Being properly organized - what works for you?
You know those upright plastic, pull out draws type of storage - the type meant for nuts bolts etc? I just about bought the place out when I embarked on my journey to organization. I loved the fact that colors and sizes where given their respective places and that I could pull a draw out at whim..........Hah!
It did not long for me to realize that the drawers were unstable and opaque, making them redundant! I had lost my feelings of deep love for them and realized that we had to part ways. The next step was to use clear plastic peanut butter jars (and some smaller ones) to hold my stock, which from the get go, I bought in bulk. Needless to say, we parted ways as well and I know have a system that works for me and my erroneous purchases have been passed on.
My recent Aha! purchase was these wonderful pill containers. They are not those silly little small ones - these are meant for buttons etc. I have packed all my crystals and findings in these but the best part is my PALETTE BOXES!! The bulk of my stock is packed away in big roll around drawers but working stock is in smaller round containers, in division boxes on my shelves.
We all have a tendency to work in certain color ways and when I had to stay in the vicinity of my bed for 3 weeks (hysterectomy), I could not just walk out to my studio to get a bit of this or that. I had to get organized so I grabbed a few of the boxes and packed beads, thread and findings according to what I was going to make. It worked so well for me that I have never unpacked those boxes. They are the Flour, eggs and milk part of my beading pantry. Black and white? I grab that palette box and then add the extra bits required for that project. The beauty is, I already have 7 "Ingredients"" at hand but I do still manage to gather a lot of nonsense around me :)
So, back to the hardware store to find some more treasures! Beside buying various sizes of Circlips and washers (for my beading stash), I happened upon these small spring loaded clamps at the checkout counter.......I knew they would come in handy and sure enough, they are clamped to the top of my info board and house my chain and big reels of Nymo thread. Let me tell you, THAT in itself has made a massive difference to my life. The thread is right there for me to pull off a wingspan without it tangling and snipping off a piece of chain with out having to do a Houdini on them......is BLISS :))
4 comments:
Heather - the pallette boxes are wonderful. I teach at our senior center and many of the people taking the class did not have alot of money for beads. I had them pick their favorite metal (gold, silver, bronze) and a piece of fabric that they liked(scarf, quilt square and bring to the bead store when they bought beads. It worked out very much like your palette box.
Great ideas for storage and organization .... you clever girl!!
Lol Helen...I have my moments and yes Annie, that is a good Idea! Wish we who can afford to buy beads would think like that....would save us a lot of money! But then, the joy of unpacking the newly acquired stash is just sooooo rewarding :)
Smaller parts holders from the hardware store! Single lid, but 18 tiny compartments just the right size for a tube of beads! Suddenly, they no longer have the 5x8 size, just the larger ones, too large for my purposes!
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