Have you seen the TLC show “Hoarders”? I’ve watched bits and pieces of several episodes, but have never sat down to watch a full show. Of course, you don’t need to sit through an entire hour to see that the people featured on the series have serious psychological problems that center on material goods.
Whenever I watch the show I feel the need to purge all corners of my home, including my craft corner. Regular readers of this blog know that I don’t have a huge scrapbooking space. What’s more, I don’t have the budget to purchase huge quantities of extra supplies. Still, when I look at my space, I know I could easily get rid of items I tell myself are worth keeping. Since scrapbooking materials don’t come cheap, I often rationalize that saving scraps and leftovers will help reduce the amount of money I have to spend to create new layouts.
If you are a frugal scrapper, then you might put the brakes on purging, and instead, look for ways to reorganize your space with a few inexpensive storage items. For example, plastic horizontal shelving units are relatively cheap, but are able to store a ton of scrapbook paper. They look similar to the racks used at doctor’s offices to keep files in order, but they can also be used to keep your scrapbook paper flat and at your fingertips. Unfortunately, the shelving unit is designed so that it is difficult to see your paper unless you pull it out of the storage space. To alleviate this problem you could label each shelf so you know exactly what is being stored in each space.
To store odd-shaped pieces of paper or scrap material, you could purchase a cheap binder. A school binder is perfect for those leftovers that don’t fit neatly in a drawer or file. To store scraps in a binder, use a plastic sleeve, then file the sleeves according to color or theme. A single binder can store several sleeves. Just remember to label the outside of the binder, so you know what is being stored in each without having to constantly open and close it.
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