10 Reasons You Should Organize Your Craft Supplies Now!

So why should you stop what your working on (or quickly finish up the current in process project) to organize all your supplies? Keep reading to find a few reasons that came to mind.

I know, it's so much more fun to work on actual project than clean up your craft area or sort through your supplies. But you totally should make some time to organize all your crafty stuff. Whether you have a small stash or a huge hoard you will get a huge benefit out of organizing those supplies. Here is why...

~ 1 ~

It saves time. You won't spend 30 minutes of your valuable crafting time searching for that one piece of fabric that you just know is here somewhere. Because all your fabric will be in one place. You also won't have to take 20 minutes to clear off the table so you have a little space to work. No more constantly shuffling piles around (I'm guilty of this one!).

~ 2 ~

It saves you money. How you ask? Well when cleaning and organizing your supplies you realize just how much crap stuff you have and what you already have. That way you don't end up going out and buying another roll of tape because you have found the 5 you already had stashed throughout your space. No more dreading that closet hoping you won't be engulfed by the growing mounds of fabric, yarn, and paper.

~ 3 ~

It can give you inspiration. Seeing all your craft supplies organized and pretty can strike inspiration for a new project or a color combination you wouldn't have normally thought of. Or, you could be hit with that inspiration light bulb when you find a piece of fabric or tube of paint you had completely forgotten about. But don't let that stop you from continuing to sort through things! Just jot down the idea in a notebook and save it for later.

~ 4 ~

It's more relaxing. I don't know about you, but when I see a mess it immediately stresses me out and makes me feel like I've lost control. A nice organized area is calming and makes crafting more fun. You're also less stressed because you can go right to what you want instead of searching high and low for it. Where did the scissors disappear off to this time? I just had them!

~ 5 ~

You can be more productive and enjoy the crafting process more when you are surrounded by the inspiration that your supplies can give you and you aren't stressed about where that canvas went.

~ 6 ~

If  you have all your supplies stored well you are also protecting your supplies from damage. There is nothing worse than spilling a glass of water on the floor and ruining that stack of patterned paper that you hadn't put away yet. Or getting dinged corners on frames because the pile they were precariously perched on finally toppled over (that really happened!).

~ 7 ~

If all your supplies are put away you have a nice clean work surface to spread out on. This one requires regular maintenance though. You have to be diligent about cleaning up your space after each and every project or you'll end up right back where you started. I have a HUGE table, but always seem to end up working in a tiny 12" x 12" area so this is something I really need to work on.

~ 8 ~

You can be social and have someone craft with you. You will want to show off the nice and clean work area. What a perfect time to have a friend over to craft together! There will actually be room for two of you to work at the table since  you don't have five different piles surrounding you.

~ 9 ~

By sorting and organizing your supplies you might find that you actually gain some space. With everything organized nicely it takes up less room and you find you have more space to put new crafting goodies, or can clear out some clutter to give you more room to work.

~ 10 ~

Your family will be less likely to suggest you for an episode of hoarders if they can actually find you behind that mountain of stamps and ribbon.

So now that we know why we should take the time to organize our crafting spaces I will delve into the how.

Believe me, I am not innocent. I would love to have my house be organized with a place for everything and everything in it's place. But it is a constant effort to keep things cleaned up and put away. So just to share, this is some of what I was dealing with before I decided I'd had enough. Which just happened to be after searching for 30 minutes for a metal letter punch set I knew I had... somewhere in this mess...

This photo is actually several days after I had started to work on getting things sorted so the craft island isn't piled up as high as it usually is. Click photos to enlarge.

Now complete and total organization isn't going to happen overnight. I certainly wish I could twitch my nose and the mess would be all cleaned up. Wouldn't that be amazing for laundry??? You really have to work at it a little at a time. Even a small success is still moving in the right direction.

From this week on, until I run out of related ideas to post about, I will be sharing a craft space organizing post every Thursday which will include my method of storage as well as sharing how others around the web have chosen to tackle that particular storage debacle. If you like you can choose to make it your weekly challenge to tackle the storage topic of the week to slowly get your space in order.