31 Days of Organizing - Day 4 Re

Day 4 of my 31 Days of Organizing Ideas is all about "Re"

Recycle, Re-purpose, Reuse and Re-evaluate  

Use items more than once whenever possible.  

I am not advocating that we save everything because we can make something from it, instead just consider what could be done with it before tossing it out. In the working world, it was a big thing to talk about thinking outside the box.  No matter what you call it, think beyond the intended use and consider it for something else.

Some of the things I recycle are egg cartons, bottle lids and butter/margarine dish lids.  I use the butter dish lids for paint palettes.  I like that they are flexible making it easy to peel off the dried paint.  They are a good size and easy to replace should I decide to toss them. The bottle lids make a great pot for putting glue in and can also be used to ship in. The egg cartons - foam ones for making faux bricks or stones and the paper mache ones can be torn up for simulating bark or cut to make faux stones as well.
When it comes to storage, I have recycled shoe boxes to store projects in and to organize other supplies.  I have also covered cut down laundry detergent boxes with contact paper to make magazine boxes and paint bottle boxes.  Cardboard, or chip board as I think is more correctly called, can be cut up to make miniatures with (like faux stones) but also cut and taped together to make trays.  I use trays in a larger box to layer my beads and findings.  I add handles of tape to each end so I can lift them out.  The trays each hold small plastic boxes, but another solution is to use the interiors that held candy in - the paper liners or even plastic liners.  This may not be the best idea for beads as they could fly everywhere if spilled, but for small swaps or other small items that one might want to seperate, it would work.
As I reorganize (yes, I do organize and then later decide to reorganize) I prefer to re-purpose an existing container for another purpose. Take my ribbon and trim for example, when I decided my plastic shoe box type box was too small, I looked at what I had on hand and re-purposed a large cookie tin.  The cookie tin was quite tall and I was using it hold a project. The project didn't need storing in the tin and the tin kept me from going out and buying a larger box.  Once a solution is decided on, doesn't mean it can't be considered again later for other things. 
I am presently in the middle of collecting enough used small priority mail boxes to hold my paint.  This will allow me to sort my paint into smaller groups.  Since I store my paint on a shelf that is just the right height for paint bottles, these will act like drawers just like the cut down laundry boxes I currently use.   
A simple re-evaluate example is the divided boxes manufactured for fishing tackle. Finally the industry has figured out these boxes are great for crafters and hobbyists as well. They are not just on the fishing aisle anymore but in the hobby section, too.  I am suggesting that we think about all things this way.  Is there another purpose that I can use this whatever?  Whether it is an item to make miniatures with or an item to store them.  
Another example of re-purposing is to take a hanging travel organizer for cosmetics and use it for storing and traveling with tools. Don't wait for the industries to re-market to us as hobbyists.  
Yet another idea along this line is T2T - Trash2Treasure - this is when someone provides a list of household items that we can make something from.  This has been held as challenge on one of the lists I am on.  This type of challenge is very helpful to see items in a different way.  Even if I don't participate, it is fun to read what others have used and how they used them.  The T2T challenge is more about using items to make miniatures in a different way, but I think it helps to get the brain used to thinking about other things in a different way as well.  

Come back tomorrow for another organizing idea during my 31 days of organizing.

Happy Miniature Organizing!

Preble

31 Days of Organizing - Day 3 Make it work for you

Make It Work for You
Today I am talking about accessibility.  No matter how much organizing I do, if I make it difficult to access, I have defeated one of my main goals of organizing.  This is goal is to make me more efficient.  It is the primary reason I started organizing the way I did many years ago.  

I thought I had a great system when I first got started.  I had boxes from my grandmother who sold Avon.  Her stock came in cardboard boxes and I had previously used them to move.  These are great moving boxes or even for storage of larger items, but for frequent access to miniature supplies, they were too big.  

It was time-consuming for me to pull out the boxes and get out the supplies.  I had built up enough items to store that this was no longer working.  That's when I believe it is time for a change and accessibility needs to be an important factor in selecting what to use.  For me this meant using smaller boxes so I could contain smaller categories.  So that is my tip today, use what you have but consider how easy it will be to access what you have when you organize.

