2016 sticker organization system

In my previous post about my newly organized writing desk and study, I mentioned I had a new organization system for stickers and stamps, and that I was considering separate blog posts about said organizational systems. Blog readers were so enthusiastic about that prospect that I must deliver! So here's a look at my new organization system for stickers.

A little background: I have a lot of stickers. You will see that in this post. I use them almost exclusively for mail and mail art, decorating envelopes, letters, postcards, etc. Previously they were fairly loose and unorganized, floating through desk drawers and scattered on my desk in piles and mis-matched envelopes... they were a mess. I could never find anything. I would say, "hey, this person loves owls, I know I have some adorable tiny owl stickers somewhere," and then I would root through desk drawers searching for them. It was a waste of time. I always meant to organize my stickers, but it was a pretty huge project. As I was setting up my writing desk, I had both energy and inspiration, and decided to do it. I should have taken photos of all the piles of my stickers as they were spread out across the entire study floor, but I didn't. Oh well.

So, my current system involves the following components, all of which I will show and explain:

Large sticker books

Small sticker books / boxes of stickers

Loose stickers sorted by theme in pocket dividers in a 3-ring binder

Loose stickers sorted by theme in drawers

Above we have the large sticker books, all together at last. They are all the same size, mostly but not exclusively from Dover. I am particularly fond of the Edward Gorey and Kliban cat sticker books. These live on top of my stationery shelves, normally tucked in next to my mail organizer. (If you want to see the whole setup in contect, see my previous post about my newly organized writing desk and study.)



Small sticker books and sticker boxes, which fortunately are all about the same size, are stacked in a pile on top of the stationery shelves, right next to my writing desk. This seems haphazard and isn't completely ideal, but I have in my head a fairly accurate idea of which stickers live there. The small books are almost all Dover, and include essentials like the Glitter old-time cats and kittens stickers (kitty kitsch!) and the Cavallini Par Avion Tin. There are also a couple of random notebooks and journals in there. Ooops. Nothing's perfect, folks!



And now, the meat of the matter: loose stickers. These were the biggest nightmare. I do not assert that my system is ideal, and I created it on the fly with materials on hand: a 3-ring binder and a few extra plastic 3-pocket postcard holders. Each pocket has a theme, and here we have fauna (glitter and non-glitter) and fantasy/mythical creatures (hello, unicorns!). You can see through to some of the pages behind it. I will spare you each and every one of the sections, but others include glitter/sparkle stars and rainbows, bats/Halloween, flora, objects, etc. This system clearly still has flaws, a major one being that it's very easy for stickers to fall out the top, so I'm careful when I'm handle it. A minor flaw is that I still have to pull them out of the sections to find something, but it is less of a hassle than rooting through entire drawers as it used to be.



The drawers still contain loose stickers, but each drawer has its own exclusive theme: the largest themes of the lot. This drawer holds exclusively CAT STICKERS. Ha. 'Nuff said.



The other drawer has one main theme with a smaller unrelated subset. The main theme is mail / meta / writing (air mail labels, mail-themed stickers, stamp-themed stickers, stickers of pens, etc) and the minor theme is snowflakes, because I tend to use a lot of snowflake stickers, and I like them close at hand.

So there you have it. My system is highly idiosyncratic and tailored to my own tastes and collections, but so far it is working extremely well for me. I'm curious to see how this system holds up over time; I am sure I will develop some complaints, but it's better than a mess of unorganized stickers!

I ♥ my new mail organizer

I got myself a couple of mail-related New Year's gifts. (I'll post about the other one soon, never you fear.) My husband saw this in a magazine and convinced me that I would love it, and he was absolutely right!



I got mine on Amazon; it is the "Gramata WA8235 House Your Mail-Wooden Organizer" in Walnut stain.



I took these photos back in January and my slots are a little more full now, but this is how I keep my mail piles in check. Oversize stuff has to go on the top, but all the little slots mean something in my system. It really is a big help in staying organized.



I was skeptical about the size of the slots at first, but most of my mail fits nicely in there. It's attractive and practical; I enjoy looking at and using it. It can be wall-mounted, but I have a nice space near my writing desk where it fits nicely on a counter. It is a few steps away from my writing desk, so it is easy to access, but doesn't take any space away from my actual writing surface.

I am wildly enthusiastic about this organizer. It is solid wood, and well-made. I recommend it highly to any mail enthusiast. I decided to leave my slots unlabeled, but you can see the little brass holders for labels (label paper included) where you can denote each slot's purpose or contents. I still have a couple of empty slots, but I know their perfect use will come to me soon.

I have finally organized my stationery!!!

Yes, folks, this post title deserves three exclamation points.

Thanks to a trip to the lovely IKEA on Monday, I have two new sets of cutely named Expedit shelves that are now organizing the items in my study. In the past, when folks asked me how I organized my stationery, I had to admit that it was spread out in a million places all over my apartment. No more!! It's all here, folks, and I am kind of chagrined to realize how much I actually have. Good gravy. NO MORE EBAY STATIONERY FOR ME. Oy.

(Yes, the shelves are blocking a door; we never use that door and it was already being blocked by another piece of furniture pre-reorganization, anyway.)

Each of the cubbies has a theme, of course, which probably only makes sense to me, but you can see them all in notes on the Flickr photo. Roll your mouse over the photo to read the notes explaining each section. (Yes, I have a whole cubby dedicated to The Muppets, a whole cubby dedicated to vintage, and half a cubby just for Edward Gorey. You see where my interests lie...)

I am way, way too excited about this. I even have two empty cubbies! (I am considering putting my letter pile in one of them, but having it in the living room, where I actually write, helps me to see it all the time and know how many letters loom.)

The only downside is that I kind of stand in front of the shelves indecisively, wondering what the hell I'm gonna use for my next letter.