How to Keep Your Art and Craft Supplies in Order

by Susan McCarthy

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Everyday practice: If you can put something away in less than two minutes, do the task now instead of telling yourself you'll get around to it later. 

This is the fourth and final article in the series on organizing art and craft supplies.

You’ve sorted and decluttered your art and craft supplies. You’ve noticed what you use most frequently and should keep handy. You’ve stored and labeled your supplies, so you know where to find them. And … a week later it looks like a hurricane tore through your supplies. Why, oh, why, after all of that thought and work did things descend into chaos?

Getting Organized Is Only Part of the Solution

When you declutter, sort, and group similar supplies, you’re creating your definition of organized. You notice how often you use, say, washi tape, and either keep it on your worktable or you store it in a bin that sits on a shelf for when you need it.

However, you may have some crafts that you do seasonally, and so, the bins of wreath-making supplies that sat in your basement for ten months and now filling a corner of your craft room or living room. You may be frustrated by this chaos, but, notice that it is just temporary.

Keeping Art and Craft Supplies Organized

To maintain organization, you need to plan to tidy your area every time you make art. I’m sorry to say there is no magic solution to this. No matter how much time you spent deciding how to organize your supplies, you still need to clean up when you’re done.

However, by sorting your stuff into well-labeled bins, you are making it so much easier to clean up. Really. You don’t have to think about where stuff goes. You don’t need to worry about finding space to squeeze something into a storage container.

1. Keep the stuff you use all the time at arm’s length. You may have a mug filled with the scissors or colored pencils or glue sticks or crochet hooks that you use all the time out in the open, on your work space. Most of the stuff that you’ll be putting away probably won’t even involve walking to your supply shelves.
2. Keep the cover off storage bins while you work. Maybe it’s just me, but things like twist-off covers on craft supply containers annoy me. There are a lot of craft blogs that show how pretty craft supplies look when stored in mason jars. However, if you must twist off a cover to put things away, you might decide to save yourself some time and do it “later” or return the items to another location. This creates disorganization. When you open a container, leave the cover off until clean up.
3. Do the same thing with lids and covers to bins and boxes. Set the lid underneath the box if you’ll be returning supplies to the storage bin when you’re done. When you return supplies, put on the cover. (Also, the open bin will show you where you need to return items.
4. Avoid stacks of bins or supplies that require you to shuffle things around. If you have to move three bins off the bin you want, you are cluttering your area with stuff that is out of place. Also, the temptation to not put things back where they belong becomes greater when you have a limited time to work on your projects.
5. Plan time to clean up. If you have kids or work with them, you know the importance of warning kids that the time for one activity is coming to an end and the next will be starting soon. Kids aren’t the only ones who make a calmer transition to the next activity with forewarning. If you know you have until 9 p.m. to work on your quilting, fifteen minutes before nine, finish the task at hand and start cleaning up.

Unless you are lucky enough to be able to leave things set up as they are so that you can return to them the next day, chances are you need to put things away so your craft space returns to be your home office space or your dining room table. Although this clean-up may be annoying, it also has its benefits – things can never get too disorganized because you are regularly organizing.

Teach kids to clean up their craft projects and supplies when they’re done. Make certain they can reach where their supplies are stored and understand where to put things so that they can find them next time. (Online, I see quite a few over-the-door organizers with clear pockets filled with kids’ craft supplies.)
 
If you find that you’re having a difficult time keeping your craft area organized, ask, “What’s the problem?” You may realize that you want your work table closer to your supply shelves. Or, you may realize that supplies you don’t use very often have been given prime real estate; while the items you use all the time aren’t as accessible.

Sometimes, the answer may not be obvious, and you have to keep asking, “What’s the problem?” Is it as simple as, “I don’t leave myself time to clean up?” Or, does the issue seem more complex? “I keep my cardstock in a pile and every time I take a piece, I mess up the pile so that the colors are no longer sorted, and I can’t see what I have, and the paper gets bent.” And you realize in this twist of problems, you need something with trays that will allow you to sort the paper by color.

Maintaining your art and craft storage will always involve some tweaking as you lose interest in some crafts while expanding your interest in others. You'll find more tips in my eBook, How to Organize Art and Craft Supplies: Tips for Parents, Teachers, and Hobbyists.

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Other helpful articles:

1. How to Declutter Art and Craft Supplies
2. How to Organize Art and Craft Supplies
3. How to Store Your Art and Craft Supplies
4. How to Keep Your Art and Craft Supplies in Order