I know about not having much space to make make solutions accessible.  So in this instance I encourage you do the best you can to make it accessible.  One way I do that even with as much space as I currently have ( a whole bedroom) is to have a small toolbox with all my frequently used tools and have extra and less used tools in another location.  

It doesn't matter what solutions you choose, boxes, bags, dividers, cabinets or shelves or a combination of all these and more.  Whatever you choose needs to be accessible, easy to find things and always keeping it simple as much as possible.  Making miniatures should be fun and time spent on the making not getting to things.

Before I go, I also want to share with you something about NAME.  I am on the Free Projects Committee and this month we are sharing a bunch of tips on organizing from NAME members.  This info is found on our Special Projects website.  You don't have to be a member of NAME to view them.  Since I was editor and on the committee you will see many tips from me and see them here on my blog as well.  I hope it isn't too much organizing for you.  I think it is worth a read as the other members gave some really great tips that I hadn't thought of.  That is what being a part of NAME is all about for me - sharing.  This also emphasizes the idea I am sharing today - make it work for you - which is exactly what these other members are doing. 

See you tomorrow with another idea for my 31 Days of Organizing.

Happy miniature organizing!
Preble

All the Trimmings - and more

All the Trimmings -

that is the label I have on my tin that I now keep most of my ribbons, bunka and other trims in.
When I first started in miniatures I had to buy trims nearly every time I needed something.  Over time, of course, I have been able to build up a good collection of different types and styles.  As my collection grew, the way that I store them has changed as well.  I believe I started storing them with the project.  Then as I finished a project they moved to a zip bag.  Then they were moved to a drawer - this being about the size of shoebox and was all jumbled together.  The zip bag was fine as it was a much smaller amount to sort through but the drawer was a mess.

The one on the left is ribbons that I am unlikely to use in miniatures for 1:48 scale, but I show as that is how that drawer was. The one on the right is a drawer of Christmas styles also unlikely to use in miniatures.
One day as I was getting everything out to find something, I realized that every time I needed something for a project I was pulling out two to three 3x5x3 inch plastic drawers,  and a cardboard drawer like above, and additionally I had stored some in a case binder that had business card holder pockets.  Oh wait, plus I had participated in a supply swap and it was in an additional cardboard drawer. I recognized after the other organizing I had been doing, that I needed to get my trims organized better as well.

My Solution

I started grouping the trims by color and putting then in smaller zip bags.  I even pulled the silk ribbon and bunka from their special smaller plastic drawers and put them in the zip bags.  This was a really big step for me as I was seemingly committed to the drawers for some reason.  I am not sure what my hang up was, maybe the way they looked in the drawer - all lined up like colored files that you could easily see which to grab, but it did take me a while before I decided to add them in the zip bags.  
My ultimate decision was 'what is the most efficient means to store these different types of trims?'  I thought about how I was getting out all these containers and only looking for a particular color.  It occurred to me finally that the most efficient way was to pull out a bag of the color I was looking for and then I could sort for the possible trims to use.  This truly was my best solution.

Next steps - adding more to the collection

A year or so ago, I lucked into a garage sale of items from a miniaturist who had passed.  The lady had a whole bunch of ribbon and other trims.  Her storage solution, as they were mostly ribbon, was to wrap them on paper towel tubes and then pin them.  These were in small paper shopping bags when I saw them.  I purchased the whole lot of bags and got over 200 different ones.  Granted there were some that I decided later that I could part with as they were larger in scale or a type of material that was not conducive to use in 1:48 scale which is what I prefer to work in.  Some of these tubes had 20 or so different trims/ribbons on them.  But the pins seemed to come loose and long term not a solution I wanted to keep.  Maybe it worked for her, but it wouldn't work for me.
So I removed each and wound them onto cards I made.  These cards are just some I cut from thin cardboard.  It is nice to have the ears on the cards, like the cross-stitch thread or bunka is sometimes seen on but I found it wasn't necessary.  To hold the end in place I cut a notch in the side or end of the card to insert the end of the ribbon/trim into.

Well, now my stash has grown and I needed to find a new container to hold it all.  I had been keeping them in a plastic box slightly smaller than the typical plastic shoe box.  But rather than switch to two boxes, which I needed to if I didn't have anything else, I switched to a tin that I have.  

