Monday 30 January 2017

Organized? Ha!

I thought I was organized.
My floss has been put away in boxes, my table is was actually uncluttered and clean, and all my Christmas kits put away in a box.

But then when you open these doors...
 
At least I know where everything is, sort of!

This isn't too bad, it holds most of my individual patterns and booklets. I do have some that need to find their way in there though.

Now this on the other hand, there's no rhyme nor reason sorting this mess.

I can group them together by magazine and separate the Christmas/Halloween ones on their own, but how the heck do I remember what's where?! I have post-it notes stuck on patterns I'd like to stitch, but then what? Most of the mags have a little bit of everything, what to do with them?!
I'm not sure I want to write it all down or put it in the computer. I guess I could take a picture and sort it that way. 

Do any of you have this issue?
Any thoughts or suggestions on how to organize them?
And this is why I don't by magazines anymore! (Unless I see something I really like)


14 comments:

Vickie said...

Nope! I have zero suggestions, since my magazines are all lumped together.

Bea said...

I have mine in magazine holders by title, sorted by date. I have an Excel spreadsheet that lists the patterns I really want to stitch. Might you, it's a little out of date and needs to be updated.

Lorraine said...

I tried the post-it notes for awhile. Then I realized that I didn't need all those extra pages, so I started tearing out just the ones that I wanted and put them in page protectors in a binder. It cut down on the stacks. I used to have a rule that I wouldn't buy a magazine unless it had at least one pattern in it that I would use. That seemed good until I realized that I had more patterns than I would ever have time for in my lifetime. So I stopped getting magazines. Of course, I'm talking about crafting magazines in general not specifically a certain subject. Nowadays there's not much you can't find on the internet.

Kaisievic said...

I find it an endless battle to be organised and no, I rarely buy magazines any more, either.

Stitching Noni said...

Magazines are the bane of my life! I tried to use a spreadsheet a few years to list all the charts in some sort of order but it took me so long to do that I never seemed to get any stitching done on the weekend... so now I pull out the charts I like (or think I might stitch) and ditch the rest of the mag. The charts are stored in binders in subject - ie animals, Christmas etc. To be honest I don't even buy many of mags any more - the only one I get is Just Cross Stitch and I get the digital version. With those I print the cover page and the index page and file that in binder. Good luck :o)

deb said...

Ugh - my stitching magazines are pretty much the same way - JCS ornament issues separate, but the rest are in cardboard magazine holders chronologically for each magazine, sticky notes blossoming from the tops. I did go through SANQ in the late fall and typed up a spreadsheet of all the lovelies I'd like to stitch if I had unlimited time. A spreadsheet which I promptly forgot all about till reading your post, LOL.

Tiffstitch said...

You're more organized than me. :) I've been making a list on my blog of charts from magazines I'd like to stitch. That has helped, although it's not complete. I think someone uses a spreadsheet and has it very organized, but I haven't managed that level of organization.

Katie said...

I like the idea of ripping out what you need but with some like my Stoney Creek I love the whole magazine. So those I keep in a stack just in case. Good luck finding the right fit for you.

Justine said...

I keep a maximum of 12 magazines and any charts from older ones that I really want to stitch. I find though that this is less and less these days.

I think your cupboard looks really tidy!

Penny said...

Magazines are tough to organize. Thankfully I don't have many and usually just mark the patterns I'm interested in using post-it tabs. I think after my recent organizing I found it difficult to organize my stitching stuff in general. It looks like you've done a great job, though. : )

Julie said...

I've got a few magazines with charts in that I had hopes to stitch, to be honest though I haven't stitched anything from them for over 5 years so maybe I should give them away, there is always something that comes along that wants to be stitched right away.
Good luck with sorting yours.

Debbie W. said...

Your cupboard looks lovely, as does your entire craft room. I had the same problem with magazines - I was overrun with them before I finally dismantled them, keeping only patterns that I thought I would do in my lifetime. I was ruthless! Then I used plastic page protectors and notebooks to organize the patterns by type of project. The Internet has also become my go-to place for hunting patterns, but I refuse to be parted from my page protectors and notebooks! :)

Maggee said...

I have only about a dozen magazines, with the 'latest' one being 2011 I think... then I stopped getting them. I only got the Christmas ornament ones. And I have one or two with specific designs in them that I HAD to have! One is sitting right here next to me... waiting...I have to fiddle around with the design a little, because it is a scripture one and instead of my initials and date, I want to notate the chapter and verse. Soon! Oh, and my magazines are taking up room in a drawer. Hugs!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Don't ask me about the magazines! I have six boxes full of cross stitch, one of Tattoo mags, one of Junior parenting mag and one of Kerrang dating back to the 1980s!
I did start keep notes about the designs I liked in each issue, one piece of A4 paper per box with each issue numbered.