Stay Organized-- The Myth of Plastic Bins

The following article was originally posted on our team member beckandcallgirl's blog on June 3, 2009. In this article Beck shares with us how she organizes her yarns.You can find fiber art supplies in Beck's Etsy shop.

We all use them for storage & organization. The question is, do they really work or are they a myth? What am I talking about? Plastic storage bins, of course!

I use them, but I don't really feel organized. In some aspects, I know they help me, but in other aspects, I feel like it's out of sight, out of mind.



This is some of my stash of yarn. It's all sorted by color, and the bins are stacked 5 or 6 tall. I do think that this helps with the organization of the overstock & stash, as I can easily go straight for whatever color I need. In fact, the yarn that's on top is what I had pulled out to cut. And, no, I don't need into the bins every time I make fibers. That's what this is for:





Oh yes -- this is organized! All sorted by color, so I can easily see what I have, what I want, and what I need. And yeah, that's an exercise bike that I use to hang stuff on. I prefer to think of the fibers as handlebar streamers.

However, when it comes to other items, I feel totally disorganized! This is a picture of one of my workrooms. In these bins, it's all fabric.

And it is totally disorganized. I've basically decided that I'm not sure it *can* be organized. I've tried sorting it by color - doesn't work. By type (quilters cotton, knit, silk, rayon, etc) that works better, but doesn't help when trying to put stuff together. By size - well, that was almost pointless. That only helped if I wanted to make something that needed a lot of yardage.

But, I'm told - we're all told - every time I go to the store that just a couple more bins, and it'll all become organized. It's like a siren's song, whispering in your ear "Take me home, I'll help you. Just a couple more, and it'll be organizational bliss."