Why is it that some folks seem to have it all together? Their workspaces are inspiring and tidy, adorned with motivational art prints.
You might be surprised that the most organized scrapbookers aren’t all naturally gifted in this domain. Instead, many have cultivated simple habits to cope with the chaos of a creative life.
1. Give every thing a home.
Every item you use for scrapbooking should have a designated storage location. It doesn’t have to be pretty or even logical, just one place where you know it goes. This will make the next habit even easier.
When choosing homes for items, I often consider proximity. (This works for digital too.) Make the items you use most often the easiest to access.
2. Pick up after each session.
I can create quite the mess from just one layout, but picking up each time ensures that the clutter never gets truly out of hand. Return each item to it’s home and start your next project with a clean slate.
To make the cleaning up process fast and fun, I’ll often try to beat the clock. I set a timer and see if I can tackle the piles in less than five or ten minutes. It always works!
3. Spend time on maintenance.
Every garden needs weeding. Organized scrapbookers not only pick up after every creative session, but devote time here and there to tending. When you’re already organized though, this doesn’t have to take hours.
Spending 15-20 minutes each week on tasks like putting away new purchases and added layouts to albums makes a huge difference on the accumulation of clutter.
4. Monitor stash growth.
Organized scrapbookers keep tabs on how much they are purchasing vs. how much they are using. Excessive growth of your stash makes is harder to stay organized and often means something is out of balance.
You don’t have to go on a spending freeze though. Simply being mindful of spending, including not making impulse purchases, will help you maintain just the right size of stash for you.
5. Know what you love most.
We all have those items that seemed like a good idea, but never make it to the page. By thinking about the items you use a lot – and the ones you commonly skip over – you can make smarter purchases going forward.
This leads to more efficient and happier scrapbooking overall, since your stash will be filled with items you use and truly love.
6. Choose to enjoy letting go.
Then, when you know which supplies work with your style and your scrapbooking process, minimizing clutter can feel easier. The most organized scrapbookers relish in sending items off to a new home.
Instead of feeling guilt or fear about letting go of supplies, you can be filled up with the joy of having more space and a refined, usable stash.
7. Reset at least once a year.
Even the most organized scrapbookers can’t escape all the chaos. Maybe it’s a junk drawer or a file system of patterned paper. Maybe it’s a downloads folder or a computer desktop. It’s there, for everyone.
All things in life tend towards disorder, so it’s important to do a deep clean at least once a year. It’s worth it to set other things aside and truly focus on caring for the supplies that make this hobby so fun.
This is a great checklist, and I definitely need to work on #3 and #4. This will be my firs Stash Bash since joining the membership in May, I have loved everything about that so far, so looking forward to this. Thanks for all of your inspiration.
My pleasure Kim, glad to have you!
Thanks Jennifer for the checklist. I will use 1 and 2 in my day to day scrapbooking to help me feel like getting back on the horse and don’t leave my space full of clutter. Can’t join you for stash bash this year as we will be away but hope it goes well. Your pep talks are a great inspiration. Thanks again. M.
Thanks so much!
My daughter is getting married July 18th so I will miss some of Stash Bash. I have gotten a head start this past month as I really weed through my stash. I’m happiest with everything organized by color,seasons,and themes(birthday etc). I hang onto stuff because I apparently feel there is going to be a zombie apocalypse and I won’t have enough pink sequins to fend off the undead. I am donating the excess and it feels great! The hope is to be fairly organized within the next couple of months so I can scrap many wedding memories.
Your comment made me laugh out loud! I’m so glad you’re already making progress.
I’m not familiar with “Stash Bash”??? What is it?
This is an excellent list, not only for scrapbooking, but for almost anything else I can think of, eg. clothes in a wardrobe, kitchen cupboards and drawers, family history folders, etc. I intend to keep the list handy where I can refer to it constantly. I’m determined to get my things sorted! Thank you so much, Jennifer.