Emilia of Auburn & Ivory was sweet enough to share her organizing hits and misses for my Lost + Found series. That's what I love about her q + a. She may not have everything neatly organized, but one of her tips motivated me to make an organizing change — and poof I just started a Tumblr site. I love that Tumblr creates a virtual "container" of inspiration that will never be stuffed full. How fantastic. As for Emilia, besides taking Polaroids and being super cute with her fiance (check out their sixties/vintage/French style engagement photos!), she has an Etsy shop and a blog full of delights. I've never met Emilia, but she seems like the kind of gal you want to sit down with a couple cupcakes and just swap ideas. Here's Emilia on how she organizes:
magazines
I filter magazines in and out of a small, wicker basket next to
the couch. If it starts to get too jam-packed that means something HAS
to go. I also have a composition notebook that I use if there is an
article or image from a magazine that I desperately need in my life.
Designating a small area for things like magazines helps because it
forces you to be organized.
photos (both digital + prints)
Most of my pictures are digital and organized in folders on my
laptop. I upload A LOT onto facebook and flickr. I also went through
all of my photos recently and saved them to a CD-RW in case my computer
every crashed. For prints I have albums for different "eras" of my
life. There is the crazy college years album and, most recently, I've
started an album for Polaroids. I like to display my Polaroids on
walls too and I switch it up every once and awhile.
tax paperwork + receipts
This is where I need the most help in my life. I usually start
out really well and organize everything in a small filing cabinet by
year, etc., but then eventually things start being thrown into the "oh,
I'll file that later pile." Needless to say it has been awhile since
I've actually filed anything. I'll be sure to get right on that! If I
had more $$ I would invest in shelving and small boxes that I could
label. Not sure if this would help but it would be nicer to look at!
craft supplies
Yeah, this is a pretty disastrous area as well. I used to keep
all my craft supplies in a suitcase in the corner of my living room. Then I needed to use said suitcase and now it just looks like a craft
bomb exploded in the office. This is where the shelving and labeled
boxes (see above) would come in pretty handy! I'm also saving to
invest in one of those old spice cabinets. That would be so pretty!
and with so much inspiration all around,
how do you organize what you want to hold onto?
This is where the power of technology comes in pretty
handy. I do have an inspiration board in the office but I hardly put
stuff up there since most of what I find is online. Usually if I see
something I love I either post about it on my blog or I save it in my
Tumblr. Tumblr is amazing! You just click a little button on your
toolbar and wham it's saved in there forever.
A big thanks to
Emilia for being part of
Lost + Found (and helping me solve an organizing problem!)
{photographs via auburn & ivory}last week's lost + found: stephanie of stephmodonext week's lost + found: anabela of fieldguided
