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I haven't been scrapbooking in a while mainly doing card swaps and i want to get back to scrapbooking. But my room is a mess. I keep saying i really need to get things purged and organized. Some of the things I still have are from when I started scrapbooking 13 years ago.
I print things for an inventory book and how to organize your room. But then I walk into my room and get over whelmed. I used to get together with friends to scrapbook but they've all gone their separte ways and I have a hard time working alone. But then I think let me get it done and once it is done I'll be able to scrapbook and invite them over to see the new and improved room.
I really want to to do this and i since my room is a mess I don't spend anytime up there and feel guilty about buying more stuff when i'm not using it. But again I see something new that will inspire me.
What a vicious circle. I need help! Any ideas???
Don't commit to cleaning/organizing the entire room at one time. Just decide that you'll put away one kind of item - like 12x12 paper. Gather it all up and put it one stack, for now. Don't think about how it be stored in the long run, just get it all in one place.
Then pick something else, and get it all in one place, again don't worry about where it will be permanently.
Once you have everything grouped, you can then look to see how much room it will take and what is the best storage solution. It takes a little longer to do it this way, but it will save you time an money.
Saves time - so you don't have to move something because it won't all fit
Saves $$ - so you buy the kind of storage that will work
I'm in a similar situation with my craft area, so I'd love to hear ideas too. I constantly feel overwhelmed trying to figure out how to organize things - especially since I will have to move to a smaller room soon! I like stamphappy1650's method - I will have to try that one.
I think that's a great plan, too - it's so easy to get overwhelmed! stamphappy1650's suggestion is breaking down "eating the elephant" into manageable bites, and her rationale is completely sensible. While you're "getting it all in one place", it's a great time to purge, as well. If you don't love something, or can't see yourself using it, then pass it along to someone who can/will. Girl Scouts, schools, nursing homes, women's shelters - the list is long of people who would be grateful for whatever supplies you send their way.
Another reason I think that this method is a good idea is from my own experience. I've re-vamped EVERY SINGLE STORAGE/ORGANIZATION SYSTEM FOR EVERY SINGLE TYPE OF SUPPLY AND/OR TOOL THAT I HAVE multiple times, and that's both crazy-making and expensive. Putting like with like and seeing what you really have/want/use will help you see the best way to organize and arrange everything for the way you work. Good luck with that!
What I learned:
...Bite things off in small bits. Challenge one is to collect every piece of paper you have, and stack it up. Do a few inches at a time (people in my challenge had multiple FEET of scrapbook paper!). Purge what you won't use and sort the rest into colors and themes. The challenge progresses through embellishments, photos, memorabilia, stamps, punches, etc.
...Be ruthless in your purge. Tiffany gives a guideline for how to decide whether to keep to repurpose to your purge box.
...Put things away.
Who says I follow the last one? But I try. I know where to find everything...provided I put it away where it belongs.
You can do this challenge series anytime. The webinars are posted on the website at the link above and there's a link toward the bottom of the page for the workbook and one for their facebook page.
Serious fun...and serious organization!
One does NOT need to go out and purchase the scraprack, but some do. (I didn't)
I just literally got done with organizing mine - tonight. It took me 10 months because my children and hub refused to help me, no matter how much I begged, bribed, and bargained. I'm not picky, but I do expect things to be put away with like things and they didn't get that concept. I have back and other health problems, so it was hard to do it myself. At one point I hired an organizer for some help, but even though she claimed she was a professional organizer, she didn't have a clue.
I did what others have suggested above - take small bites at a time. I took boxes and dumped all like things in them. Then I put each box away a little at a time. I looked at each bit put away as one step closer to my goal (it didn't matter if all I could put away for the day were two pieces of paper, I was two pieces closer).
I love crafts of all kinds and had supplies for almost every craft out there, but I had to be honest with myself and decided I would only do scrapbooking/cardmaking, jewelry and crochet. I got rid of everything else with the exception of some of the kids' supplies (crayons, markers, beads). It was hard, but my sanity is better for it! Once I decided to do a deep purge, the rest really was easy. I suddenly had more room. It was wonderful to be free of the things I thought I would use someday but deep down knew I wouldn't. I think purging is the first step then the rest just seems to fall into place. I now have a beautiful room where I can escape without the extra clutter. It's surreal to walk in there and know that it's mine and I did it - finally.
So my advice is to decide what you will use and what you won't. Go thru and pull everything you see that you know you will never use. Put it in a box and put it in your vehicle to get rid of. The next day pull everything you think you might not use, but aren't sure and put that in a box. Take that box and put it in the basement, garage, wherever, just get it out of the room. Revisit that box a month after you've got your room set up. If you haven't used anything in that box, chances are you probably won't. Next day, take one category (stickers, paper, etc.), pull all that and put in a box and set to one side of the room. This is also a great time to purge more. Repeat the next day and so on until you have everything in boxes. Then decide how YOU use things - that will determine how to organize. Don't be afraid to find out how others organize, but do yourself a favor and don't drive yourself nuts with too much info! Once you've got your organizing solutions decided, start putting things away a little at a time. Remember, two pieces of paper are two pieces closer to your goal. When you start to get overwhelmed, walk away for a while. It's okay to go back to it later. Remember - you are doing this for you and when it gets to be a burden, then it's time to let it be for a while.
