2026, Art, home, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Scrappy Do

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My neighbor Don once asked me about how I keep up with supplies for my paper crafts.  I think I snorted.   I’m pretty certain that if I didn’t buy anything else ever (except for tape, which I go through at a prodigious rate), I could keep making cards until I’m 105.

You’d think that with stacks of paper, I wouldn’t be so stingy with it.  I keep almost every scrap, unless it’s thinner than 1/2”.   There are two plastic bins in my studio with paper scraps – one is for solid-colored cardstock and the other is for patterned paper.  Both these bins are full and I spend a bit of time sifting through to see if there is something I can use rather than cut into a new piece of stock/paper.  I try to keep it organized, but many days when I’m straightening up after I’ve crafted, I just toss the scraps into the bin willy nilly.

That means that a couple of times a year, it’s time to sort out the scraps.  I go through each bins separately; solids get divided up into colors (blues, greens, purples, etc.) and patterns get laid out by pattern type and/or season (stripes, dots, floral, Halloween, etc.)   At this point I usually jettison a lot of the smaller pieces, especially the patterned stuff.  The header photo is what it looks like (this is the solids).

This whole process takes about an hour.  It’s not hard by any means and I can’t say that I actually enjoy it but it does feel quite good when it’s done.  And I don’t have to think about it for another six months or so!

What do you have that needs periodic organizing?

22 thoughts on “Scrappy Do”

  2. I don’t have a lot of tools, but, still, I probably have too many. What I DID have a few years ago were a few spare cat boxes, so that’s where tools and miscellaneous bits of hardware came to reside. Winter can be a hard time for futzing about in the unheated garage, but a good argument for sorting out those boxes can certainly be made once things get a bit warmer.

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    1. We have yet to organize the countless tools we inherited from my dad and moved from here to ND when he lived with us briefly after my mom died in 2014. He died a few months after she did. We moved them all back here now. We got rid of the countless coffee cans full of nuts, bolts, nails, and screws before we moved back here.

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      1. Here in Holland, MI, I run the local tool-sharing operation, which loans out tools so that not every household needs to own a nail gun, a belt sander, a table saw and stuff like that.
        So far, so good.
        On the other end of the operation, we receive tools from people who are downsizing or moving away, and whose future heirs or neighbors don’t want to take them. Those tools are then shared for free with any and all from a “free tools” table at events like Juneteenth, PRIDE, Energy Day and such.

        If there’s a similar operation anywhere in your “Tri County Area”, I recommend it to you.

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  3. All I can say is that the many things that need organizing and those that get organized are two different things. I’m lucky I have a good visual memory for where things reside.

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  5. Oh, let me count the ways! Socks (color, season, every-day or special weather… ). Recipes I was going to try (to file them after I don’t make them, or toss?)

    A lot of it is now on the computer, and I really should purge old files.

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  6. I sort out the clothes that no longer fit. I keep those that give promise of my imaginary future waistline.
    I’ve got a excellent tailor who expands with me. I have hope of having suits “taken in.”

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  7. I find that everything needs periodic review and reorganizing. What prompts that to actually happen is, in my case, rather haphazard.

    OT – Since there isn’t a lot going on on the trail today, here’s a fun bit of barbershop singing for your entertainment:

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  10. Good Evening, Baboons,

    Yesterday and today I organized my freezer (and cleaned it out–embarrassing!) before I bought a load of meat that will last 6 months or more. I have only one small freezer– NOT Lutheran (wink, wink), but it was a mess of built up frost and ice, and spilled plums. Now it is clean and tidy and organized, ready to refill.

    Then today I drove down to Northfield where I had lunch with our Krista, then on to the Fareway Grocery in Faribault. (On the way there I was telling Siri to message my son, named Ben. Instead of my Ben Siri messaged Ben Hain, so we had a nice texted chat that I dictated, then she read his messages to me. It was a happy mistake). Krista and I talked knitting and Minnesota Strong hats and pins. It was really fun. I feel rich in Baboonish friends, whether they are organized or not.

    I really dislike keeping paperwork filed and organized. Just sayin’. I am considering getting a really efficient scanner for papers, but my guess is that I will hate that too.

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  11. i organized my sock drawer and my underware drawer recently and surprised my wife when i actually therw ot 30 socks and 10 pairs of underware still have t shirt drawer and i will organize 4 seasons of shirts, coats etc in my closet and warehouses. i love my hawaiiian shirts and have been without for 2 years. i gind i can get by fine with 6 or 7 seasonal shirts and 6 or 7 pairs of pants. sox shoes sandals get shuffled so the right ones access first
    my big organizing come in the next 100 days. ill be going through my warehouse stash and selling on facebook marketplace, craigslist, ebay etsy and other online things. hats then suit coats get priority.
    paperwork for three im too busy things that arnt valid excuses any more and as i focus on my three favorite start up projects i need to be sure i can bury or deal with not getting to others.
    i saw a quote the other day… if you have lots of priorities you have no priorities
    ouch

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