheel too! There’s just no missing it. I agree that masking tape is better and overall more economical.
Anyway, re: bills. Here’s what I do. I pay them immediately. I have on-line banking set up and just pay ’em as soon as I get ’em. If I don’t, then I set them right next to my computer and pay them b/f they get buried.
RE: Paid bills – file folders. I have one filing drawer for such things. It contains hanging file holders and folders all in alpha-order. I label the file folders accordingly, but do create themes, like “Utilities – Main Street” “Utilities – Farm” Or, “Health- Optical” “Health – Insurance” Then, that goes under “U” for Utilities or “H” for health I tried to save space by putting things in one folder and separating them by folding a bright piece of paper in half and labeling it, i.e. Phone bills would be in one separator and Electric in another.
If I didn’t have this, I’d go bonkers! You have to have receptacles for things for sure! I guess is goes back to “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
Oh, and at the end of every year, I go through my file drawer and clean it out. Just sort through things, toss stuff I don’t need, etc. Most of it is stuff I really need to keep for obvious reasons, but I love that process. Come to think of it, I didn’t do that this past year, which could be part of my stress these days.
Hope this helps.
Pisces
Anyone with Pisces Moon Sun or Ascendant will always have a hard time with LINEAR methods of organization. Forget about day planners with tiny little lines and PDA’s which require their own language for heaven’s sakes, to use..
Pisces usually has best of luck with their own quirky system.. and even then,don’t get too hopeful–you’re just not gonna remember everything. And a lot of days, you just don’t feel like carrying through with all of life’s details– If you’re lucky your friends will understand, — your clients? Well, you’ll lose some.
I use the ONE HUNDRED LITTLE SCRAPS OF PAPER method myself. Of course,being an artistic dreamy floaty Pisces Ascendant they have to be COLORFUL pieces of paper. I jot all kinds of stuff down on my separate little papers and shove them into the UN-USED day planner.Sometimes a lot of them fall out and get lost.
A few times a day I go through all of them and see what ones I wanna do.
The next day i go through them agan and just throw a lot of them out–
And then I start all over.
Hope this helps.
Pisces, thanks so much for your ideas! All very good ones. See the problem is I don’t have a file cabinet (or other receptacle). I just realized lately that I am going to have to get one, but haven’t remembered when I am out and about to look for one!
A place for everything, and everything in its place is such a little gem!
I am resolved to getting my papers in order!
Hi Snapdragon,
Just use a box or make a pile until you get the cabinet you like. I sometimes get all perfectionist about it, then procrastinate:)
Pisces
LOL Mudlike.
Ah I hear more and more, and it does explain some things!
loonsounds – glad to make sense – although of what i’m never sure but if you find sense then I’m happy.
(insert dry sense of self-depreciating sense of humor)
my neptune isn’t good either and so often i have a fog when it comes to what is getting through to others …
might as well run off and try to trancend something 😉
Hey all!
All these comments have been amazing and I feel so supported. I’m mish-mashing various ones together and going with the flow, thanks Jennifer;)
FYI, here’s what I did recently that seems to be working right now:
– Got a steno pad that has the spirals on the top (feels more open)
– Cut up colored paper to make tabs that say “to do” “shop” “farm” etc. written vertically.
– Taped the tabs down one side, like I’m creating a multi-subject notebook. I’ll have to move tabs or flip pages as I use pages up.
– Put a thick, but loose rubber band around it at the top so I can stick envelopes or other paper to it as well.
– Put a small binder clip on the rubber band for small pieces of paper.
– I’m also using more doodles to remember things and give it all my little signature.
It isn’t elegant, but is quite functional! I’m ISO those envelopes that are paper and have the elastic band, but all I can find is plastic (ick). I want the old fashioned kind. I trust that I’ll come across one somewhere. Of course, I want just the right size (5 x 8) so it will fit with my steno pad. I can always make my own if I don’t find one that I like.
Thanks for all the excellent tips! I’m very grateful.
Peace,
Pisces
Sometimes all it takes is a kick in the pants, eh Pisces? :o)
Oh yeah, and I am completely visualizing what you’ve done, and it really appeals to me …. my creative juices are flowing as well. Have to get on my front seat! (maybe i’ll bite the bullet and sign up for online banking…)
Yeah, my little steno system is working for me. I did start using it b/f I posed this question here, but with all the new ideas I feel like I have enough in place to keep some things together (and colorful). I really like the wire bound top versus the side! It might be a sensitive pisces things, but I hate the feeling when my hand runs into the wire binding. Picky!
Maybe you just need one of those elastic-bound folders for your front seat? Then, you can keep the stuff visual, but tidy. Maybe one with separaters, so you don’t get one big confusing clump going? Good luck!