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Post by beanbuddymom on Jul 26, 2017 12:42:44 GMT
The biggest regret I have in regard to organizing is not putting my foot down and insisting on a craft room/office when we built the house. All the other house plans had an extra room except the one we got. I thought the space in the laundry room would be enough and I'm regretting it.
The second regret was storing my things in a closet unbeknownst to me was directly under our shower. When it leaked it leaked into the closet.
Third regret is putting everything I owned from the closet that was still good into big clear boxes and putting in my bedroom to deal with later. They're still there.
I need to get my butt in gear and put together a room/area for my things. I put a bookshelf in the dining area so kids could access things they use for projects (Cricut for presentations, cardstock, markers, etc.) but it's now full.
So my final (so many!) regret was not buying cabinets for the dining area so I could put things in there and shut the cabinet doors. My sister suggested it and I didn't think it was an expense I wanted at the time, but in hindsight it would have been the best solution overall.
So in essence, spending the money or having the foresight to put an adequately sized dedicated area/room with sufficient storage overall would have made me happiest. DH telling me I didn't need it because the closet was enough and if I had too much to fit in there it was too much was something I should have told him was not making me happy and we needed to have a different solution.
Edited to add: I resisted the organizing every thing by color and so glad I did. Kids would have asked me for something and I would have had to go through however many bins there were to find what they needed. So I will add that although I did not every do the color sort I would have added that as an organization thing I was glad I did not do.
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breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,893
Location: PNW
Jul 20, 2014 21:57:23 GMT
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Post by breetheflea on Jul 26, 2017 13:58:21 GMT
Many years ago when I took all my photos out of those magnetic albums, I sorted them by person (because I was making albums for my boys and pages about particular people) and put them in photo boxes. Now, I am scrapping by event or just random subjects, so all those photos that are sorted by person I have been slowly resorting by year. And at some point I put some photos in albums. Now they're all just unorganized and in several different storage things. I pity whoever will be sorting through them when I die! I tried to do the Library of Memories photo category thing... I also used to print 2 of everything, one for scrapping and one for photo albums (DH insisted we needed photo albums even though in 13 years he's never looked through one), and I used to print a lot of photos because I'd decide later which one to scrap (and two page layouts)...needless to say I have way too many photos (and doubles) since I tossed the albums. I'm trying to weed through it all and the pile is HUGE! Why did I pay to print some of these photos? If anyone in our house wants to look at photos they usually get on the computer. It's a mess, I feel your pain!
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breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,893
Location: PNW
Jul 20, 2014 21:57:23 GMT
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Post by breetheflea on Jul 26, 2017 14:13:19 GMT
Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. I was just thinking of the Wookiemouse challenge yesterday!!💕💕💕 I'm currently taking apart my SU! Stamp sets and reorganizing all my wood mounted rubber stamps into categories. I am taking a photo of the stamp set before taking it apart. But I really hope that I don't regret doing it. I wonder if this was where I got the idea to make a file card for every stamp I own. I was looking at the cards in their giant pile of unlooked at-ness and wondering if I should toss them...
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Post by caspad on Jul 26, 2017 15:08:26 GMT
I regretted buying one of those rolling file carts and hanging all my cardstock in it back in 2004-ish. The file folders sagged, the cart took up a lot of space.... So I switched to Cropper Hopper paper holders.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 16:58:34 GMT
Ever done anything stupid in the name of organizing? The hours I spent making "color drawers" comes to mind. Problem is then I'd just go through every color bin (except purple which didn't have enough for a whole drawer) every time I made a layout... Now I'm trying to undo the brilliant idea of a few years ago to take apart my 6 by 6 paper pads and sort them by color... I'd rather just grab a pad and have all the papers match then trying to make my own matches... Have you done anything stupid in the name of organizing that you regret? I just saw a video where someone else had separated their 6x6 pads by color. I seriously wanted to yell at the screen NO!!! The great thing about those pads is it all coordinates and they have a page usually of cut a parts and borders ugh just thinking of doing that makes me break out in hives lol. I haven't separated my ephemera or other embellishments by color because I fear it would give me hives and that I'd regret it immensely. I'm OCD about my shit lol!
