Controlling My Craft Clutter!

It is that time of year, when many of us are reflecting on what we want to do to improve ourselves, and our lives. I have always struggled with craft clutter and have tried repeatedly to clean up my act. While pondering over this issue this morning, I considered my house and what works for me there. What strategies do I use to keep my home clean that I could apply to my craft clutter? So, I'm gonna look at them and try some strategies in my craft space.

Here is my first step in keeping my home clean: my daily minimums. Every morning I try to have the following three things done before I leave the house: bed made, dishes done, floors swept. Ok, so how to apply this to the craft space? What are my daily to do's before I leave my craft space? I have choosen, clean work table, file cardstock, put away tools.

Second step: the 15 minute pickup. I have two young children and DH who is a neat nick. So, everyday 15 minutes before he is due home, I coral the kids and we pick up. So, I will try this strategy in my craft space, and every time I craft spend 5 minutes. If I am doing the first step above, this will allow me a little organization time.

Third Step: weekly, monthly and yearly to do's. The yearly do to, go through things and purge! Weekly, dust and spray clean. Monthly...not sure of yet I may end up breaking up the yearly purge into monthly tasks.

This month I am going through all my paper. I have trouble throwing away scraps. I am frequently frustrated while trying to file things away that smaller irregular pieces keep my big pieces from fitting in my storage properly. I found a solution this week: my magazine storage plastic. I used to subscribe to every scrap booking magazine in the US. But have found that I can get all the inspiration and contests online! During December, I went through every magazine I had saved and ripped out the following: Items I wanted to make a cut file for, pages to scrap lift, color combos I loved, techniques to try and products to check out. Now I will use my magazine holder for all the decent size scraps and it will be easy to file and use!

Share a crafting clutter control method that works for you in the comments please!

I keep the "cut files to be made" in a folder and every time we take a drive for more than an hour, I grab the folder. I can work on my files while the DH drives and not be stressed by his desired to follow slow drivers too closely!