maryfrang

I thought it was only me. I have that problem. But I found that if I look for something else, guess what, I find the first item I was looking for. I have started to put the item found in a safe, standard place, a basket on my sewing table, so when I get back to the project I need it for, I can find it. I thought age is causing this but maybe I am just too busy and not together.

good luck and hope you find what you are looking for.

darlenedowns

Sounds like to me is why are we all that crazy on being neat and tidy and sooo lost lol

janiesews

Oh yes. And my darling daughter thought she would help me and she cleaned and reorganized my sewing things and now I have to call her and ask where such and such is. Love her - but I had things where I could just walk in and pick them off the shelf. There really was a method to my madness!!

TeresaS

I was just looking at my quilting room and want to add some more storage units...but maybe i should leave well enough alone because i know i will not be able to find anything as well!

JERRY

I like that comparision

ScrapQuilter

Wow - do I ever have the company on this one......... lol Guess I will never be lonely.

nana2

Not only can I not find things after a major organization, when I throw away something that I had not had a use for in ten years, within a few days there will be a need for it.

JanieH

I had the same problem as the rest of you - organizing then not knowing where stuff was. Here is how I solved it for me:

I bought 2 of the 10-drawer rolling carts that JoAnn's sells. The drawers are shallow and the carts go together really easily. I then used masking tape and numbered each drawer 1 - 10 and 11 - 20. Then the fun began. For 2 days I went through every box, drawer, plastic shoe box, etc., that I had sewing/quilting stuff in and sorted it all into the different drawers. BUT what I did differently this time was to list each item in a notebook (I used a composition notebook and labeled each page A - Z) and what drawer it is in. Now when I want to find rotary blades (drawer 4) or binding clips (drawer 15), I know exactly where they are. When I can, I am going to purchase a third so I can subdivide some of the drawers that are really packed (button drawer, embroidery thread, etc. I do embroidery, crocheting, knitting, and several other crafts as well so have lots of stuff.). I also want to divide my small rulers into 2drawers because of the weight.

I used ziploc bags to organize things within each drawer (embroidery needles in one, sharps in another, quilting needles in a third, needle threaders, etc.) The snack size worked well. I also found some smaller bags at Hobby Lobby that worked great, especially for sorting buttons by color and needles by purpose.

Since this was working so well, I labeled the drawers in my sewing desk (SD-1, etc.), some other cabinets I had, and all of my storage places and spent the couple of days going through all of them and listing those items on their corresponding alphabet page.

I rediscovered lots of missing items, found some duplicates which I gave to my niece who is starting to quilt, and felt so good about not just cleaning and organizing but also knowing where everything is because of THE NOTEBOOK. I finally figured out that I just can't trust my memory and the "of course I will remember where I put ____________ (fill in the blank).

I even listed all my rulers and since many are specialty rulers that I don't keep with my regular-use ones and so I keep them in other areas, specified where they are. This also helps when I look at a pattern and wonder if I have the ruler that the pattern calls for.

It was a lot of work to do but the payoff has been a much neater room AND I know where my "stuff" is.

mraine

I do the same thing.

tesspug

Me too. I figure the small amount of time it takes me to write things down in a notebook will be worth it when it saves hours later. I hang the notebook on the dresser knot my ironing pad is on.