Good luck with this. I was so overwhelmed with my mess, but if I can do it, anyone can.
I did this just before Christmas, when I swapped from one room to another. I had definitely let my old room get out of hand, i felt completely overwhelmed & lost every time I went in there!. Definitely go with the 'one bite at a time' method above. It really does work, and you don't get exhausted, or over stressed. I sorted as I moved stuff- If I hadn't used it in the last 12 months, It went. Not my normal hoarding way of ' I'll use it one day'. I had to be ruthless, and admit that if 'one day' hadn't arrived yet, it most likely never would.Now I can put my hand on stuff in minutes, I know where it is. I'd spent more time hunting for stuff than actually doing anything before.
Once you have your crafting haven set-up don't fall back into old habits.
I have a rule for my whole house, if you don't use it in a year, it has to go. The exceptions are party ware and seasonal decorations that may not be put up every year. I always have a pile ready for goodwill and I make sure to get it out of my house or I'll want to keep it.
Also, once a year, I go through my craft room and do a purge. Sometimes I'm not as harsh with myself as I should be and I'll find something I still didn't use in the last year and I KNOW I'm not going to use. Out it goes
Also, label-label-label - I label everything because what sounded like the perfect place today will be lost in my feeble brain tomorrow.
Also, I un-package things so all like things are stored together by color. I know some people store by manufacture, but do they really remember they have the perfect blue button in Basic Grey? Store like things together. I use the color method where all small embellishments (buttons, ribbon slides, etc.) are stored by color. Jewels in one storage compartment, ribbon by color, etc.
I rarely loose anything and rarely buy duplicates. I always shop my room first before buying new because I can find it.
Purge suggestions:
That box of projects you just don't have time to finish and you probably never will. Rip off the embellishments and store them where they belong. Put the useable paper in the scrap box, & toss the rest.
Is it out of style, frayed, faded, wrinkled? Unless you do collage or 3-d media - get rid of it
Tools that don't really work for you - yes, they cost $$, but you're not using it anyway so the $$ is already lost - get rid of it. It's just taking up space and makes you feel guilty.
Ugly paper & left over pieces from stacks - put it by your work area and use it for templates, protect your desk top, or test paper for techniques - you probably won't get much for it in a garage sale and you've already spent the $ so use it up.
My room goes from pristine to a bomb went off in a few minutes of frenzied designing, but clean-up is quick because everything has a place. You need to organize based on how you create. My logic won't work for everyone, but maybe it will help.
I'm in the process of doing this, my room went from my happy place to a cluttered source of guilt. Yuck. I've started small, I've moved all my stamps into dvd cases and freed up a lot of space. I also took the time to make a stamp index. Surprised at what I had, how many were similar and how many had never seen ink. That encouraged me to purge one countertop and start looking a paper and embellishments. Hoping to have completed in a few weeks and reclaim my happy space.
Good Luck
Kathy T
I've been working on re-organizing my craft room for over a year, a bit at a time. Started taking apart all my clear stamp sets and putting all similar items together and that helped me get rid of duplicates or almost duplicates.
Stopped saving all but usable sizes of paper unless it was so special and could never be found again! I now use all scraps to test a stamp or write notes on.
Took apart all my 6 x 6 pads and put in mini folders [thanks Sue for this suggestion] and am now doing it with all the 8 x8 pads. This gave me lots more room.
There's still a lot to do but doing it a little at a time really works. Good luck!
I need to do this too. I have the worst time trying to get rid of things. It cost me money so I will dang well use it, even if it takes me 50 yrs. Or when I look at something I think maybe I will need it someday. In the meantime it's taking up space. I need to let go but it's so hard. We're moving into a new house in late August so I am hoping it will spur me to get rid of things. I think if I could sell them it would be easier, but most of it is so outdated no one wants to pay for it.
That USED to be me! I used this rationale to get over it: I bought it because I liked it (at the time, anyway). Even if I never used it, I still got that little bit of "happy" just looking at it and/or thinking about how I might use it "some day". That bit of pleasure needs to be reward enough if you are honestly never going to use it, and can't sell it. If we pay for many other pursuits that give us pleasure, we often have no tangible evidence of that money spent (visiting a museum or going to a movie or playing golf or whatever), but we still had an experience that brought us some measure of joy. Let that be enough, purge what have now become "guilt-makers", and move into joy at freedom from guilt and a clutter-free crafting space! Danielle LaPorte said it best: "You're giving sacred space to something that isn't sacred to you." (For the rest of that story, see "The Law of the Ugly Chair")
Stamp Happy 1650, wow what a great room. the hardest part for me is purging. i've done a couple of trades to get rid of some items that just didn't work out for me. But i'm cheap enough that i can't seem to get rid of stuff. I've been off work the last couple of days due to poison ivy and that would have been a great time to do some cleaning, but i just can't seem to get up to my room. I'm going scrapbooking this weekend and i hope that will help me get some of my passion back. Thanks for all the tips
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Last edited by mouseyr61; 06-13-2013 at 03:06 AM..
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