Craft Room Organization

Since the first part of the month I have been on an organizing frenzy.  The latest project was my craft room and while it is not complete (saw some things that need to be done still) I am posting pictures.  Please note - this is picture heavy.

Lets start with the before shots:

 Now the after:

Like I said I still have some tweaking and organizing to do - but for the most part it is done.

I went to the Dollar Tree and purchase the green and yellow baskets and made labels with my computer and a business card template and labeled 90% of the baskets/boxes.

For my magazines I put a couple of milk crates on their side.

The longer ribbons are hung on a peg shelf in the closet.  Scraps of ribbon are on the shelf in plastic candy jars as are the silk flower bits.  Other flowers are in the closet on the top shelf.

All my empty albums are in containers on a shelf.

Stamps and stamp pads have their shelf as well.

The black metal thing was being tossed out at work and I told them to put it in my car.  I was originally going to use it in the garage but it fits perfect next to the file cabinet and holds rolls of ribbon and jars of do-dads.

Any questions - please ask.  Thanks for looking

A better Year - A new beginning

The past few months have been emotionally hard on me and the family.  My niece in law passed away in October and left my nephew and 3 boys.  Then on 12/31/12 we put my mother in an assisted living facility for dementia patients.

So with that going on and my current systems not working I wrote this over at both 2Peas and GON.

Back in 2002 when I started the organizing journey for myself, I sat on my patio with a cup of coffee and decided to make myself binders to keep my papers organized. Through the years I have modified some and others are the same way they were back then (only updated).

I have started reworking some of my binders - especially my "Daily Home and Life Organizer - aka Organized Bible" The current system I was attempting to use was not working - too many sections and things that I didn't need on a day to day basis.

I worked on the main categories and have printed out pages and put them in a page protector and labeled according to be the divider in my binder. But lets start at the beginning - when I open my binder there is:

1. A plastic pencil pouch that holds pens, mechanical pencils and lead, white out tape, reinforcements, post it tabs and other little notes, a few paper clips and binder clips.

2. Large heavy duty page protector that holds a card of various size post it notes as well as an envelope with quotes. I love to put random quotes on my to do lists and it seems like they apply on that day.

3. Pocket folder that I cut in 2 for papers I need to put in my binder and didn't have hole punch or time.

4. Section 1 - CALENDAR
(a.) the first thing I have is my www.getorganizednow.com monthly organizing checklist. I have it printed and in a page protector.
(b.) the next things are 2 page calendar pages for each month. I put a post it tab on each page so that I can easily find the month.
(c.) I have the school calendar for my nephews school as well as my grand children overall calendar (days off, etc)

5. Section 2 - CLEANING AND ORGANIZING
(a.) To do lists
(b.) routines and weekly, monthly and annual check lists
(c.) misc articles - like uses for Vinegar, etc.

6. Section 3 - LISTS
This is where I mainly keep my household inventory sheets - I have books, movies (by title and type - DVD VCR -yes I still have those and a player), my website log - for passwords and Registration keys, etc.

7. Section 4 - FINANCIAL
I have the other half of the folder for holding bills until paid and logged to the left of the divider page. (Once the bills are logged, I put them in a file folder until ready to pay. Don't want them to fly out of the binder and lose them.) This is a work in process section.

8. Section 5 - FAMILY
I have my DIL's resume in a page protector and will be putting the rest of the adults in one as well. That way if they need me to fax somewhere they can call or text me and I have it handy - also they are saved on my computer if I need to email for them.
(a.) pet information - after all they are family. One for each animal.
(b.) child ID pages - I have 5 grandchildren living close and I keep updated pictures, medical information, friends contact numbers, etc in the event that I need it. Say my oldest DGD goes to Joanie's for a party and I need to pick her up and don't have her address - I have her phone number to call and get the address/directions, etc.
(c.) Adult ID pages - I have these on my parents, kids and their spouses in the case of an emergency. I have fingerprints , hair samples, etc in the event that they are needed by the police (God forbid) for ID purposes.
(d) address book - For business that I use, I have printed the address section on a color paper so I can keep track.  I also have A-Z dividers that I use.

9. Section 6 - HEALTH
(a.) List of medications I take and the dose and what it is for.
(b.) list of doctors and hospitals
(c.) exercise tips and charts.
(d.) Specialize Diabetic trackers for my twin nephews for when I keep them and I know what, when and results of taking their blood sugar readings.

10. Section 7 BLOG INFORMATION
I have a blog at http://daysez.blogspot.com but I rarely use it. I want to get back into using it on a daily or semi weekly schedule and I want to learn about blogs.

So for now this is my Organizing Bible. I have a green (my favorite color) 2" binder and even with all that stuff in it - is not full!

How do you keep up with your daily stuff? Binder, electronics, post it notes, etc?