Organized New Year

Between Christmas and New Year's is family time at our house.  We enjoy spending the week playing with our new toys and just being together.  Lots of movie time, creating in the hobby room, and playing with whatever new toys the kids get.

Things shift after January 1st.  There's just something about starting a New Year that makes me want a fresh start.  I often spend the first week of the new year putting away all the Christmas decorations and packages, then I deep clean the house once everyone goes back to school/work.  This year I got a bit of a jump start on my cleaning in the hobby room because I had made such a mess before Christmas that there was no room to get Creative.

Here are my organization tips for today:
1. Keep things out that you use all the time, put away things you only use occasionally.  (ex: adhesive-keep within easy reach/Embossing Powder-put away)
     Bonus- This tip works well in the kitchen and bathroom as well.  Use your toaster daily?  Keep it on the counter.  Use your bread machine once a year?  Put it in the cupboard above the fridge that nobody ever gets into.  (tip: this might be a good place to keep the chocolate)

2. Rotate seasonal items (ex- Christmas stamps go into drawers under my work table, now that it's over.  Valentines stamps come out.) For scrapbooking I have my paper/stickers organized by theme so I can easily take out, for example, my winter folder when working on snow pages.

3. Think vertical AND horizontal.  If you have a table/counter/desk to work on you can use the space under your flat surface for storage.  Personally I like having rolling totes so I can move them.  If you have a permanent space you may want to think about building shelves under your work table.  Along those line, look up and across.  If you near a wall, you can use shelves to add loads of storage.  Even if you don't have a wall you can still build up.  Try putting a small bookshelf on your table or maybe a cookie rack to give a little lift.  Think outside the box.

4. Give everything a home where it belongs.  If you don't have a place to put it away, it won't likely get put away.  Even if it does, you might not be able to find it again.  (okay, maybe this is just me.  lol)

5. Put things away as you go.  Putting away your supplies after every page/card project will go a long way in keeping your space organized.  Plus, the cleaner the space is the easier it will be to create more!  This may not sound like fun, but how fun is it to spend a couple of hours cleaning when you could be creative?  I can tell you that I have avoided the hobby room for months because it was such a mess and I didn't want to spend my "fun time" cleaning up. 

6. Donate/Sell box.  Consider keeping a box near your craft area for items you no longer use that can be donated or sold.  When the box fills up, remove it from your home.  This will clear out space for items you are using and reduce guilt when you want to buy something new.  :) 

7.  Stick with the same brand.  It truly is easier to store items if they are made by the same manufacturer.  Stamp cases stack nicely, punches line up, paper is the same size, ink pads all fit, etc.

8.  Reward yourself with some creative time.  Set your timer to clean for a set amount of time, then set your time for your "reward time".

Now that you have read my long post, here is something to look at.  My sweet husband built these shelves for me about a year before I got my first Stampin' Up! punch in the new style.  I LOVE the new style of punches.  I loved their previous style too, but I like the new ones even better.  When I was reorganizing my space I discovered that the shelves my husband built fit the punches perfectly when I laid them on their side!  Yippee!!!

These punches stack nicely on top of each other, and I was keeping them on my table, but with my last order I knew I needed something different because I was running low on counter space around my stamping area. 

Inspiration to fill in the gaps.  When I get more punches I have room for them on the shelves. 

One of a kind shelf.  My dear husband carved "To my only Love" into one of my shelves.  Doesn't he melt your heart?  I know it's sappy, but every time I look at it I am reminded of his love for me.  <3