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 16:59:29 GMT
I regret the purchases of plastic storage containers. I hate plastic. Why did I think I would want to put them on a shelf and store things in them? There are other ways to store things besides using plastic. Yep regret that too, at least it's a cheap regret lol.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:01:11 GMT
I had a brief moment where I busted apart all of my October Afternoon collections to sort them by color. After about 5 days, I was putting them all back where they "belonged". Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. So many hours wasted on that. I tossed it recently. Now I use Evernote. Thanks for saving me on the 6x6 by color. I've been pondering that one..... Guess I'll pass now. OMG I covet and hoard my OA stuff that post upset me lol. OA has its own section in the hoard vault haha!
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:03:07 GMT
I had a brief moment where I busted apart all of my October Afternoon collections to sort them by color. After about 5 days, I was putting them all back where they "belonged". Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. So many hours wasted on that. I tossed it recently. Now I use Evernote. Thanks for saving me on the 6x6 by color. I've been pondering that one..... Guess I'll pass now. I've been to crops where people have shown me their binders with all their stamps stamped out and categorized it seemed like a crap load of work. It would take me a year to do mine for reals lol.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:04:28 GMT
I sorted everything by colour, too, and then had to change it all back. I hated going through the bins to find things I needed. I bought the Clip It Up and sorted all of my numbers and letters, grouping all the of the As together, Bs together, etc. - like, every chipboard A, alphabet stamp A, acrylic A, all went together in a baggie on my Clip It Up. I got the idea from someone's blog, I think maybe Nicole Heady's? Hated that and had to re-sort. Those were the two biggest mistakes. I also have lots of small ones, like sorting all of my wooden stamps into the 12x12 bins by category - I guess that wasn't so bad, but it was better when I unmounted them and stored them in Avery Elle (well, the cheaper ones on Amazon) envelopes by category. Oh the # and alpha thing yikes should have come here first we would have talked you down lol.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:07:12 GMT
I sorted my embellishments by color a few years ago. I need to rethink that. I have small colored embellishment containers. They are the 5 x 7 photo holders and 20 of them fit into an Iris case. I only keep tiny flowers, bling, journal stickers, twine, etc in these. These are my embellishments that are really generic. Actual embellishments that really go with a line of paper or have multiple colors in them hang on my Clip It Up. I just like being able to take my giant Iris case to a crop and have "a little pop of color" ready to add to any layout. I do remember seeing people put whole drawers of colored embellishments together and I knew that would be too much to look through. View AttachmentView AttachmentIf I was ever going to do the color thing that would be as far as I would go. Like you said great for that final touch! TFS!
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:09:41 GMT
I have organized my scrappy stuff way more than I scrap and I scrap a lot! Part of me just enjoys organizing and I do it in my house more than I need to also. I don't know if I would say that I thought what I did was stupid, but at the time, it seemed like a good idea. I have tried different organizing tricks that were just too hard to keep up with. I have books of punches, dies, and stamps that haven't been updated. That is probably what I regret doing. I also keep a list of supplies I have in my purse and other than punches, I don't really need them (but I have them!). I'm definitely guilty of organizing too much. I'm like you I love organizing I get kind of a high from completing a task like that. I'm really OCD about stuff. I think most scrapbookers would say they organize a lot.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:21:07 GMT
This thread is right up my alley. The entire reason my scraproom is unusable is because of my efforts to organize in the first place. I took everything out of the Crop in Style drawers and iris cases and decided to organize by theme into iris cases. Well the iris cases began to overflow. I had no place to put them because the shelf unit I store them on can't hold all of them. I got so overwhelmed that I ended up with empty iris cases, piles and bags of product, no place to put it. Several years ago I spent an entire weekend organizing my theme into large plastic bins. I got about 10 cases filled by theme. That was probably 1/4 of my stash. I honestly feel that I cannot organize at this point. The only thing I can do is continue to use product by scrapping and I have to find another place to store my albums to free up shelf space. At least 2 relatives have offered to help me organize but I cannot take them up on it. I wouldn't even know how to have them help me because when there is more stuff than there is space, it's impossible. Oh that would be frustrating for sure! I would love to come and organize a fellow scrappers stuff. I think having a fellow crafter help would benefit immensely but I get what you're saying about not knowing where to begin.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:23:54 GMT
I used to keep a physical index of stamps until I realised it was much quicker to use evernote and that way I can actually search for things. Can I ask do you have a large amount of stamps and how did you categorize them on EN? Also how long did it take you? I've been toying with the idea of doing it but the sheer #of stamps I have deters me.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:29:47 GMT
