Week 1 – Paper

Welcome to our first week of 4 weeks of organization.

This week we're focused on getting your paper stashed sorted so you can decided on the best storage options.

Before we get started, though, if you're unfamiliar with my 4 Section System for organizing craft supplies, you'll want to take a little side trip  -  click here to learn more about the 4 Section System.  The beauty of the 4SS is that it works for nearly every type of craft you may do - Card Making, Scrapbooking, Mixed Media, Home Decor, Decoupage... Need more convincing - read, Why you need the 4 Section System.

Step 1 - Gather and Sort

Round up all of your paper and your scraps too.  This includes loose sheets as well as paper pads.

Sort the paper into the 4 Section System which is actually only 3 sections when we're talking about paper because the 1st section Alphabets and Numbers doesn't generally include paper.

A HUGE part of organizing...

Purging is a huge part of organizing.  The process of purging has a difficulty factor of 0-10 depending on the type of person you are and the way you think about your supplies.  To be efficient and successful, you want to be somewhere in the 4-6 range.  0-1 you're willing to just toss out everything and start again, 9-10, you want to keep EVERYTHING, "just in case..."  If purging is troublesome for you please take a few minutes and watch/read, Purge Patrol - it will give you some ideas and strategies for purging your supplies.

Back to paper...

Once you've sorted your paper, you'll need to decide how and where to store it.

There are 3 ways to store paper -

1. All paper together
2. All paper stored with coordinating themes, sentiments, holidays and colors
3. Some paper stored with paper, some paper stored by theme, sentiment...

The most common method is the 3rd.

This is best used by putting large quantities of paper in your paper storage system and keeping smaller quantities within a theme.

As an example; 5-6 sheets of St. Patrick's Day paper are best stored with your other St. Pat's supplies, most likely in a section of your ScrapRack.

100 sheets of Travel Paper would best be stored in your paper storage system (boxes, Paper Handlers, Fab Files...).

To learn more about these options, watch Choosing Paper Storage Solutions or read - Picking Perfect Paper Storage.

Where are you going to store your paper?

Will you be using a shelving/cube style unit like this IKEA Kallax system or is your paper being stored in closet or on an open shelf?

Accessibility is always a plus when you're crafting, so choosing an open shelf is ideal, but not always possible.

Prepare a shopping list

We've put together a shopping list for each week of this 4 week challenge.  The lists can be downloaded and printed for easy reference.  You'll want to keep them handy for the Really Big Sale!(RBS!)!  If you're not on our email list, please sign up now so you don't miss out on the RBS! details.

Download the Paper Storage Shopping List.

Get more info!!!

Would you like more information and step by step details?  Please watch my full length Paper Organization Class - I'll cover all of these details and more. Watch now.

Thanks for stopping by today to learn about organizing your paper.

I hope you'll stop by each week for the next 4 weeks and join us for Embellishment, Die/Stamp/Embossing Folder, and Workspace Organization too!