I’ve never been a tidy person. As a child I always had to clean my room before I could engage in desired activities, like playing with my friends. In high school my mother decided it was best to just keep my bedroom door closed instead of forcing the issue. Right before I got married, my father took a video of my room while I was at work to show my fiancée. My parents wanted Aaron to have full disclosure of what he was getting himself into (I will take a moment here to thank my husband for not running away screaming when he had the opportunity).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a slob per se; I prefer to call it a disorganized organized. I know where stuff is…it just happens to reside in multiple piles. Some might call it cluttered. It’s just the way I am. I will set things down when I am done with them. I was always getting in trouble as a child for not putting objects back into “their place”. These habits of mine have never really bothered me…until today.
I was trying to work in my jewelry studio. The space in the garage my husband (known as Saint Aaron to some friends) built especially for me to create my little works of art. My studio is a disorganized, cluttered mess. For almost two years, this has worked. I was only fabricating silver jewelry. It is not uncommon to have parts of projects here and there. Various silver pieces and gemstones lying about as I tried to figure out the designs. It was a devil may care type of studio. “Was” is hopefully the operative word here
Recently I have expanded my jewelry knowledge to include chainmaille and lampwork beads. This means more tools…more supplies…in the same amount of space. I realized today, I must change my ways if I am going to have a successful jewelry business.
I now find myself trying to figure out how to better organize the space, how I can get the most out of the finite amount of square feet that I have. I must reform my ways…
Dear reader, I confess, much to my shame, my studio is a disorganized mess. My name is Melissa and I am a clutteraholic. Is there a 12 step program for this? If you have any suggestions on how I can reform I would appreciate your advice. Think of it as Dear Abby in reverse. Now that I have publicly shamed myself and stitched a letter C on my top I am off to organize.
If you don’t hear from me tomorrow…please send out a search party.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI'm a naturally cluttered person, so I can relate!
One thing I do is set a timer for about 20 minutes when things get really bad and do some speed cleaning. I'm always amazed at how much I accomplish.
Another thing I do is use recycled food containers, like cream cheese containers, to store small bits and pieces. I label them so I always know what's what. This has helped so, so much.
And then there's pegboard. Lovely, lovely pegboard. It keeps a lot of tools and supplies on the wall instead of the floor.
Best of luck organizing! There's some trial and error involved, and it's an ongoing process for cluttered types, but I believe it's possible. :)
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips. I got it done this afternoon and it looks great. I reuse containers and baggies as well (For some reason Rio Grande sends lots of little baggies).
We took down pegboard when we converted a section of the garage into my studio. My husband flat out refuses to put more up. C'est la vie. I just need to learn to be neater.