Decluttering My Non-functional Craft Room: My Process

I am starting this post off with a picture or two.  It is my reality check.  It is my in-your-face, face-the-facts realization that my craft room is non-functional.  It is a depository of craft supplies but not a working craft room.  Creation and making cannot take place in such a place.  The chaos does not allow the mind to access creativity.

It is quite an overwhelming place but I knew I would need to remove a lot of things in order to just move around.  The long table in the middle of the room is covered and no work space is available.  The floor between the long table and the stamp cabinets is full of stuff and the office chair cannot roll an inch either way. The chair is full of stuff.

It is bad.  There are many bags of purchases that I have not put away.  A very unusable space.

Now I say that I like my craft room but in reality I don't treat it like I like it.  I say I love my craft supplies, yet I don't treat them like I love them.  My reality is not matching up with my belief system.  I work hard to get hypocrisy out of my life and so I need to line up my craft room with how I say I feel about it.

I gathered up many boxes large and small and put them out in the den/gaming area.  I used the top of the pool table as a staging area.  I started at the door to the craft room.  I decided that I would just keep my scrapbook, card making, paper craft and polymer clay supplies in my craft room.  Other hobbies such as oil painting, needle/yarn work, and stained glass supplies would have to find a new home (not sure where yet).  I picked up each item on the floor first and sorted it by categories.

Some categories that I had boxes for: mixed media supplies, adhesives, paper, pencils and markers, stamps, stencils, embossing folders, and dies.  I also had a box for donation to DAV and another donation box for craft supplies for the boys and girls club or youth center.  I had a garbage bag and a recycle bag.  This system of boxes and containers worked well.  If I picked up an item I knew I would not use, it went to its appropriate box. If it was a keeper, it joined other items in its category.

The first pictures were taken on the 12th of January.  Today is the 29th.  The room is not done but there has been progress.

I have dumped 3 brown bags of trash and packaging.  I have recycled 3 brown bags of paper, cardboard, and carrier board.  I have a brown bag and a large box for  donation and I have a stack of 12x12 paper, freezer bag of stickers and die cuts, and a box with markers, glue, and various other art supplies and kits for the kiddos.  

It is so good to see the progress.  It is good to realize the possibilities.  I continue with the journey and the decluttering and organization.  More to come.

Decluttering Continues: Maybe I am More of a Hoarder Than I Thought

I haven't stopped decluttering since last November when I did my concentrated thirty-one day declutter.  I still look around and see stuff everywhere.  It is not in boxes and does not cover floors (except and area about 5 feet by 12 feet in the basement, that has boxes of supplies from my former career) but it is tucked in everywhere.  The dressers, bookshelves, cabinets, and closets have too much stuff in them. Most flat surfaces have stuff on them that shouldn't be there. 

I have continued to add things to a give-a-way pile/bags and weed out stuff as I come across it in daily life and also through a focused effort on a particular area.  One bag turns into two, turns into four and then to six and so the donation pile grows.  Thinking back, I have taken 3-4 large yard sized black trash bags full of stuff and then some additional items that were not bagable, at least once a month for the last year.  Still I see too much stuff in many areas of my house.  Maybe I'm more of a hoarder than I thought.

I wouldn't be labeled a hoarder clinically as every room functions as it should, we have no problems navigating any part of the house (okay, my craft room is a little iffy), and we have guests over frequently.  Still, I can definitely say that we still have too much stuff and many items are not used or needed and some things I have too much of (eye shadow comes to mind).  I can do better.

This is the pile that we took to the donation center this past Saturday.  Six brown grocery sacks full and a box with breakable items.  There were some books, clothes, knickknacks, jewelry, stuffed toys, and miscellaneous most from the master bedroom except for a boogie board and inflatable from the swimming bag.

 I still have a rolling drawer unit with beading supplies and misc. to go through in the M.B.  After that, the remainder belongs to my D.H. and I'm not touching it.  It is best to let each person make decisions about their own stuff.   

I would think after taking all of this stuff out of the M.B., there would be nothing left in view.  There is.  Don't get me wrong; it looks so much better.  I still have a few stuffed toys that belonged to my children when they were little that I am not ready to let go of but I did get rid of at least a half dozen.  Isn't it funny, but I couldn't make a list for you if I wanted to.  Out of sight, out of mind.  I have a lot of costume jewelry to go through and I have kept several framed pictures of original art (I knew the artist) that were hung in my children's' rooms when they were small.  I have quite a few pillows, some decorative, some bed pillows that I need to do something with.  I have a lot as I keep trying to find the perfect one or combination.

Once I have decluttered the basement, the toys and pictures may go down there if I decide to hang onto them at that time.  Until then, I really am enjoying the openness and relaxed feeling of spaciousness in the M.B.  I am also limiting myself to just my Bible and two other books in the rack by my bed rather than the enormous stack of reading material that I had there.  Some of it was donated but most was put back in the areas they belong.  Interesting how things migrate throughout a house.  

I would encourage you to also add a few things each day to your donation pile.  It didn't arrive in your house all in one day so it is reasonable that it depart a little at a time also.  Everyday do something, no matter how small, to move toward your goal.  The time will pass no matter what so it is best we keeping inching toward our best life.