Buying craft supplies for all your different projects adds up to a lot of money, plus then all the supplies have to be stored somewhere. Here are some tips to keep the cost down, organize your materials, avoid wasting materials, and get crafting more easily.
Shopping used sales: You don't have to be an experienced "yard saler" to find craft supplies for a a really cheap price, however, shopping used sales does take time. The perfect thing doesn't usually turn up at the first sale or thrift store you visit. If you're willing to spend time searching, though, it will pay off. Scrapbooking supplies to scrap fabric, buttons to yarn, pencils to beads. Look for unusual craft items such as artificial flowers, little boxes, wreaths, tissue paper, baskets, ceramics, even clothes such as lace scarves that can be cut up and transformed.
Storing craft supplies can be difficult. Who has room for 5 dozen boxes in their room? But if you have room, use it. Every scrap counts! I keep cardboard sheets in my closet, fabric scraps under my bed, scratch paper in my desk, and boxes full of random little trinkets everywhere. As weird as it sounds, it's so nice to be starting a project and be able to pull out these boxes and find what I need for a specific project or just for inspiration. Not just scraps from your own projects, keep an eye out for other people's unwanted items like ribbon scraps, cardboard boxes, card stock, wood chips, plastic containers, whatever you might use. This stuff is free and just as good as things you might buy at a craft store! (of course some things just have to be bought new, but not everything!)
Storing your supplies.
Unfortunately I'm not the best at organizing my huge amounts of craft "junk". I'm not totally clueless, though, so here's what I have about organizing and storing.
Shoe boxes are great for big things like different colors of fabric, yarn skeins, paper and cardboard, etc. They tend to fit really well underneath beds and stack well too. For smaller items like thread, beads, you don't have to buy special divided craft boxes. Pill boxes and snack boxes work well too. These are usually pretty cheap new, or look for used ones. Pill boxes are fantastic for storing beads. Plastic butter or yogurt containers or glass jars such as baby food jars work well also. These little containers can be placed inside shoeboxes for greater organization.
Collecting craft supplies makes quick crafting so much easier, but it also takes effort. The easiest way to start is to just collect lots of supplies and then periodically go through them and throw out the ones that won't be or haven't been used. Good luck!