Chaotic organization? Or organized chaos?

When I got home from my North Carolina trip several months ago, I completely cleaned my entire workspace - my table and my packaging station were perfectly organized, everything in their own homes and all the surfaces cleaned. Then I took a break. When I decided to bust everything out again and get to work, I became disheartened because I couldn't find anything! Where was the saw that always sits right on top of a pile of stuff on the table? Where did I put that collet that I only needed every once in while but couldn't do with out? My organization really messed me up. So, this time, I left everything out. For a while, it totally worked. My polishing cloth was right where I left it, in a wad under spools of wire, and all my buffing wheels were sporadically scattered where I could easily find them...
Until I took another break. I didn't work for a week. This morning I came back to my table. Where is the tape?? Oh, right, it made it's way into another part of the house because the kids needed it for a project. Where are my heavy gauge snips?? Hmmm, the last time I saw them, Seth was using them...
So, in the course of a week my chaotic organization turned into disorganization, and my family members were sneaking off with my tools!
So much for taking a break. I spent twenty minutes looking for the tape this morning and when I finally found it, I realized I had laid down the two pieces of metal that I was working with somewhere in the midst of my search for the tape. It took several more minutes to find those...and so on.
All to say...I'm really not sure if my system is working...it sure does look like a mess!