Organisation

Are you desperate to be the next Martha Stewart or Anthea Turner?

I know I certainly am and I try very hard to keep everything tidy, but no sooner have I cleaned and tidied away it looks like a bomb site again! Ring a bell?

Hopefully we’ll be able to provide you with some useful tips to get your organisational skills back on track.As many of you are crafters i’ll start with tips for keeping your craft room/office neat and tidy.

• Take cues from the countertops: Pasta- and cookie-storage jars and spice and cutlery receptacles adapt perfectly to office work. Glass food-storage jars prevent rubber bands and other odds and ends from taking over the desktop, while a letter sorter keeps postage, tape, and outgoing mail organised.

• Don’t leave scraps of paper with messages on all over the place; they’re bound to get lost! A bulletin board is a really useful addition. Affix papers and notes with magnetic clips or pins and I find it useful to write a list of birthdays for each month and pin it up so I never forget. You can also keep swatches and pages ideas on there.

• Bookshelves, bookshelves, bookshelves!!You cannot have enough of them. File and CD boxes holding records, papers, and computer discs can be stacked (along with reference books) within reach on bookshelves, rather than cluttering the desktop. A shelf that's deep and high enough is a good place to set up the printer as well.
• If you’re always losing your pens then put them in a pot directly next to your keyboard or better still why not invest in a Keyboard Organiser.

• Clear up clutter: Clear plastic containers are the crafter's best friend. Ribbons could be organised in a small, stackable bin atop another filled with coloured markers, rulers and tape. Storage towers can be labelled on the drawer fronts so you can find just what you're looking for.
• Try to place your desk near to a window so you get the best lighting.
• If you don’t mind the permanency then a great ideas for storing scissors and magnetic stuff is to glue magnets to the wall.

• Use a small tote and keep this on the desk top with the things you use the most often in it. Get in the habit of always replacing these valuable tools BACK where they came from. This will save valuable time and reduce your stress level.
• Use letter trays. Label each one, i.e. to do, bills, to post etc… and make sure you sort it out at the end of every day.
• A good idea for storing lots of reels of ribbon is a towel rail that you would have in a bathroom.

And finally and in my opinion THE most important thing!

• Spend 10 to 15 minutes at the end of EVERY day cleaning up. Set a stopwatch if you have to. Leaving your workroom clean and organized for the next day will make your more motivated to start. The following day you will feel you are starting fresh.

Thank you for reading! Cath xx