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Organise your creative space to make room for inspiration.
Where do you draw the line with collecting stuff for creative projects? Once you start keeping old bottles, scraps of pretty fabric and paper, cardboard rolls, it very quickly becomes addictive. Your brain comes up with all sorts of uses for the most mundane piece of household trash. Unless you’re actively using your collected materials in dozens of new projects, the result is often a cluttered house and a sense of frustration.
Every time we move I go through a huge chuck out and then vow not to collect anything more. But often that doesn’t work either – I start working on a new idea and realise half the items I’d collected for just this type of project have now been recycled. If you have young children, it can be handy to have a stock of odd bits that they can make something out of on a rainy day.
One way to cope with such a collection is to have a sort box. Set aside a large box somewhere out of the way and preferably out of sight, to put your new collected items in. Go through the box when it starts to get full. If you can’t think of what to do with something after you’ve had a week or two to mull over it, chuck it out. If you have a new item to add that you definitely want to keep, have a look at the items in the box and choose one to sacrifice to make room for the new item. If you find, after a few months, that you’re not using the stuff you collect, donate the box to a school or playgroup.
Do you have different hobbies? Unless they overlap (for example, knitting and crochet), store the materials you use for each separately. Have a current project box, and a future projects box to store the things you know you'll have a need for. Set a time limit for your future projects box – these must be projects you see yourself having time to start within the next two years, otherwise don’t start collecting yet.
Have rules for what you’ll keep – no toilet roll centres please, and no reusing of wrapping paper. If the recipient is not worth buying or making gift wrap for, why are you giving them a gift? If you feel obligated to buy a gift, set a budget for the entire package. Subtract what you expect to pay for the wrapping, card and ribbon, and what remains is your budget for the gift.
Don’t hoard magazines unless you’re keeping a particular edition as a souvenir or collectable, or planning a collage. Tear out the articles you want to keep and store them in a folder. I’ve saved so much space since buying a scanner, as I collect many articles as reference for the books I write. Now I just scan in the piece and link it to the appropriate book, all stored electronically, and then I recycle or donate the magazine. And it makes searching for particular articles so much quicker and easier.
Recycle what you can't keep. Before we had a proper recycling system, I hung onto all sorts of things because I was loathe to just throw something useful out with the garbage. Now I feel much better thinking, “I could use this, but I probably won’t – but if I recycle it, it will definitely be put to use!” Contact your local schools, play centres, and activity groups, and let them know if you have a collection of potentially useful items. Many would be happy to take your clutter off your hands and make creative use of it.
copyright © Elsa Neal 2005 (Please contact the
for permission to reprint this article.)
From Amazon.com
Organizing for the Creative Person - Right-Brain Styles for Conquering Clutter, Mastering Time, and Reaching Your Goals by Dorothy Lehmkuhl and Dolores Lamping
Outwitting Clutter - 101 Ingenious Space-Saving Tips and Ideas to Make Any House or Apartment More Livable by Bill Adler
Time Management for the Creative Person - Right-Brain Strategies for Stopping Procrastination, Getting Control of the Clock and Calendar, and Freeing Up Your Time and Your Life by Lee Silber
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