We all have that thing. One of the kids, or our husbands hobbies that just tend to create mess, disorder, or an unpleasant view that secretly drives us insane. One part of us wants to grab it all and chuck it out and pretend that a hobby thief came and took it away while nobody was looking. The other part of us wants our children or hubby to thoroughly enjoy their creative outlet without distraction or being pushed to do it a certain way. We want them to have the freedom to tinker and play yet we crave the orderly tidyiness that comes with an organised space.
There is nothing worse than a wife or partner who just doesn't get it, doesn't try to, and nags and annoys the life out of her kids and or husband about their hobby. Even worse are those who disrespect their family members by simply chucking out/giving away things that they feel their family members are "hoarding" or "don't need" or are just "junk". A little respect goes a long way. We all have our "thing". I love planners. My husband doesn't understand why i need more than one planner, to him, one planner, one set of post its and a pen or two is sufficient. My stationary addiction eludes him, yet he respects that it is my "thing". We need to realize just because it doesn't mean much to us, or we don't really "get it", it does not mean that it ought to go. Worth, value and usefulness is in the eye of the beholder. Of course there are some things... like that box full of old mobile phone chargers to phones you no longer own, that are more likely to be completely useless, but if hubby insists on keeping it, you organise it in a manner that it can be stored away for that ever-distant "rainy day" haha. But we aren't talking about hoarding items right now. We are talking about hobbies and the "stuff" that is necessary to go with it.
Some people are "lucky"... the worst of their problems is lego. Their kids may play it at every given opportunity so its always out. The solution to the lego hobbyist is quite easy. Depending on age there are so so many great lego solutions, pinterest is your firiend. My kids enjoy lego. I have a large queen sized sheet. It is in the large lego container we have. It is spread out over the floor and all lego MUST stay on that sheet at all times, or else. This prevents people, mainly me, from the painful atrocity that is stepping on a lethal weapon (lego piece). It also means cleanup is very quick and easy. Simply grab all 4 corners of the sheet and lift all that lego in one go, and dump it back into the box. It works very well! For ongoing projects that take days to make, or need to stay constructed to be admired, a shelf of some sort can be installed in the playroom, or a dedicated small desk. Or even, a lego corner in the bedroom. This is just one idea of about a billion.
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However there are other hobbies that are not so easily organised. Ones that require large items, or chunks of junk. People who collect scrap metal and make things out of it for example. Extremely cool and recycle-awesome thing to do, but wow does it take up some space and look very scrappy and messy. Or woodworking. This kind of hobby can be kept in the shed, since that's where most of the tools are anyway. There can be wall mounts installed in that shed for large pieces, old bike racks used to slot them into and categorise them... even a larger scale hobby such as this can be nicely organised. For things like this, a dedicated small shed is ideal. If you can fit one somewhere on your property. A second hand one could be found reasonably cheaply.
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Then there is my daughter and husband. They have a thing for Star Wars and GI Joe figurines. It started out as just collecting them. I had a small box for them to go in. Then a medium box and then a large box. Then there were so many, and each had there own weapons and so on, so it was more compartmentalised containers. However then they took it one step further. Hubby deciced he would like to try his hand at altering and re-painting figurines, and creating his own characters and such. Which is a very cool hobby in my opinion. Much better than sitting on a computer or Xbox all night or something like that. I encourage creativity in our household and thought it was great. But this new hobby meant that in our activity room, at a desk I used for homeschooling items, was a pile of figurines, box of acrylic paints, my hairdryer, some fabric for cape making, hot glue gun... the stiff was piling up. It looked messy, felt messy, was all jumbled and annoying and making me feel a little annoyed.
So I did what I do best. Or well enough at least. I got my organisational pants in a knot and brainstormed. Again, respecting my husband and daughters expansion on their collection and hobby was top priority, and if I couldn't get it just how I wanted it, I would gladly suck it up for their sake. Our home is for our comfort and enjoyment first. Having it all ordered perfectly is not priority over that purpose. But I knew we could reach a happy medium.
So here are my steps to Organising your family members hobbies in a peaceful yet efficient manner:
Step 1: Realise everyone needs a hobby, and space and freedom to make a mess while enjoying it. You don't want to stop the hobby, you want to make it work in your home.
Step 2: Sort out your own stuff before you even blink at theirs. If your whole home is a mess and you want to start with their stuff? Big no no. Deal with your stuff first. If your home is fine, and its just their stuff that's stopping organised bliss? Okay, but do they have a dedicated spot? Find one. And if that spot has other stuff in it, deal with that other spot first. Make space. Wherever you can. Just do it.
