I am a calendar gal. I heart them.

I am always giddy about a new year beginning because I get a new calendar. Fresh pages. Waiting to be filled with new adventures and memories in the making.

It makes me happy.

My daily list is another story.

At one time I used to use the method of a 3X5 note card. Writing no more than 5 things on an index card. That kept me focused and I felt accomplished.
That was for a season.

I have also tried the make-a-detailed-schedule-and-stick-to-it-method. That never worked either. It was too rigid, and did not mesh well with our lifestyle.
I seem to be a stretch-myself-to-the-limit-and-see-how-much-I-can-squeeze-into-a-day-kind-a-gal.

Today, a note card isn’t big enough for my lists.

Unfortunately, nor is a 8.5X14 legal pad most days.

What is working for me is a system similar to the kids workbox cards.

I printed off and laminated 8.5X11 grids, and used Mrs. Riley to make 2X2 cards of my weekly to-dos. 
Most weeks the tasks are repeated on the same day. If changes need to be made, it is easily done by moving the task card to another day. No eraser needed.

There are twelve squares for each day, although not every day is filled up. (thankfully)

Saturday and Sunday are pretty much empty. I try to accomplish all that I can during the week, leaving the weekends free for family fun.

Routines are good. As long as they are not paralyzing. I love checking (in this case: removing cards) things off a list. I’m very visual, so it helps to see my day’s plan,

while still allowing wiggle room. Thanks to the beloved Velcro.

How do you plan your day?

Craft supplies can take over a home as quickly as Fisher Price toys. How do you keep your sanity while keeping the supplies accessible and ready to go when your child’s imagination sparks??
We had a hodge-podge of baskets, buckets and containers and nothing was working. I had all of my scrapbook supplies organized in  a number of these bad boys –

…which were easy-peasey for taking to a scrapbook class or convention, but not very conveniently stored at home. (…and since I am not in a season of attending scrapbook conventions, it wasn’t practical) My mission was to have everything neat but easy to find.

I also can’t expect the kids to clean up well when there are not defined places for the supplies to be put away. 

We don’t have a dedicated craft room, so the art and craft supplies share a space with extra office supplies and skoolish-tools.

And why not?? We use die cuts and scrapbook papers for lap books and geography projects. And goodness knows, I use post-its every hour of the day. So, for our home, it makes sense.

Most homes have a *coat closet* in the entry hall or nearby. Since we really have no need for a coat closet, we use ours for craft supplies.
We organized our supplies by convenience. (And no, I did not purchase all of the drawer units at once.) This process has evolved over time. I just continued to tweak until we finally found what works for our family. A lot of these drawer units were once used for our workbox system.

There is no magic organizational method – it’s about what works for your family.
The people in this house seem to be very right-brained creative, therefore a well-organized space seems to drive our creativity.    
We use these boxes in our Expedit bookcase to  organize die cuts and stickers by theme.  (i.e. celebrations, animals, travel)

Think outside the box (no pun intended) for organizing your supplies.
It’s not necessary to spend a lot of $$ to achieve the goal of organizing. Repurpose containers. Check out your local Goodwill or thrift store fun fun, frugal finds.

Make organizing a family project. If the kids play a part in the project, they are more apt to follow through with the process.

So, tell me – Do you have a craft room? Or do you have another secret method to Taming the Tornado of craft supplies??