Sorry for not keeping up with my daily Pinterest posts.  I got a little waylaid by the holidays, meant to start up on January 1st, but that day got away from me as well.  But never fear I’m back.

I will be catching up over the next few days, but hopefully within the week, I should be back to one Pinterest post per day.

To start the new year off right, I’ve been decluttering (I seem to be constantly decluttering) and trying to organize my craft and household supplies.  I have an unstated goal this year of trying to accomplish as many of my goals and activities without spending any or very little money.  I became aware of something called the Compact in a blog post entitled, “Are you ready to stop buying in 2013?” by one of my favorite bloggers, the Non-Consumer Advocate.  I have to say my initial response to the question was “YES!!!!!”

Here’s what Katy Wolk-Stanley (The Non-Consumer Advocate) has to say:

“Buy nothing new for a year. It’s called The Compact, and it’s a world-wide movement where people make a one year commitment to stop buying new stuff. There are no official rules, and everyone puts their own twists and exceptions in their Compact. (For example, I allow purchases of new underwear and socks.) Because I have been participating in The Compact since 2007, my rules have relaxed and I do buy a few new things every now and then, but for the most part it’s a rarity.

Everyone brings their own personal motivation to the project, and for some the choice to avoid new stuff is purely environmental, while for others it’s a financial decision. Doesn’t matter, as it’s your decision, and the result is the same. Over manufacturing of unnecessary and overly packaged stuff is a huge global issue, and The Compact is a great way to take a personal stand.”

So I think I’m going to do my level best to try this.  Obviously I agree with the “new underwear and socks” exception, and I’m sure I’ll come up against other things as I go along, but after I found 50 mechanical pencils rounded up from various areas of the house, I knew something had to change.

So back to Pinterest and organization.  I have an organization board on Pinterest (I know, shocker!) and have pulled these ideas from there.

P365 – Day 50 – Glitter storage.  I have lots of glitter tucked away in boxes, and if you’re like me, out of sight, out of mind.  I saw this pin and decided to collect as much glitter as I could find (until I discover a gold mine later during a decluttering session) and pour it into these cute little baby salt & pepper shakers.  Before you ask, I already had these shakers in anticipation of this pin.  They look so cool in my glitter basket.  As a little extra tip, I use coffee filters to catch glitter when I’m working with it.  They’re really pliable and it’s easy to funnel the glitter back into its container.

P365 – Day 51 – Button storage.  I have been collecting buttons for years.  But they’re all in one big container and when I need a certain color, I have to go digging.  I saw this Pinterest post and thought I could take some Starbuck’s Frappaccino bottles that I’ve been saving (courtesy of a friend) and team them up with this handy spice rack.  As you can see each bottle holds a different color of button and fits quite nicely in the rack.  Now I just need to find the perfect space for this in my craft room.

P365 – Day 52 – Organizing cords with toilet paper rolls.  Another fabulous use for those toilet paper rolls.  I found a box to house the toilet paper rolls and then started sorting my cords.  We were given a Blu-ray player (nice, I know) and Mike was hooking it up yesterday, but needed a certain cord.  I went to our cord box and spent quite a bit of time untangling and sorting before I found the right one.  Seeing this post convinced me that there is a better way.

Until tomorrow,

“Sooooo… are bones included in this ‘no buying new’ deal?  We think your exclusion list should be – underwear, socks and bones.”