Studio Clean Up Challenge - Day 1

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I've been asked to share some tips on how I stay organized. Day 1 of this challenge will get some momentum going. We're talking immediate progress.

1. Pull all of your paper, scraps and all, and put it in one huge pile. The first thing you're going to pull from the pile is any paper that you KNOW you will not use. Set it aside in a "give away" pile. {Trust me, this pile will get much bigger as the week progresses}.

2. Any partial pieces of paper, however small, should now be placed in a "scrap" pile. We'll talk more about that in a minute.

3. The remainder of the paper can be sorted according to your preference. That could be by occasion, color, brand, or you can just mix it all together which is what I do. I have my paper in a 12x12 rolling cart in the garage. When I need paper I just leaf thru it. I do keep favorites and papers I want to use in the immediate future, on my table off to the side.

4. I purchased two hard plastic boxes designed to hold 12x12 paper {pictured above}. One holds all of my scraps. Load up your scraps into one of these boxes to keep all the odd bits and pieces contained. Find a place for this baby and put it away!

5. Ephemera! My other hard plastic box is for ephemera that I accumulate. I'm forever buying packets, like from K&Company in particular. I open these as soon as I buy them and I empty the contents right into the box. No packages, opened and half empty. Throw it all together, it will be fine. Find a place for this baby and put it away!

So now that your paper is out of your hair we'll move on to books.



6. Take all of your craft and inspiration books and pile them up by your favorite chair. Pick 3-4 books or more to go through each night. If you love the book, keep it. If you don't love it, throw it in the "give away" pile that you started. If there's only a few things in a book that you're really interested in then make a color copy to save for the inspiration board we'll be talking about later this week. A rule I often use {depending on the item of course}, is if I haven't used it or touched it in 6 months it's outta here! Once you've pared your book collection down find a place to house them, shelf or drawer, and put them away.

What about finished projects or "almost finished" projects? So you have a bunch of little books like the ones below?



7. Pull them out, all of them. Decide which ones you want to keep and which ones were just fun to make. If you don't want to spend a night selecting and printing pictures for these albums then throw them in the "give away" pile. Add photos to the ones you want to keep and store them in baskets...

Or a even a huge jar...



I know that was more than what you could accomplish in one day, but you'll be surprised at how good it feels to free yourself of things you don't need to make room for what you do need.

I'll be back tomorrow with day 2 of this challenge!