Walk In, Find It and Catalog It

I enjoy shopping for wonderful jewelry for my home.  After a stressful week, there is nothing better than dropping into Home Goods and browsing through their shelves to find something that fits with my decor.  Some shopping hauls are more fruitful than others, but I can usually find at least one treasure to bring home to live with me.  I asked the sales lady when the best days to find new merchandise would be and she said that the trucks deliver on Monday and Wednesdays, so depending upon timing the new merchandise hits the shelves that day or the following.  I live about 50 minutes from my Home Goods store, so during the week doesn't really work for me, so I suppose I'll have to continue to catch the items that I can on my normal weekend runs. 

I have no method to my madness, other than a general sense of what I like and of course, the colors that I need.  I love the white dishes and serveware and can usually find something that I just must have.  I also love the reds and greens and I even have some blue items, although I don't have the color blue in any of my decor.  If it's gorgeous, if it's the right price and if it speaks to me, then it usually comes home with me.  Is that a shopping plan or what?  How do you shop...is there a method to your madness?

I like to 'catalog' my purchases, so that I know when and where I bought an item and how much I paid for it.  The easiest way that I have found to do this is to line my purchaces up when I get home and take an overall photo of he group, as well as some individual close up shots....I then take a picture of my receipt and sometimes will add handwritten notes to show the item matched up with the appropriate price.  I like to do this because it appeals to my OCD collecting personality. 

Do you catalog your purchases for items, collections etc as you find them? What is your approach?

A Weekend of Organizing

I spent almost the entire weekend getting some of my things organized.  This is something that was long overdue and as a result, took a long time to put back in order.  I'm joining Susan's fun party for Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. 

I don't have any before pictures to share, and that was intentional.  Who wants to see someone else's mess...and let's be honest...if you feel the need to organize, it means you have a mess.  Hope some of these tips you find handy. 

I use a dresser in an empty bedroom to organize my gift wrap supplies.  I had tossed things into a drawer where ever there was empty space available as I bought new items or returned the remainder of ones I had used, ie. tissue and ribbon.  I now have the drawers reorganized with tissue, ribbon, gift bags and tools organized in seperate drawers.  I opened all of my tissue packages and folded the tissue in half within the first drawer to make it easily accessible and I can do a quick flip to see each color and pattern for a quick match to my giftbag or wrapping paper.  Opening the packages and unfolding the tissue so that it only has one fold left is a great way to easily retrieve the tissue when needed...it is even possible to reach in with one hand to pull out the appropriate bundle. 

Tissue:

Gift Bags:

Ribbons:

Tools and Supplies: cutters, tape, labels, gift tags and bow making supplies

I also cleaned the clutter our of my china cabinet and it looks clean and sparkly now. 

I'm currently working on consolidating my dishware and decorative jars, plate stands and cloches.  I have things stuck all over the house and want to get them in more order and more centralized.  I have an inventory system that I'll be sharing in a future post that tracks what items I have with photos of the dish, where I bought the item and how much I paid.   The photos will help with mixing and matching to plan for tablescapes without actually physically pulling the pieces from storage and the information on the acquistion will help when preparing a blog post. 

All in all, a very productive weekend and I'm very pleased with the progress.  I'm on a mission to get everything back in order before Fall.  Of course, all this cleaning and organizing means that I did not spend any time reading blogs this weekend, so I am seriously behind.  Look for comments from me over the next couple of days as I catch up with your last posts.....If I drop by, I always comment so that you know I was there.  Hope you all had a great weekend as well. 

All The Best,

Noggin Notions

Re-purposing a letter file for extra dishtowel storage.

All The Best,

mill57@charter.net
http://www.theycallmejammi.blogspot.com/

Extra Dish Storage - Sunday Favorites

I'm joining Chari at Happy To Design, who is celebrating her one year birthday with the 52nd Sunday Favorites.  Please join Chari's party by clicking here to see various participant updates from all over blogland.  Chari is also having a great giveaway, so be sure and visit her and check it out.  I'm adding a repost from January 25, 2010 with an alternative to traditional dish storage.

