All About Organization - Paper Storage

I'm working on a series of posts regarding organization and storage as I just did my craft room make over. So I can share a few tips on this topic. Over the years I have purchased more and more stuff and stay organized has become a challenge.

For paper storage, I asked this question myself: how do I want to categorize my card stock?
It can be by colour, by company, by pattern, by size, by theme etc...it can be overwhelming.

And this is how I approach it:

1. By Size - 12x12, Letter, or 6x6
I am storing my 12x12 paper in the IKEA Besta shelf (the Besta Shelf is deeper).

The 8x11.5 in the IKEA Billy shelf (the Billy is the same depth of the Letter Size paper).

I am putting my 6x6 paper in these container and they are easy to flip through.

I got the container from local Daiso store, for $2 each.

2. By Type - Colour or Pattern
For plain colour card stock, I'm categorizing them by colour. The paper with same colour family would be in one pouch.

3. By Company
I have a few paper from the same company and they are rather unique, e.g. Graphic 45, and I would like to group them together.

4. By Theme
The rest of the pattern paper, I am grouping them by theme. So if I want Christmas paper I can just pull out from that stash.

Paper pouch
The main purpose of having a storage bag is for grouping (and to keep the paper from dust). I was looking for sturdy clear bag of 12x12 size but it's just hard to find (in the price I range I'm aiming for, as i need approx 40-50). At one point I found some A4 size clear bag which costs $2 for 6 of them. Not too bad in terms of price I just cut up the top part to put my 12x12 paper. And it fits well for my Letter size paper too.

But...as I was passing by the detergent section of the supermarket one day, I found this extra large ziploc bag that is exactly the size I want. The plastic is sturdy, and the best part, it's on sale! $1.99 for 20 of them! So I quickly grab 2 boxes. Now some of my paper are in the smaller bag and some in the ziploc bag. I totally recommend storing the 12x12 paper in these kind of extra large ziploc bag. I am still debating whether I want to cut out the top so I can put the paper in more easily but I'm leaving that for now.

In summary...
I believe the first thing is to decide on your storage system, i.e. the actual furniture. If you have a bookshelf, or a drawer, what are the dimensions? That is the deciding factor for the size of the container that you can get. Then work from there. For furniture, IKEA Expedit(now becoming the Kallax) is a popular option.

There are even some products out there specially made for the Expedit, such as this.

For me, I prefer the look of the bookshelf so I would prefer Bestå because it's the same depth as the Expedit/Kallax.

At the end, I pick Billy for the price (it was on sale).

In terms of storage container, Fridge Binz is a great option. And there are few more things I think is great too. If you just need a few of them and price would be a lesser concern, though.
Fridge binz - great for 6x6 paper pad. It comes in various sizes and are good for storing other things too such as clear/cling stamp.
Cropper Hopper holder - perfect for 12x12 card stock. Check out Jennifer's video on paper storage as I am totally inspired by her to have a make over of my craft room.