Organizational Skills Trials

I've been on an organizational kick lately. I purchased Organizing Your Craft Space with a B&N gift card I received for Christmas (yay "free" books!)

Looking through it tonight, I realized that my 6' space of desk that I have just doesn't fit the amount of crafting that I (want to) do. My hubby Ryan & I have thought about other alternatives, but it's just not seeming to be feasible in our >1000 sq. ft. apartment that's filled with stuff. We've experimented a bit with thoughts of transforming the closet in the 2nd bedroom into a crafting closet, but can't figure out an easy way to do it without dismantling the closet or adding extra shelves, which isn't an option in our rental.

In any case, I'm going off on a tangent. I've been organizing lately. It all started when my hubby bought me a shelving unit to put my cookbooks on, so I can actually reach them rather than having to grab the step stool or climbing on the counter to reach the high cupboards. With that top cupboard almost empty, I was able to move all the knick-knacks crowding out the linens in the linen closet (and yes, there's something wrong with that picture! ;)). Once those were moved, I could rearrange the linens so they actually fit!

Then it came to putting away the Christmas decorations... at which point I almost gave up on the idea of organizing and consolidating. I mean, just looking at the pile of Christmas decorations, and then our boxes they used to be in... it's a scary process *sigh* In any case, we went from 7 boxes & 1 large bag of Christmas stuff to 4 boxes, with an extra box for Christmas tins, which are almost gone now that I used them for Christmas goodies this year! :) In any case, it's quite the accomplishment. Things are finally organized according to what it is (i.e. Christmas village in one box, ornaments in another, etc.), rather than everything just thrown into boxes & packed back into our garage.

In the process, I emptied a Rubbermaid container, which is exciting since I now have another container in which to store fabric, which is desperately needed since the recent purchases before & after Christmas out-grew my current boxes. Which brings me back to the fact that eventually, I need a crafting space of my own, even if it's half of a room somewhere. A few shelves for fabrics, a nice tall work table that I can stand or sit at, and an area to store all my tools.

But for now, I'll continue organizing, sorting through, and getting rid of unnecessary things around the apartment, in hopes that one of these days we'll have the space to allow for just a little more room in my corner of the second bedroom, which is my crafting area :)