Boxing Clever

I mentioned a while back that I was trying the five box system to help organise my hobby time.  Initially I found it difficult to manage as I found it gave me too much freedom.  Now I've settled down with it a bit more and it's really helping.

I realised a few weeks in that I was viewing it as a challenge, and I felt I had to do a bit from each box, otherwise what was the point of the system?  Whilst I didn't give up, I ended up ignoring all but the one box that had crafting stuff in that I needed for RPGs.  I was pretty much ready to give up on the idea, as I felt I was back to obsessing on one project.  It didn't help that I had four out of the five boxes out at the same time, which was a less that popular use of floor space.

I recently finished the cave tiles and various other bits for D&D, or at least reached a point where I wasn't rushing to keep up with the game's progress, and picked up another box.  The feeling of painting something different, while still sticking to the plan was inspiring.  So the five box system is here to stay, until I find something better.

So how do I use the system?  Here are a few details on what works for me;

• I use any old box, two are old printer paper boxes, good for terrain projects, two more are packing boxes that I have received minis in in the past.  The final box is a hypothetical box.
• I began by numbering them, but that gave a false sense of priority to box one.  It seemed silly to be working on, say, box three when box one was still there.  Now they are labelled 'star', 'square', 'wave', 'circle' and 'cross'*.  
• Unless I am working on a particular box it goes away.  
• I don't overfill a box.  It's enough to have a unit or two, or a warband in a box.  More can be dispiriting as it seems to take forever to finish.  The idea is to clear a box and then fill it with another project, not have the same long project dragging on forever.
• The more different the box contents are, the more likely they are to be dipped into.  Changing projects can be refreshing.

So what has it got in its boxes precious?

'Star' is Frostgrave stuff, currently the mausoleum awaiting its roof finishing and the warband I mentioned for a friend, now close to completion.
'Square' is D&D tiles, as per the cave and mine tiles, plus some castle or dungeon tiles I have yet to finish and am currently experimenting on.
'Wave' is Vanguard stuff, currently holding goblins, orcs, undead and dwarves.  This is too much for one box really, but I found my starter warbands yesterday and shoved them in for somewhere to put them.  I need to magnetise the bases then they can have a Really Useful Box of their own.
'Circle' is 15mm Ancients, mostly Greeks with a few Scythians to finish off.  This is the one I'm having the most difficulty getting back to, perhaps because I have a small Greek army now and I don't know when I'll need them again.
'Cross' is what I term the hypothetical box.  Its the stuff that needs doing for the next gaming session, its invariably short term, and is often just one thing.  At the moment it contains (or would if it weren't pure essence of boxiness) a couple of craft builds for tonight's 4E D&D game.  Which has, of course, been postponed, otherwise I'd show them tomorrow as I'm rather pleased with them, and I know at least one of the players reads this and, big kid that I am, I like to surprise.


* A no prize for identifying these symbols, leave a comment.