Organizing Buttons

Although this is not the organizing post I had planned for today,

it reflects where I'm at, at the moment, which is

packing up the remnants of 20 years of life in this home of ours.

My personal button collection started when I was a junior in highschool.

A woman I was working for found bargain buttons,

25 cents for a sizeable scoop of all sorts and kinds--

so I spent a couple bucks and had a blast sorting and organizing them--

all of one kind that matched were strung onto thin wire and then put in a box.

My collection has grown since then, just bits and pieces added here and there.

I'm not a "serious" collector, I just enjoy buttons.

For years I simply sorted the colors into plastic zip bags

 and stored them in a drawer.

Then, several months ago,

we discovered these antique jars someone had given us,

and I had fun sorting them by color into jars and displaying them in a window

right above my little sewing area.

Now, it is time to move on.

My next home will be tiny, and I am trying find

as many ways as possible to conserve space

and still have the necessities close at hand.

Yes, buttons are a necessity!

(In my book.)

Here's my current solution.

Inexpensive hot wheels storage boxes from the local Walmart toy section.

My entire button collection--AND my safety pin stash--

all fit in one tidy box.

I still have one jar of buttons that I am moving "as is"--

they belonged to my mother and my grandmother.

I suppose, eventually, I will incorporate them into my own collection,

but I'm just not ready to do that yet.

One step at a time.