I'm very new to backpacking (< 1 yr) and when I went out on my first trip last year, I learned a lot... a lot about what did and didn't work (a lot of things DIDN'T work! lol). One of the things I had a lot of problem with was my tarp (Superfly) and staking it down. I learned that knots aren't my thing, even though I watched a lot of videos beforehand and practiced a bit. After, I decided to come up with a system that would be much easier for me.

I purchased plastic Nite Ize Figure 9 things after I saw my friend with them and how easy they were to use. I hooked them on with the guy lines they came with directly to my tarp, but I have yet to use them on an overnight. I'm going out this Friday, and I was thinking about switching this up because I want to change my guy lines out for brighter ones that I've recently purchased, and also because I'm having a hard time packaging the guy line up attached to the tarp. I try to wrap it around the Figure 9 so it "stays together" but it always unravels.

So my questions are -

1. Would it be easier to hook the guyline up directly to the stakes and store them together? For the setup that I've proposed, is there an advantage to one over the other? Or should I leave on the tarp?
2. If I do leave them on the tarp, is there some obvious way that I'm missing in order to keep the cord neater and not get tangled with other lines as it's in it's stuff sack?

I've been reading about different ways to secure the tension on my tarp, and for me, the easier the better. I've seen some dutchware stuff that looked pretty easy, but I've already got these from last year so I'd like to try them. For someone totally new who hates knots who has a hard time following along in this forum - any advice you'd like to give in this area? Something I'm doing that could be made simpler or something I'm missing?

Also, a general question - for those of you with a tarp like the superfly with side pullouts - do you leave guyline off of the side pullouts and just bring it with you and attach it if you decide to use it?

Thanks!