A Little Organization

I’ve been searching for the perfect storage solution for my address labels, stamps, return address labels, etc. and I think I may have finally found it.  I tried boxes, envelopes, CD sleeves… none of them worked for me. Then I remembered this pretty little treasure. It was right here all the time. Yes, Dorothy, right in my own backyard closet.

You see, I had big plans to be an extreme couponer once upon a time. You know what I mean, you’ve seen the show, right? One of those people that buys a van full of groceries for $3.57. It never really worked out that way for me. I didn’t have enough coupons for one of those humongous binders, but I had too many for just an envelope. I wanted something pretty, something that I could carry in my purse. So I sat down one day, drew out a pattern, bought some pretty fabric, and whipped this up. Well, maybe it didn’t go as smoothly as all that, but I did manage to get a presentable finished product.  I used it for quite a while, it worked well, but eventually I gave up on the whole extreme couponing dream. I downsized my coupons to a plastic organizer from Staples and stored this away. Once I remembered I had it, then it was time to play another rousing round of “Where the Hell Did I Put It?”. That took a little while, but find it I did. Never give up, never surrender (name that movie). I just changed the words on the dividers and Voila!

I’ve got everything neatly divided into sections - forever stamps, international stamps, postcard stamps, misc. stamps, address labels, etc. - and it’s portable. It has an elastic closure that slips around the bottom to a button on the back. I could clip a pen or two on there if the mood strikes.

I like the fact that it isn’t a rigid plastic. It’s soft, somewhat expandable, and holds more than I thought it would.

I keep stamps in these little things. They started out as zippered pockets for stamp sets, but I never used them for that purpose because the zipper was too hard to open and close. So I just zippered them shut and cut off the bottom to fit in the organizer. They are made of pretty sturdy, semi-soft plastic and it’s easier to keep them in there than to file them loose in the bag, even with the dividers.

I keep a stash of these in there, too. They are Super Sticky 3M labels that I use to address my handmade envelopes.

I bought these before I found the pretty colors - at least these have lines. You know how I love lines.  (Apologies for the blurry photo)

This is what my stationery collection has expanded to these days. The box on the left is just for envelopes and stickers, and I have some sealing wax (which I always forget about) in that little tin. The one on the right holds my paper & postcards - most of it, anyway. At the far left is where I keep my stamp organizer bag. It’s an evolving system and subject to change at any time, but it’s been this way for several months. So far, so good!

How do you organize small items like stamps and labels? I’m always open to new solutions. Hit me with your best shot!