Many years ago when I took all my photos out of those magnetic albums, I sorted them by person (because I was making albums for my boys and pages about particular people) and put them in photo boxes. Now, I am scrapping by event or just random subjects, so all those photos that are sorted by person I have been slowly resorting by year. And at some point I put some photos in albums. Now they're all just unorganized and in several different storage things. I pity whoever will be sorting through them when I die! Oh no that sounds like a lot of work! I have that book Photo Rescue by Stacey Julian bought it because yrs ago my photos were an absolute mess. All my pre digital pics were in the envelopes from developer and in 2 huge boxes not organized by date just 2 huge heaps. I think she said to do the catergorize by person butI kept thinking as I was sorting if I ever regret that what a job it would be to right it.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:33:55 GMT
I used a fuse tool to customize my own plastic pockets for my stamps and dies, because I didn't want to invest in the Avery Elle pockets + Fridge Bins solution. Biggest mistake ever. The binders were crazy heavy, and dies kept slipping out of the pockets, and I had to be so careful turning the pages I began to dread taking my stamps out. I fixed the problem by finding Fridge Bins for cheap at Winners (Canadian equivalent of TJ Maxx) and buying plastic pockets from the Japanese dollar store. The pockets are not very heavy plastic, but they work for my purpose, and are only 2.25 for a pack of 27. I cut up sheets of white cardstock as the pocket inserts, and the system works great now! Oh yeah a binder would get heavy. It's like those die boxes with the magnet sheets I think those would be heavy too. I do the Avery Elle bags and bins too best thing I ever did! I find I use my dies more and much easier to find the one I need!
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:36:26 GMT
Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. I was just thinking of the Wookiemouse challenge yesterday!!💕💕💕 I'm currently taking apart my SU! Stamp sets and reorganizing all my wood mounted rubber stamps into categories. I am taking a photo of the stamp set before taking it apart. But I really hope that I don't regret doing it. Oh I hope you don't regret that with the SU sets. I use my su sets alot and case cards on pinterest by typing in the stamp set so separating a set wouldn't work for me.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:44:25 GMT
ok, now I have to know...how does one use Evernote to keep track of stamps? I used to keep a physical index of stamps until I realised it was much quicker to use evernote and that way I can actually search for things. Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. So many hours wasted on that. I tossed it recently. Now I use Evernote. I've seen quite a few videos on YT on how to do it Jennifer. I think Kat Scrapiness has one. I just recently caught on to this EN thing. The sheer # of stamp sets I have are detering me from doing it. I might do my Stampin Up ones first and see how I like it.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:46:55 GMT
ok, now I have to know...how does one use Evernote to keep track of stamps? I'm new (since December) to Evernote. I took photos of each stamp set. Each set was a different note. I tagged all items in each set. I love being able to search for a bee or get well or whatever. I like it with my stamps so much I cataloged my dies, background stamps, stencils, inks, Zigs and Tombows. No more duplicates! Yes I have/had duplicate sets. Awesome! Have you found you use your stamps more? I could see it definitely being great for avoiding duplicates or having several sets with the same phrases or images because really who needs more then one Best Day Ever lol.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:48:37 GMT
ok, now I have to know...how does one use Evernote to keep track of stamps? I have several 'notebooks' including one for stamps and one for dies. I have a separate note for each set/die and include a picture (usually grabbed off the web) then add sentiments/keywords as 'tags' so I can, for example, search for all sets that have a 'best wishes' stamp in them. I also note which stamps have matching dies by including a link to the related note. Bonus is that you have the inventory when you're out and about. I don't do much shopping IRL but occasionally I'm out and spot something and then I can check whether I already have lots of sets with that in it. Great idea to say what sets have a coordinating die! Do you find you use your stamps more and how long did it take you to complete?
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 17:52:28 GMT
The biggest regret I have in regard to organizing is not putting my foot down and insisting on a craft room/office when we built the house. All the other house plans had an extra room except the one we got. I thought the space in the laundry room would be enough and I'm regretting it. The second regret was storing my things in a closet unbeknownst to me was directly under our shower. When it leaked it leaked into the closet. Third regret is putting everything I owned from the closet that was still good into big clear boxes and putting in my bedroom to deal with later. They're still there. I need to get my butt in gear and put together a room/area for my things. I put a bookshelf in the dining area so kids could access things they use for projects (Cricut for presentations, cardstock, markers, etc.) but it's now full. So my final (so many!) regret was not buying cabinets for the dining area so I could put things in there and shut the cabinet doors. My sister suggested it and I didn't think it was an expense I wanted at the time, but in hindsight it would have been the best solution overall. So in essence, spending the money or having the foresight to put an adequately sized dedicated area/room with sufficient storage overall would have made me happiest. DH telling me I didn't need it because the closet was enough and if I had too much to fit in there it was too much was something I should have told him was not making me happy and we needed to have a different solution. Edited to add: I resisted the organizing every thing by color and so glad I did. Kids would have asked me for something and I would have had to go through however many bins there were to find what they needed. So I will add that although I did not every do the color sort I would have added that as an organization thing I was glad I did not do. Oh no yeah you definitely should have put your foot down. Ugh that sucks about the leak hope you didn't lose too much stash! You definitely need to make a space a priority as moms we tend to put off our needs and wants. Don't get caught in that trap!!