If you have 'dish' love, you probably also have dish storage issues. I have a hall closet full of display items - candleholders, glassware, flatware, etc - and my China Cabinet and buffet server are crammed full so I needed some other options. While I ponder what other closet I can take over, I am using hat boxes to store some of my chargers, plates and salad plates.

I purchase my boxes from Hobby Lobby when they are 50%, which is about every other week. The differant size boxes range in price for 4.99 to 7.49, so at 50% off this is a very reasonable storage alternative. These boxes are just the right sizes for my chargers and plates...the salad plates are a litte small in diameter based upon the smallest box size, so I just stuff empty plastic bags around them so they do not shift as I am moving the boxes around. Use sheets of bubble wrap or tissue between the dishes and stack them inside the containers. Just measure your charger and plates and when you get to HL, pick up the corresponding size....I will probably keep my items stored in these boxes even when I move them to a closet, as this gives the dishes extra protection.

This 14 inch box gives me plenty of room to store ten 9 inch plates...I could use the smaller 10 inch box, but I like having more room around the edges which makes getting the plates out a lot easier.

Just stack the boxes in an empty corner and they provide storage and look good.

You can even use the boxes as a display pedestal.

I keep an inventory list on my computer of all my tabletop display items, plates, flatware, etc along with the date and place I bought the item and any branding or other descriptors (ex. if I buy a silver piece from an Antique shop and it provides the name of the item or a date, I keep that on my list since it is not marked directly on the item). I also add a picture of the item and the quantity. When I need something, I know exactly where it is and how many I have etc. You could also label each of the boxes by using a tag on a string and just tape the string to the inside of the box and let the tag show underneath the lid...you could turn the box so the tag is in the corner and not showing, if using as a display in your room.

I hope this idea helps with some of your storage needs, it has certainly helped me with some much needed clean-up and organization.
All The Best

mill57@charter.net
http://www.theycallmejammi.blogspot.com/

Met Monday - Dishware Storage

If you have 'dish' love, you probably also have dish storage issues.  I have a hall closet full of display items - candleholders, glassware, flatware, etc - and my China Cabinet and buffet server are crammed full so I needed some other options.  While I ponder what other closet I can take over, I am using hat boxes to store some of my chargers, plates and salad plates. 

I purchase my boxes from Hobby Lobby when they are 50%, which is about every other week.  The differant size boxes range in price for 4.99 to 7.49, so at 50% off this is a very reasonable storage alternative.  These boxes are just the right sizes for my chargers and plates...the salad plates are a litte small in diameter based upon the smallest box size, so I just stuff empty plastic bags around them so they do not shift as I am moving the boxes around.  Use sheets of bubble wrap or tissue between the dishes and stack them inside the containers.  Just measure your charger and plates and when you get to HL, pick up the corresponding size....I will probably keep my items stored in these boxes even when I move them to a closet, as this gives the dishes extra protection. 

This 14 inch box gives me plenty of room to store ten 9 inch plates...I could use the smaller 10 inch box, but I like having more room around the edges which makes getting the plates out a lot easier. 

Just stack the boxes in an empty corner and they provide storage and look good.

You can even use the boxes as a display pedestal. 

I keep an inventory list on my computer of all my tabletop display items, plates, flatware, etc along with the date and place I bought the item and any branding or other descriptors (ex. if I buy a silver piece from an Antique shop and it provides the name of the item or a date, I keep that on my list since it is not marked directly on the item).  I also add a picture of the item and the quantity.  When I need something, I know exactly where it is and how many I have etc.  You could also label each of the boxes by using a tag on a string and just tape the string to the inside of the box and let the tag show underneath the lid...you could turn the box so the tag is in the corner and not showing, if using as a display in your room. 

I hope this idea helps with some of your storage needs, it has certainly helped me with some much needed clean-up and organization. 

I have a Rooster-licious Blogaversary giveaway going on, so please click here to get the details and sign up. 

Please click here to visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch as she hosts another Metamorphosis Monday, and shows us all the great changes going on around Blogland.
All The Best,

mill57@charter.net
http://www.theycallmejammi.blogspot.com/