How would you feel if someone walked into your craft area right this minute? No, not in five minutes, after you’ve frantically hidden things under your desk and in your yarn basket. An unexpected guest walked right in to your work area….Embarrassed? Unorganized? Discombobulated? Totally.
I just moved recently, from a giant office/craft area to a very, very tiny one. I have stuff. A lot of stuff. So, how do you fit a refrigerator into a shoe box? I don’t know! Who do I look like…MacGuyver?
This is what my office looks like today. Please don’t judge me 
Let’s see…coffee cup, two phones, boxes of envelopes, band-aids (what the?), bills, receipts, glue, photos, candy, cords, buttons, camera, tissue….I could go on, but you get the point.
Oh, and next to my printer
(my only other surface area), is more stuff.
Unless THIS qualifies
as surface area (on TOP of my desk hutch)?
Oh, and then there’s my
chair/cat bed/storage area.
Ok, maybe this isn’t so bad. Maybe your work area is
worse. Well, wait…I should probably ante up full disclosure here…
…technically, my craft area has oozed into my living room.
Now, THAT’s embarrassing! My front door is about 5 feet to the right.
Getting Your you-know-what Together
- Reorganize cabinets and drawers (you will find that once they’re clean, you can fit more stuff in them).
- File away your documents, receipts, and bills into a file drawer (if you have one) or pick up a file organizer at your local office supply store and put them in there. They take up a small amount of space and you can fit loads of documents in them.
- Take small items (beads, wire, clips, rubberbands, etc) and place them in jars and/or small containers in your windowsill or on a shelf. They will be where you need them when you need them and they’ll look pretty.
- For your yarns and fabric scraps, use a basket and then store that basket in an inconspicuous area (under a table). If you don’t have anywhere to put it, don’t fret. Yarns and fabrics are beautiful, so leave them on display – they’ll add wonderful colorful and texture to your room (and maybe a little inspiration).
- Keep all shipping items (boxes, envelopes, cards, etc) in one place for easy access. Boxes and large envelopes can be bulky, but broken down, they can easily slide between pieces of furniture and out of the way.
- Use a sweet little box for all of your electronic equipment (in my case, it’s a ornate hat box from the gift exchange last year)…such as cords, batteries or even your iPod. Also great for old photos and Christmas cards
- Instead of those 10 million sticky notes covering everything from your computer screen to your wall, use a notepad program on your computer for all of your ideas and shopping lists.
- When in doubt, throw it out…no, not these days. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. That does NOT mean be a pack rat. Things that you know you aren’t going to use can always be given away to a church, thrift store or charity.
- Keep a small garbage can in your work area at all times….and use it!
- And, most importantly, once you’re organized, put in the extra effort to stay organized, so we don’t have to go through this all over again. Keep related craft items together, so you can just take out what you need for a project and easily stash it away when you’re done.
I will follow all of my own suggestions and post some photos of my new and improved, clean work area as soon as I complete this task…and, I’m sure, along the way, wonder why I’m such a slob.
♥♥♥Happy Crafting♥♥♥