This cookie tin is quite large as tins go and boxy.  I got it quite a few years ago.  I had been storing a project in it.  The tin did keep the dust out, but it was far too easy to forget what was in the tin where it was being stored.  I can't recall what exactly prompted me to change my usage of this tin from storing a project to storing the bags, but I did have to change my way of thinking.  If there truly is a second lesson to be learned here it is to always be willing to re-evaluate your storage options.

Large Tin used to store current collection

This tin was just right for my current collection.  However I always seem to go OCD about a storage solution and find some flaw.  The flaw in this was bags can't be sorted by color. Plus the bags are different sizes.  OK, I can deal with the not having them 'filed', but the bags sizes - I have do something about that.  Fortunately, I had spare bags available. I switched them to smaller bags.  I of course saved the larger zip bags.  Anything that couldn't fit into the smaller bags, well I just divided up the color - making a lighter and a darker of that color.

Alternative storage solution

A few paragraphs above I said a lesson I need to work on is to always be willing to re-evaluate storage solutions.  As I write this, I reminded myself of the remaining solution i have for my trims - a super cool binder - shaped like a box but it has the rings in it.  Inside I have business card pocket pages.  I confess that I am still using that binder.  Silly I know as the whole point of pulling everything into the tin was the make it easier to find what i might use, but I am still hanging on to a prior solution.  

I am not going to beat myself up over this.  I will do something about it.  But I mention it for two reasons - one to drive my point about re-evaluating solutions but secondly because it is truly a great storage solution.  The only problem with this solution for me is it currently cost prohibitive.  Only reason I started it was because I had been able to get the binder and the pocket pages when they were throwing away items at work.  This binder is called a case binder and they come in different colors and different thicknesses.  

fabric

I wrote about my fabric storage in a prior post.  It really is nothing fancy - a drawer of bags where the fabric is grouped in the bags by color.  I really only mention it here because yet again, I had a moment when I reminded myself about having more than one place for storing something.  One of the supply swaps I was in included fabric swatches.  Those swatches took a while to be moved to the fabric bags.  And it was not just because I hadn't gotten around to moving them.
I pulled the drawer out today just to see if there was really something to talk about.  Well, even though I had some new to me fabric, not in the bags, at least it was in the same drawer.  When I feel like sorting or I need a particular color then I will have them all in same place and not have to hunt down that new fabric.  That's probably when it will get sorted.  But I am okay with that.

Moving - Rearranging and Downsizing

Moving things around is a really good way to figure out what you have and consider better ways to organize.  Moving house can force us to choose whether we want to keep something or not, especially when the new space is smaller.  Smaller space can be a good thing if viewed from the idea that having things in reach makes one more efficient.  It doesn't have to be a bad thing as maybe the new space can afford more shelving or some other advantage previously unavailable.  So if moving to a smaller space, think of it as positive.  If nothing else, you will get the advantage of going through you things to be reminded of what you have already.  It might also inspire you to work on what you have.

Savers - Hoarders - call us what you will

I know that many miniaturists are savers - some might even call us hoarders - but I do not.  To me, a hoarder is someone who is unwilling to part with things that have no use to them and I believe that some of them have a real medical condition.  I know some things are relative as to whether they are useful, but from my perspective someone I would call a hoarder tends to not really have an answer as to why they have so much stuff.  Another aspect of being a hoarder is someone who will save too much.  Too much can also be relative as a person who makes a kits might have a justification for saving many of something so they can have enough for kits, where someone who only saves for themselves doesn't need a lifetime supply for ten people. Being a saver is one way to stretch the funds available, but there is truly a fine line between just right and too much.

So when it comes to tossing versus keeping here are some points to consider:

• Do I have a current need for this item?
• Do I foresee a future need?
• Is it easily replaced?
• Do I have too much/many?
• Do I still have room for it?
• Can I make it fit into a smaller space?

Each of these questions will be answered differently for different people and at different times.

Current need / Future need?

