Clutter Control and Organizing Solutions

So I’ve been evaluating the mess I am contending with and trying to decide how I plan to conquer it. I participate in NaNoWriMo each year and with that coming up rapidly, I have got to be more focused. My space isn’t just used for my scrapbooking, it is also used as an office area for my work everyday.

Since I am on my way to figuring out how I want things to work, I thought it would be fun to take you all along for the ride and show you what I did to make things work better.

For my scrapbooking area, I have attempted to confine it to two tables which can be utilized when I host a crop or host a party of some type. (I have a scrapbooking home business). For my work, I do actually write every single day - so I need a space that can stay where it is, but perhaps have another use. Right now my table is literally in the middle of our living room. LOL It does not resemble a desk at all, (it isn’t) and I have got to figure something else out. Problem is, I enjoy being able to watch television when I am writing, and being a part of the family (five kids) is a huge benefit too.

Anyway, I will walk this journey beginning tomorrow. I will try to take photographs when I can to illustrate the points I am making and when I am done - hopefully my scrapbook area will just…be better. That’s all one can hope for!

This is a picture of a problem I had. My best friend and enabler had gone to a garage sale and found craft stuff like you wouldn’t believe. She called me and told me she was picking me up in 5 minutes, be ready. I was. When we arrived at the garage sale, I was overwhelmed by all the stuff this lady was getting rid of. It was like she decided she didn’t want to do any crafts anymore at all. Either that or it looked like a Michael’s truckload just dumped everything in their driveway. LOL

Anyway, my BFF and enabler Amy talked me into buying these stamps. I got a fantastic deal and we’ve used them a ton. But immediately when I got home, I thought - where do you go with 200+ additional stamps? (I already have a ton of wood mounted that I store and use occasionally)

I wound up purchasing another Iris Cart and just stacking them in the drawers but this is not a practical storage idea because I cannot find ANYTHING when I want to use it. Do you have a wood mounted rubber stamp collection? What do you do with yours?

This is an ongoing  project, but at least they aren’t lying in a heap on the table anymore

It’s terrible isn’t it! There isn’t a single spot of table space available for anything. This was before I switched the room to what it is now, because I realized how unorganized I actually was. The table that is on the left in the photograph is actually smaller and not there anymore. It just has a mobile laptop and faces the TV because I simply cannot write without background noise and I like to watch TV. LOL Same with being creative.

The mess was easily cleaned up because what I figured out is that I simply have too much stuff. I was trying to cram so many things into one small space and I didn’t have any type of storage for half of it. The room was not working this way, and I knew I had to do something. Over the next few weeks you will start to see the improved space.

Tomorrow check back for a major find and a HUGE problem I had to solve.

So, what did you think yesterday? Not bad eh? I have a pretty nice area that I can move around in and be part of the family. I don’t mind it at all and its a great area to work in. The only thing it truly needs is just some better lighting but I am working on that.

So here is a photo of the whole space from one end to the other.

And here is probably the worst of the entire space - I just have too much stuff and it all gets shoved down at that end way down there that you see in the top picture. So here is a close up of that.

Since I took this photograph though, I have switched stuff around down at that end quite a bit and that wood table that you see the corner of has been removed from the room and honestly, even now its not a whole lot better with stuff everywhere.

See all those magazines on the shelf? Those are just the ones I’m keeping! LOL You should see the pile that is anxiously awaiting an upcoming garage sale that I SO need to get started on.

So, tomorrow check back because I am going to share what it looked like after about a week and an especially busy weekend of crafting. Pretty funny!

These pictures were taken of my scrapbooking space when I first set it up. It was actually for the most part “organized” yet I continue to use that term loosely as I discovered many problems along the way.

I use my scrapbooking space as a place to do my writing, so my laptop usually sits where that cord is visible on the table. Well, it did - but since these pictures were taken, I moved to the other end of the table and have a different window view. LOL

The table actually extends all the way down the other side. I’m working on getting the area cleaned up now, but it looks quite a bit different than it did in these pictures.

Here’s a shot of where I’m standing. That computer is actually my old computer but my kids use it.

Tomorrow I will show you even more pictures, and the following day (Tuesday) check out my post to see the absolute MESS it became in about a week of scrapbooking! LOL