Hey, everyone! Today I am sharing tips about how to organize your crafts and hobbies. It’s the perfect timing because we are organizing crafts and hobbies in Organized Life Academy. I’m going to share four quick tips that will help you organize your crafts and hobbies. These tips will transfer to ANY organizing project you have in mind.
The 4 tips to help you organize your crafts and hobbies
1) Start at the end
At the end of your organizing project, you have to figure out where all of your stuff is going to go. So… do that first!
I actually did a whole video on this (you can find that HERE) and I think it’s so important to do this step first.
Make a plan, NOW, where you will take all of the crafts and hobby materials that you won’t want.
It’s an important tip to start at the end – to have a plan ahead of time – where your going to take your stuff when you’re done.
Two different members of the Organized Life Academy this morning said that they already know where their things are going. They’re going to be organizing their crafts and hobbies. One of them has already called her church and her church told her to bring everything that she doesn’t want to the church. They will go through it to decide what they’ll use and they’ll take care of what they don’t think they’ll use.
Then the other member talked to a few friends. Two of her friends wanted everything that she was not going to be using.
They both have a place for the stuff they will not be keeping to go when they are done with the project.
Other options are:
- Take it all to the local thrift shop and donate it (that would be an easy option).
- Call a local preschool, retirement home, or assisted living facility and talk with the activities coordinator and see if they’re interested.
- Think of places that have activities for younger kids in your area (the rec center, the YMCA, or a summer camp).
You might do a search on the internet and then call those places and see if they want donations.
I like to separate the items I’m not going to use into baggies, label them (miscellaneous craft supplies, paint, craft supplies. etc.), and drop them off to make it easier for the people at the center.
Your first, most important thing to do when starting an organizing project is to start at the end – plan your ending.
2) Decide what the result that you’re creating will be
Decide this in advance. When you organize your crafts and hobbies, or any area, what is it that you will be creating?
- For me personally, I’m combining any crafts that we have left in the house and I’m making them fit in one bin. I”ll decide if that bin will live down in our storage room, or if it’s going to live in our back closet. Right now, we have things all over the house, but my kids are at the age where they’re not doing crafts anymore.
- I have a client with many children at home that all have a lot of crafts. She has assigned one drawer in their island drawers – one to each child. How fun is that? They each get their own drawer. Just this last week, together we went through their drawers and made sure we purged old stuff, kept the good stuff, grouped things together, and now they have a fresh craft drawer for each one of them.
So what are you creating?
- Are you creating a craft room that’s ready for you to do the next craft project?
- Are you only going to work on sewing crafts?
- Are you going to just work on one cabinet and have everything labeled by the end of the time you’ve allotted?
So decide what you are creating. What is the result that you will create this month, this week, this session, whatever it is?
3) Map out your crafting hobby year
Think about your upcoming year. What actual crafts and hobbies are you planning to do this year?
Perhaps,
- You only plan to decorate gifts (so have a gift wrapping bin to pull out when you need to wrap)
- You have a year coming up that is full and you aren’t planning on doing any crafts or hobbies
- Only when the grandkids visit, have a tub of PlayDoh, one for coloring, a train set tub, etc. (have designated tubs and put them away when the grands go home)
- You’ve moved past that stage of life and no longer doing crafts (get rid of what you will not be using)
- Assign a specific area for each child (like my client did for her kids with her kitchen island drawers)
- Your kids are grown and you don’t need to have a big stockpile of crafts
- You’re only going to be focusing on your favorite hobby (so get rid of or put away the other items)
- You’re busy working and no longer have time to participate in your hobby
- Focusing on volunteer work
You’ve realized that your year includes only ‘these crafts.’ Then you know what you need for the next year and you know what to get rid of.
I love this thought:
“I trust that I’ll have everything I need when I need it.”
Don’t keep things ‘just in case’ you might need them three years from now. Keep it because you know what crafts you’ll be working on and you know that you’ll be using it this year VERSUS coming from a place of fear or scarcity – you think you might use it maybe one day so you better hold onto it.
a. Have peace and trust that you will have what you need when you need it in the future.
That thought is so timely for all areas, as you make decisions. Trust that.
HERE is an article on how to emotionally let go of things if you struggle with that.
b. Think about whether someone else could be using the supplies that you have kept.
The crafts you hold onto could pass the expiration date sitting in your drawer for ‘someday’. They could become too old and you’ll end up having to throw them away when someone could have put them to good use now. Be a good steward.
4) Set some rules before you even start
- You are going to go through your crafts and hobby supplies.
- Decide what you will do, ahead of time, with the items you don’t want and what you will do with the items you keep.
- Decide on a timeframe that you will measure whether you will use something or not.
- If you can use items on the craft project that you scheduled for the year, then keep it.
- If you won’t be doing a craft using that item, then let it go.
- If you donate it, you are going to bag it up and label it.
If you set rules ahead of time, you know what you will be doing along the way. You’re making it easier along the way. You are not making all those big decisions when you’re in the middle of it or getting tired.
One of my clients makes crafts and sells them. She decided that when she completed a project, she would put that project aside for two weeks. After two weeks, if she has not used those leftover items, she would let them go. Two weeks, wow!
She decided that ahead of time and then followed that rule. If she could envision using it in something she could sell, she’d keep it and if not, she let it go. I was amazed. I thought that was such a good idea.
When doing any organizing project, you can use this process.
- Plan where your un-needed items are going to go
- Know the result that you want to create
- Map out your crafting and hobby year
- Set up the rules and follow the rules as you go
After I follow these four steps above, I then kick into the Steps to Organizing HERE.
Sort. Purge. Assign homes. Set limits. Maintain.
This month I organize my crafts and hobbies. I’m going to bring all the crafts and hobbies that I have into my kitchen on my counter. I am going to SORT everything.
Then I’m going to PURGE. I get to decide what I want to keep around. I’m going to really think about whether I will use these items if I keep them. Whatever I’m not going to keep, I will text my kids and say, “Do you want to keep this? Do you want this? Will you use this? Or should I donate it?”
Whatever I’m going to keep, I will ASSIGN a home. I’m going to put everything in one location. I am going to label everything.
Also, I will set a LIMIT to the amount of stuff that I allow myself to keep. It’s probably going to be a small tub – everything I keep needs to fit into a small tub. I decide where this tub will live. I will probably keep it in my back closet, which is in the kitchen. It’s easily accessible when we want to use it. I’ll also set a time limit. I will dedicate X amount of time to do this and make it a challenge for myself. Ready, set, go!
Hopefully, this was helpful for you. Join us today at Organized Life Academy. or email me at tracy(at)simplysquaredaway.com to get on the waiting list.
In Organized Life Academy, we have been having fun setting goals for each area of our house, one month at a time. It has been really good. I think you would benefit greatly from learning the organizing skills, alongside the mindset skills, to create the organized life that you want.
If you have a topic you want me to talk about, send me a message on Facebook, or direct message me on Instagram, and I’ll add that to my FBLive topics.
Have a beautiful week.