If there is a current need then by all means keep it.  However depending on the answer to other questions, may still be a candidate for tossing.
Speaking for myself, I am always saving for a future need.  However again, depending on my answer to other questions whether I will continue to save it.  The key here is to be honest with yourself and not just assume that keeping it is the best thing to do.  Moving it or continuing to store it may cost you, sometimes in terms of money but also in the weight it has on your mind. Granted there are some items that we know we should hang on to because of the next question.  

Easily replaced?  

In the miniature world, I learned early on that when it comes to one-of-a-kind items I may see at a show, I need to buy it if I can afford to do so.  The odds are that it won't be available in the future.  But when this question is applied to a material, particularly one that is common every day item that i am recycling - say an egg carton or plastic lids, then I need to limit myself to what I save.
Let's talk about egg cartons - the paper machie kind are good for cutting up to make faux stones, or torn apart and make tree bark.  The foam kind can also be cut up to make faux stone or bricks - just a different style.  Saving them is a good idea - but think about how many to save goes back to whether they are easily replaced.  So I say save a few and toss the rest unless your stock needs to be replenished.  Although I will admit it is ok to keep in mind that the egg sellers may switch from one to the other and sure that is when you probably will need more.  However if you are still connected to the internet, I would suggest to ask other miniaturists if they might be able to share as their egg seller may still have the other kind.

Too many?

One example of the too many question combined with the easily replaced comes to mind.  I have used butter dish lids for paint before. Since butter dishes are something I frequently empty, I don't save every lid as I don't use that many for minis.   I can wash them off and do so for a few times, but then will discard them. Usually by that time there is another one available. 
The big key about saving items is whether I have room to continue saving and whether I have used what I have saved. 

Fit in a smaller space?

When it comes to smaller spaces - one thing I do is remove the packaging.  For example, over the years I have participated in many swaps.  Each swapper wraps the item individually.  Fairly early on I decided to remove them from the wrapping and store the swap items in my divided boxes.  The notes that tell who made it were recorded and then I could discard the notes and the wrapping.  In this case it also makes it much easier to see what I have to use in a project. 

Saving or Tossing Organic Items

When it comes to organic items - here are a few more questions to consider?

• Is this item spoiled?
• Is this item contained to keep out critters?
• If used in miniatures will it be safe from critters then?
• Has the color changed since purchased?
• If the color changes will I still be happy with it having been used in miniatures?

Item spoilage

Regarding that first organic question, several times I have chosen to throw out dried flowers because they were growing mold.  This is likely due to the humidity in my house - more so in my prior one as it was not controlled environmentally as well as the house I have now. It is possible that had the flowers been in a project they would not have the mold, but keep in mind these are still organic items and being dried doesn't always mean 'never going to change'.

Keep out the critters?

I have heard stories of how critters have eaten away bits that were glued down.   Also very important to store these items properly to keep the critters out.  Even more importantly is to get rid of the critters before storing.  Heating organic materials like sticks and pine cones to kill critters is a good idea. I tend to steer away from organic materials today because of critters and other issues - read on...

Color change

Exposure to light can change the color of materials that are not color fast.  Read labels.  I used a product clearly labeled as not color fast and then got it wet.  The color ran and I didn't want it in my project.  It was a serious task in order to remove it.  If I had read the label, I wouldn't have used it.
A friend of mine once made a garden of all dried items.  A few years later that garden looked drab and not nearly as nice, because the dried items faded.  There is a lot of time and effort put into making miniatures.  It is such a shame to waste said time and energy only to have it look less inviting a few years later. 
Organic materials are not the only things that can change color.  Take paper for example, ever notice how newsprint changes color overtime.  That's because it has lignin in it.  As lignin deteriorates, it gives off acid and that acid causes the color change.  
It is also good to have acid-free paper for the same reason.  Even if it doesn't change color - it can still cause damage to the miniature it is used in.  I spend too many hours making these wonderful collectibles to knowingly use materials that can damage it over time.
Protect things from light - sun and other sources of light can cause fading.  This is true for things besides organic materials and paper and include things such as paint and fabric.