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 18:08:45 GMT
My regrets would be buying make shift containers etc because I couldn't afford what I really wanted. Bought a lot of sterlite stuff but at the time it's what I could afford. Bought some containers (wire baskets and ceramic bowls) and a wire shelf because I thought they were cute and ended up not using them because they didn't fit for various reasons in my room.
Taking my studio calico kits apart was a good thing but I for some stupid reason while they were still together I took the trouble to label each kit and coordinating stamp set with a label saying what kit it was dumb.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 18:17:56 GMT
Oh thought of another one although it's part organization regret and purchasing regret.
I had a crap load of ribbon and fancy trims. I had seen a video of someone who bought a wrought iron dress form and hung the trims from the waist. I spent hours sorting it by color and putting it on the dress form.
It looked pretty but I think in the 5 yrs or so it's been like that I used maybe 5 pieces of trim.
When I did a purge if my room this spring I culled at least 50% of it I should just purge it all and the dress form.
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Post by anniefb on Jul 26, 2017 18:46:02 GMT
I used to keep a physical index of stamps until I realised it was much quicker to use evernote and that way I can actually search for things. Can I ask do you have a large amount of stamps and how did you categorize them on EN? Also how long did it take you? I've been toying with the idea of doing it but the sheer #of stamps I have deters me. I now have about 180 stamp sets and probably had about 120 when I categorised them. I just did them gradually, a few at a time. I guess you might want to allow up to 5 mins per set - depends how many sentiments you want to add as tags. I just did a few sets each evening or when I had a bit of sore time and I guess I probably finished them over 3-4 weeks - can't really remember now. I have 5 basic categories for storing my stamps so those are the keywords I used - sentiments & alphas, backgrounds, floral & nature, tags & frames, Christmas & then general images. I use my stamps a lot so this maybe hasn't increased the use, but it makes it easier to find things - e.g. I don't have to looks through them all to try and find the sentiment I want to use. SaveSave
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GiantsFan
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,291
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
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Post by GiantsFan on Jul 26, 2017 19:27:20 GMT
I'm new (since December) to Evernote. I took photos of each stamp set. Each set was a different note. I tagged all items in each set. I love being able to search for a bee or get well or whatever. I like it with my stamps so much I cataloged my dies, background stamps, stencils, inks, Zigs and Tombows. No more duplicates! Yes I have/had duplicate sets. Awesome! Have you found you use your stamps more? I could see it definitely being great for avoiding duplicates or having several sets with the same phrases or images because really who needs more then one Best Day Ever lol. I found stamps and sentiments I had forgot about. I don't know if I use them more, but it stopped unnecessary purchases. And It really helps when looking for just the right thing without spending time looking through it all.
