Do you accumulate journals, sketch pads and scraps of papers covered with ideas, notes and drawings?
I get it! The photo is of me many moons ago taking inspiration while on holiday.
It can be quite challenging to be creative and organised at the same time. Inspiration can take hold at the strangest of places and scraps of paper used to jot notes and draw ideas, making it quite hard to manage.
Having a place for everything, using the right storage solutions, creating habits and making sure you only keep hold of projects you are passionate about are all ways to help keep your projects under control.
- Declutter by getting rid of any craft items and ideas that are no longer wanted – If you don’t know where to start or feel overwhelmed, our Declutter Your Life e-course will walk you through the process. The process will also help you take stock of what is in the room.
- Find old storage solutions you already have around the house to temporarily sort the items into (in-trays, plastic or cardboard boxes etc).
- Sort your journals, sketch pads and scraps of paper into different topics/projects and come up with categories for each project that make sense to you – make a temporarily label by writing with a marker pen on masking tape and sticking it on the container.
- Tackle one container at a time and confirm that you are still passionate about completing each project and need all of the resources found (the 80/20 rule will help)
- Review the space you have available, how much stuff you have for each project and your storing preferences before deciding on organising solutions.
- Consider how you would like to store the information on a permanent basis– would a lever arch folder, a box file, magazine holder, plastic container or drawer system work for you?
- Create permanent labels to make it easier to find and put things away.
- Have a container/folder for new ideas and wait for the idea to really take hold before creating its own container – can it take the place of another project that has lost momentum?
- Start to create new habits to help maintain the area. Look at having a notepad/sketch pad with perforated pages with you at all times. When you get home, tear the page out and stick into the relevant journal or container.
- Have the necessary tools you need close at hand – glue, hole puncher etc to complete the task.
- Consider using electronic apps or uploading photos of ideas instead of keeping the actual item (use the same labelling rules as your physical filing so that you can easily find them again).
- Regularly schedule in time to go through each category and declutter to stop the area getting out of hand.
Don’t delay, start today
Sara