Downsizing

Ten plus years ago, I decided to focus on 1:48 scale miniatures.  To be honest, I don't recall why I decided to stop making miniatures in 1:12 scale.  Maybe I got a wild hair and just decided I couldn't do it all.  There's a thought.  One that bears consideration for our lives, but will leave that for another day.  
Back to the 1:12 scale minis.  1:12 scale takes up more room than 1:48 scale is probably one of the big reasons I decided I would scale back.  I went through all my things - purchased items, finished items and supplies.  I photographed many of them and sold them online.  I kept a few projects already started - a scrapbook dome and my rabbit collection domes.  One rabbit dome was already full but the second one had not be made yet.  But I knew I wasn't going to stop collecting rabbits so I keep those things I knew would use in those projects.  The rest - either I sold, donated or gifted to my daughter who still has a 1:12 scale house.  
It felt good to downsize. It also helped clear my head of projects I was no longer going to do. Some of the projects I have adapted to 1:48 scale and most of the others I have abandoned.  In that sense - I cleared some space in my brain as these projects hadn't been started yet.

Tools - Downsized

I also downsized my tools.  Sort of.  Mostly this meant that bigger tools that I didn't use for 1:48 scale frequently were put away and not carried in my tool basket.  In this case, I just chose for my tool basket the smallest tool I was comfortable with to use most often.  For example, I have a 6 inch ruler, not my 12 inch in my tool basket (now tool box). I still have the 12,18, and 36 inch rulers available should I need them, but stored away.  In my tool box, I also keep a small square and small right angle.  I store these extra tools in drawers or on the wall - hanging on pins.  
Scissors for example - I have several in multiple sizes, but in my tool box is just a couple.  The bigger ones are put away.  I even gave away some.
When I switched from a tool basket to a small tool box, I had to be even more selective in my tools.  
Last year I purchased a bunch of tools at a garage sale.  Because I bought the whole lot, I got a great deal on the ones I really wanted.  There were many of tools I already had.  I picked through this bunch and kept the ones I really wanted.  Then I gifted the rest to two other miniaturists.  I could have kept that whole bunch, but instead I choose to pass them along simply because I knew that I didn't want to store them or deal with sorting through those when I really didn't need to.  Being a miniaturist, I love my tools, but I recognize when I have too many of something.  But twenty years ago, I might not have.  I have come a long way to being able to part with my things.

Fabric Stash Downsized

Fabric was a biggie that I downsized.  I used do some real life quilting and making my own clothes, so had accumulated some fabric.  When I downsized minis to 1:48 scale, I was very selective in what I kept of the fabric.  First, I examined the weave.  Would I use it in 1:48 scale?  How much could I reasonable use in 1:48 scale project (or projects if it was  common enough fabric)?  What about the print?  Really large scale flowers or prints - they were donated unless I felt I could possibly use a portion.  Anything I kept was a small amount unless I could see using quite a bit of it, such as to make kits.  Also fabric I felt I could reasonable purchase at anytime - well I keep a small amount as well.  Much of the excess was donated so someone else could benefit and I no longer needed to store. 

Landscaping supplies - 

I downsized these as well.  In this case it was to get rid of the excess - either in amount or the types I couldn't see being used in 1:48 scale. 
I still need to work on these.  Right now I have a large cardboard box in the closet of my studio room.  It houses the dried things that are bigger.  When I do landscaping I generally need to purge from this box due to spoilage.  Which should really tell me to stop using these type of things.  
My other location is a three-drawer cart sorted by color.  This works for now, but I want to review this storage for more focused divisions than just a drawer for greens, flower colors, and neutrals.  The main reason is to downsize this further - by consolidating all the same colors and texture into same bags.  I am quite sure that I have multiple bags of same things in this area. 

BE SELECTIVE WHEN SAVING

Again I will say that if moving - see it as an opportunity to explore new options, even if it is to a smaller space it doesn't have to be a bad thing.  Being more organized or more selective in what is stored may be the key to feeling freer and comfortable in the new space.
Rearranging things will remind us what we have.
Downsizing - also can be freeing - projects no longer weigh on the mind or take up space in our lives.  