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Post by quinmm14 on Jul 26, 2017 19:33:16 GMT
I sorted everything by colour, too, and then had to change it all back. I hated going through the bins to find things I needed. I bought the Clip It Up and sorted all of my numbers and letters, grouping all the of the As together, Bs together, etc. - like, every chipboard A, alphabet stamp A, acrylic A, all went together in a baggie on my Clip It Up. I got the idea from someone's blog, I think maybe Nicole Heady's? Hated that and had to re-sort. Those were the two biggest mistakes. I also have lots of small ones, like sorting all of my wooden stamps into the 12x12 bins by category - I guess that wasn't so bad, but it was better when I unmounted them and stored them in Avery Elle (well, the cheaper ones on Amazon) envelopes by category. I did the alphabet sort by color also back in the day. Spent hours sorting them, then another several hours months later sorting them all back.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 19:36:44 GMT
I've been watching the Nicole Jones room tour vids she has a beautiful room but the ways she organized some of her stuff drove me crazy. Am I weird or do others when watching a room tour scratch your head as they show how they organize their stuff.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 19:40:11 GMT
Can I ask do you have a large amount of stamps and how did you categorize them on EN? Also how long did it take you? I've been toying with the idea of doing it but the sheer #of stamps I have deters me. I now have about 180 stamp sets and probably had about 120 when I categorised them. I just did them gradually, a few at a time. I guess you might want to allow up to 5 mins per set - depends how many sentiments you want to add as tags. I just did a few sets each evening or when I had a bit of sore time and I guess I probably finished them over 3-4 weeks - can't really remember now. I have 5 basic categories for storing my stamps so those are the keywords I used - sentiments & alphas, backgrounds, floral & nature, tags & frames, Christmas & then general images. I use my stamps a lot so this maybe hasn't increased the use, but it makes it easier to find things - e.g. I don't have to looks through them all to try and find the sentiment I want to use. SaveSaveThanks so much! Smart to break it up into smaller blocks of work. I think I'll start with eithet my Stampin up or CTMH ones and see how long it takes and if I find some benefits from it.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jul 26, 2017 19:42:06 GMT
Awesome! Have you found you use your stamps more? I could see it definitely being great for avoiding duplicates or having several sets with the same phrases or images because really who needs more then one Best Day Ever lol. I found stamps and sentiments I had forgot about. I don't know if I use them more, but it stopped unnecessary purchases. And It really helps when looking for just the right thing without spending time looking through it all. Thanks! I'm thinking the things you mentioned would also be my biggest benefits ad well!
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Post by midorica on Jul 26, 2017 19:50:01 GMT
I used a fuse tool to customize my own plastic pockets for my stamps and dies, because I didn't want to invest in the Avery Elle pockets + Fridge Bins solution. Biggest mistake ever. The binders were crazy heavy, and dies kept slipping out of the pockets, and I had to be so careful turning the pages I began to dread taking my stamps out. I fixed the problem by finding Fridge Bins for cheap at Winners (Canadian equivalent of TJ Maxx) and buying plastic pockets from the Japanese dollar store. The pockets are not very heavy plastic, but they work for my purpose, and are only 2.25 for a pack of 27. I cut up sheets of white cardstock as the pocket inserts, and the system works great now! Oh yeah a binder would get heavy. It's like those die boxes with the magnet sheets I think those would be heavy too. I do the Avery Elle bags and bins too best thing I ever did! I find I use my dies more and much easier to find the one I need! Yes, I actually enjoy looking for stamps and dies now (though that might just confirm I'm a little strange ) I think the biggest part I regret is how many binder pockets I ruined, and the fumes I inhaled from trying to figure out how to use the fuse tool!
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Jul 26, 2017 20:37:48 GMT
The biggest regret I have in regard to organizing is not putting my foot down and insisting on a craft room/office when we built the house. All the other house plans had an extra room except the one we got. I thought the space in the laundry room would be enough and I'm regretting it. The second regret was storing my things in a closet unbeknownst to me was directly under our shower. When it leaked it leaked into the closet. Third regret is putting everything I owned from the closet that was still good into big clear boxes and putting in my bedroom to deal with later. They're still there. I need to get my butt in gear and put together a room/area for my things. I put a bookshelf in the dining area so kids could access things they use for projects (Cricut for presentations, cardstock, markers, etc.) but it's now full. So my final (so many!) regret was not buying cabinets for the dining area so I could put things in there and shut the cabinet doors. My sister suggested it and I didn't think it was an expense I wanted at the time, but in hindsight it would have been the best solution overall. So in essence, spending the money or having the foresight to put an adequately sized dedicated area/room with sufficient storage overall would have made me happiest. DH telling me I didn't need it because the closet was enough and if I had too much to fit in there it was too much was something I should have told him was not making me happy and we needed to have a different solution. Edited to add: I resisted the organizing every thing by color and so glad I did. Kids would have asked me for something and I would have had to go through however many bins there were to find what they needed. So I will add that although I did not every do the color sort I would have added that as an organization thing I was glad I did not do. That sounds tough! Maybe one of those all in one units would be nice to save up for? Sounds like you could use something for yourself and not allow anyone to deter you from that!! A hobby isn't just some frivolous activity, it's a sanity saver! I hope you are able to find a way to make a space for yourself (or even convince the hubby that a move is in order). I wish you had the support of your husband and I'm sorry that you don't. Do you have a good sized yard? Can you fit in a she-shed?
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