Have as Many Tools as Places You Use ThemThis sounds wasteful.

Until you have a short window in your afternoon to put a door on the “training coop” and not having a T15 star bit costs you about an hour. Now, you just lost a chunk of your most precious, nonrenewable resource — time.

This happened to me today, in the middle of crunch-time. I timed getting the drill bit with a handful of other errands, so it didn’t hurt too bad. I also added “more drill bits” to the list.

I don’t have two or more of every single tool I use. There are a handful of items that seem to never be where they’re needed. After going crazy looking for a tape measure one too many times, I made a policy to stock up on items that seem to leave me hanging, enough to basically have them wherever we use them.

Some things that now can be found both at home and the farm, and in some cases the garage, kitchen, basement vehicles, and office:

• scissors
• tape measures
• hand tools — hammers, screw drivers, wrenches, bits, etc
• magnetic LED lights
• markers

Basically, if I lose some some of my day, and my wits, trying to find a small, inexpensive item, it goes on the 11% week list.

While I was able to give a small example of not having something I needed, this week full of big tasks has gone by remarkably well. Throughout each day, I would realize I needed something, and it was hand. I mentioned to Beth at one point, “It’s so nice when you need something and it’s there.” It made everything so much smoother and more enjoyable.