Tips to Organizing your Messy Makers Space

From Chaos to Calm integrate these tips and tricks to organize your messy makers-space.

It’s time to clean up your craft room clutter once and for all! In this episode of Creative Living we tackle the daunting task of organizing a messy makerspace. Professional organizer, Andrea Brundage, joins Jane Clauss to share her expert tips for decluttering, setting up functional storage systems, and establishing routines to stay organized long-term. Learn strategies for overcoming emotional attachments to supplies and discover simple ways to start transforming one small area at a time.  Andrea shares strategies for maintaining order, prioritizing tasks, and delaying decisions to achieve a balance between creative flow and real-life responsibilities.  When they get to the part about the importance of organizing craft rooms for maximum creativity and productivity, emphasizing the need to set up systems around particular projects, declutter, and condense storage, that’s when you really need to take notes! 

Andrea also emphasizes the importance of releasing clutter and organizing belongings to simplify life, using the train analogy to emphasize the need to know one’s current station and what is needed for the future.  After you listen once, you’ll want to listen again to really get motivated and organize.

Here are some handy timecodes to this episode:

3:00 – 4:24 – Organizing challenges in creative spaces. Andrea identifies intermingled crafts and clutter as a common issue.

4:24 – 6:05 – Organizing by project. Andrea recommends organizing craft supplies based on specific projects, not just dumping everything together.

6:05 – 7:44 – Decluttering and maximizing storage. Jane and Andrea discuss decluttering unused items and using storage solutions like clear bins and labels.

7:44 – 9:09 – Organizing for “more is more” creatives. Andrea provide solutions for those who prefer having more supplies but want them organized.

9:09 – 10:53 – Maintaining organization. Andrea emphasizes establishing habits and systems for putting supplies back to keep spaces organized long-term.

10:53 – 12:00 – Finding a balance. Jane discusses the challenge of balancing busy lives with time spent crafting and keeping spaces organized.

12:56-13:35 – Declutter craft room spaces by going through supplies and donating, selling, or repurposing unused items. Focus first on craft mediums no longer enjoyed.

15:13-16:09 – Set up organizational systems for craft supplies based on specific projects, not just dumping everything into one space. Use clear bins, cubbies, or other storage with labels to identify contents.

22:28-23:00 – When cleaning and organizing, start with small, manageable tasks of 10-20 minutes that can be completed in one sitting. Set a timer to avoid getting distracted.

25:35-26:09 – Develop habits and routines to maintain organization over time, such as always returning supplies to their designated spaces. Cleaning should not be a one-time effort.

28:32-29:39 – Refer to Andrea Brundage’s book “Simplify Your Life” for her four questions on decluttering and her strategies for organizing one’s space and life.

Organizing craft supplies and decluttering:

• Organize craft supplies by project to create more space for creativity.
• Decluttering and compartmentalizing craft supplies can help maximize storage and increase creativity.
• How to organize if you are a creative that has a “more is more” mentality, with solutions like clear bins and labels to manage supplies.
• Use clear bins to visualize supplies and avoid overbuying at craft stores, while still allowing for fun shopping experiences.

Organizing craft supplies and maintaining a clutter-free space.

• Experience the joy of crafting and organizing materials in a designated space.
• Crafters can find balance by organizing supplies and compartmentalizing them for easy access.
• Maintain organization by setting up habits and a system for putting things back where they belong.
• Habits and a system are the foundation, while maintenance is the ongoing process of reorganizing and purging to keep things organized.

Decluttering and organizing creative spaces.

• Organizing and decluttering can help reduce stress and improve mental and physical health.
• Start small, allocating 10-30 minutes a day to organizing and purging, and focusing on areas that are easiest to tackle.

Decluttering and organizing creative spaces, focusing on the importance of setting goals and staying focused during cleaning sessions.

• The challenges of organizing a craft room, includes staying focused and overcoming emotional attachment to creative materials.
• Stay on track when you are organizing, such as setting a timer or finding a accountability partner, and acknowledging the difficulty of letting go of items that bring joy but are no longer needed.
• Understand that life is a train journey, with different stations representing different stages of life.  Learning how to release accumulated items at each station can benefit those behind us, creating a positive cycle.

Decluttering and organizing craft rooms using the “Simplify Your Life” book.

• Answer these questions to determine if an item serves a purpose, including “do I love it?” and “can it serve someone else better?”
• It’s important to limit scraps and keep a “done is better than perfect” mindset.
• Check out Andrea’s website professionalorganizer.az.com for more inspiration and to purchase her book “Simplify Your Life: 8 Simple Principles to Turn Your Chaos into Calm.”