Happy organizing and miniaturing!
Preble

Review that Storage - You might find something you forgot

Camping Organization

My family has been going tent camping for ten years now. For several years we used storage tubs to hold our kitchen supplies. The tubs were rain proof but it was no fun to dig through the tub to find what we needed.  Nor was it fun when everything had to be put back just so.  My organizing solution was to use drawer carts instead of the tubs. The drawer carts make items so much easier to access.  We still use some tubs for food items and bigger kitchen supplies. To make the drawer carts rain proof, we purchased a vinyl grill cover that fits over them.

How Camping relates to Minis

Drawer carts aren't expensive but when every dollar counts, so temporary repurposing saves money.  The drawer carts I have are all used normally to hold miniature supplies.  Part of my camping routine now involves removing miniature supplies from a drawer cart and then filling it with the camping supplies.  I don't use the miniature supplies while camping so I just store them in whatever I have on hand.  When I return and unpack from camping I refill the drawer cart with the miniature supplies.  

Here is a pic of the filled drawer carts for camping: 

If you look closely at the pic you may see there is writing on the front of each drawer.  My family frequently asks me where is …? and this was my answer to that.  It didn’t stop the question, but it did reduce its use.

Labeling drawer carts

Since these carts are used for minis and only temporarily for camping, I use clear packing tape that I stick on the front.  Then I use a permanent marker to write the contents.  I have never bothered doing this labeling for the miniature supplies, but I should.   

Removing labels

I remove the packing tape label when we get back from camping so the mini supplies can go in instead.  If I ever buy a set just for camping then I would leave the labels on. Removing the tape/label is really easy and if any residue remains then I would use one of the citrus based cleaners which really work. 

More organization in drawer carts

This year I added some smaller bins in a drawer to help contain the silverware.  I am even thinking I want to look at a thrift store to find a used utensil drawer liner.   

Second drawer cart organizing solution for camping

This year I decided to take this idea one step further.  We normally use a bag of some kind to hold our clothes.  Packing a bag is one thing but living out of one is another.  I have tried using multiple smaller bags, but it was still a hassle.  I decided I wanted to store my clothes in drawers as well. 

Here it is view of my first choice which normally holds miniatures supplies: 

I removed all the miniature supplies and began packing my clothes in it.  Then my husband comes in an questions whether or not it would work.  His concern was would there be enough room for both our clothes – yes, and would it fit in our tent – no.  Our tent has sloped sides and we usually put the bags of clothes at the end of the bed where it is quite low. It can’t go there, but it could fit in the middle.  However that space is usually taken by beds.  So hubby convinced me this one wasn't going to work.  But I wasn't defeated about using drawers for our clothes yet.  

 

I had some other storage drawers around the house that I emptied. These provided my husband and I with two narrower drawers and one wider drawer each.  

These actually worked out way better than even the two carts I use for the kitchen things as we were able to stack them however we wanted.  In my hubby's case he uses a battery powered fan so he can sleep at night.  The fan always before sat on the bag of clothes and each night had to be adjusted so it would sit right.  This time he was able to set one drawer separately for the fan to set on.  These drawers also acted as bed side tables.  Another thing was that the combination of two sizes the drawers weren't straight up and down as in wider at the bottom and that worked great with the slope of the tent.

One serious advantage to the drawers is that when our tent was being flooded from the bottom up - our clothes were staying dry unlike a cloth bag would.  When it rained before, we would set the bags on the air mattresses, but didn't need to do that with these plastic drawers.

Storage Review

Finding that second camping storage solution had me emptying out current solutions for miniature supplies.  I rediscovered items I had forgotten I had. I found an unopened box of small plastic boxes that I thought had all been used up. It occurred to me that going through my storage could be a really good idea to help me be more organized. 

My suggestion is this: once a year, go through every box of storage, especially those spaces that don’t get opened very often.  Don't just open it to get something out.  Instead take everything out and look at what is stored in that space.  Even if all that gets done is putting everything back into the same storage box/bag, fresh memories of what was there will be created.

If doing this all at the same time is too much, do a few boxes each month or an area every other month, or whatever, but the point is to look at what you have so it becomes fresh or new.  This may even help for remembering not just what one has, but where things are. It may even help you decide to pay forward something to someone else, whether you sell it or give it.  It might help you to avoid buying two (or more) of something you already have.  It could spark a new bout of creativity.  At the very least, it will remind you of what you have.