Step 3: Talk to the hobbyist about the space/setup. Ask questions, write their ideas, wishes, preferences and so on down and incorporate it into the plan. Involve them.
Step 4: When preparing the space, make sure it is practical for the user and easy to tidy up. No complicated or stringent systems allowed.
So walking into step 2, I knew that I could call that desk a write off. I was not getting it back. They needed that space, and were using it already, and it worked, sort of. So First, I organised all the things that were usually on that desk. It wasnt an awful lot, but it needed a new home. Some homeschool manipulatives, papers, things I used on a day to day that I needed some easy access to. By tweaking the room around me, and using drawers and other surfaces differently, I was able to free up most of that desk for their hobby. Which made them very happy and also dealt with some of the problem.
The next thing was their stuff. Hubby had given his best shot at "packing away" his stuff once he was done... but we are talking lots of plastic glad-bags strewn across the desk, the hot glue gun dumped into an empty ice cream bucket. His attempt at keeping it tidy was impressive. I know most men wouldnt even think to pack it away. The thought would be "Well its my desk now and Ill just leave it all out since ill use it tomorrow" My hubby did well trying to have some kind of system. I talked to him about it, asked him if he thought it was working well for him and we discussed the options. I found out that
A: He noticed our daughter (who turns 6 soon) was appreciating the figures less and less the more they got them, and we didn't like that. She was less careful with them, and didn't seem as happy and thankful when she got new ones. This concerned him, I agreed. I suggested its because she has easy unlimited access to them, and they are currently all slung in a large box, there is no value placed upon them. So lets change that. Also, its pretty hard to dig through a box of small figurines to find what you are after.
B. Hubby likes things neat and in order, he just doesn't have storage ideas and solutions. It isn't his strong point. His go to move is plastic bags, which is also not ideal for his hobby.
So, with that info, I came up with a solution. I have been wanting to get rid of the shelving on top of our tv unit for about two years now!! They are only there because they are a part of the unit, and have always been there, but are 3 quarters empty and look cumbersome and unnecessary in our living room. The reason I hadn't removed them? Too hard. They are big, we have nowhere to put them, and I didn't want to get rid of them because they are perfectly good shelving. We took that shelving, and mounted it to the wall above the hobby desk. It was perfect for holding all the figurines (with room for more) didn't take away any space in the room, in fact it utilized the wall perfectly, and it meant the figurines can all be on display which is really awesome for my hubby and daughter, they love being able to see their collection all nicely lined up. It solved my daughters lack of appreciation problem, because she was then allowed to choose 10 a day to play with. no more. And they had to go back on the shelves at the end of the day, and she could choose another 10 the next day. It worked. She respects her figurines more now, enjoys picking out her 10 each day and looks forward to using the other ones another day. They don't get destroyed by her little brother now either.
The next thing was all hubby's tools for altering figurines. I set up two containers on the desk, one for tools like hot glue gun, pliers and so on, and the other for figurines and parts that he uses to destroy and alter and create. I switched out my hairdryer (which is a good one that I don't want being used all the time to dry paint!) and is a standard sized dryer, for our little mini travel dryer we had stored away never being used. It is tiny, and lets of plenty of air/heat and is perfect for what they need it for, taking up 1/4 of the space that a large one does. Other things were also done, to turn this desk into a tidy little hobby nook. It now looks good, stays organised and is more pleasant for my hubby and daughter to work with. It is easy for them to tidy up, everything has a place, and they know where that place is. Yet its easy to access anything they need when they are at work. It is a work in progress and we still need to make a few changes to make it look more tidy and neat... however it definitely works right now!
Sure, I wouldn't ideally have all those figures (which are just toys to me) on display if it were a perfect world... however they do look kind of cool. They are at least neat, and in one place and organised and being enjoyed thoroughly by my two star wars/GI Joe fans. Plus its a space to keep all that paraphernalia. There are a few star wars lego boxes they insisted on keeping, a star wars puzzle, some ships and some GI Joe trinkets strewn throughout the house, now its all in one place. And a themed spot makes it a much better looking spot too. All round everyone is happy. Both the home manager (myself) and the hobbyists.
What are your families hobby/messy creative outlets that you want to organise?
Try the 4 steps and see if they will work for you, and may the force be with you!
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