Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A desperate plea for organization ideas!

Okay, it's not really desperate but it is a plea. I need ideas for how to organize some things.

I think I have a handle on the stationery, envelopes, stickers, stamps, and such but it's the pens, cartridges, pencils, markers and massive amounts of paper that are making me nuts. The paper is the worst. You know, the pages torn from magazines because of the I might use this mentality, the scraps left from making an envelope or label, those little bits I don't seem to be able to throw away because they might come in handy soon.

Right now a good deal of it is sitting in a large box top on my pub table and the rest is in stacks around the living room but it's becoming an unsightly mess and I fear that if anyone sees it, they'll try to get me on Hoarders! I detest clutter and my little haven doesn't have much but if this continues, clutter will become a serious issue. I find myself trying to straighten it but as Flylady says, you can't clean clutter. I might not agree with everything Marla says but she's got that right!

I didn't think all of this was much of a problem until last night when I moved some papers and found a stack of letters and postcards I'd recently received! The letters were opened but I hadn't logged them and they got buried and forgotten. Gasp!

I don't have space for a shelf or cabinet of any sort. My apartment is less than 580 square feet so keep that in mind. I've considered giving away the love seat that gets used once or twice a year but haven't done that yet. If I do, that will free up space. In the meantime, I have to come up with solutions and I can't afford to spend much money on this problem. I'm thinking if I get some boxes from work, load them with stuff as neatly categorized as possible, and label them that might be sufficient for awhile. Meh, it isn't what I want but it would let me see the top of my table again!

How do you organize it all? Enquiring minds want to know!

7 comments:

  1. I have a hard time organizing my paper/supplies as well. The thing that I have found the most handy are those plastic stackable drawers (http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=408&ProductCategory=187&section=1). I have a drawer for each of my supplies, Stationery, Rubber Stamps, Ink, etc.

    For collage/cut out bits, I try to organize like themes together (maps, faces, shapes, color) and put them into ziploc bags! This I find super helpful because if I am looking for something specific, I kind of have an idea of where it is. Usually I just end up stuffing all of my scraps into a large ziploc. Oops.

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    1. Oh good, it isn't just messy me then. ;) Hmm, those containers would work and I just remembered I have a set of 5 stacking containers in storage! Wooot, I just need to go get it and that will tend to a lot of the issue right there. Thank you for the reminder. :) I'll try organizing by theme in bags as you suggest. It's worth a shot. :)

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    2. Yay! Have fun organizing :) Once you start you will find the way that works best for you!

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  2. I have a rollable 4 drawer plastic cart that holds a bunch of stuff like pens, pencils, other office supplies, rubber stamps and other ephemera. I keep bits of paper used for collaging in a collaged envelope. I keep my sticker collection in a photo album and a photo box. My stationery is in 3 boxes and my scrapbooking paper goes on the bookshelf near the sticker/letter set albums. But even with all that, I end up with piles on my desk!

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    1. T, I like the idea of the photo album for stickers. Right now most of mine are in a big box but it's hard to find what I want and the album idea would probably tend to it. I guess the piles are just part of it and I need to try to get accustomed to that. Gulp. ;)

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  3. :) See? Our peers are always helpful. Patty taught me this: Paper in. Paper out. I do it with clothing too. No new clothes until I've bagged up old clothes and donated them to places like Goodwill. And, yes, I still need space. LOL.

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    1. Limner, you're so right about our peers! I do clothes in and clothes out and also do that with kitchen items because if I didn't, my entire apartment would look like one big kitchen!

      I won't be able to get to the storage unit for a couple of weeks or longer but last night I brought a box home from work and did manage to get things a little more under control. It still isn't as good as I'd like it to be but it's better. :) For now, I'll take it!

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