If you’re anything like me, you’ve been collecting craft supplies for years. New projects to try, materials that you’d love to use and tools that will make your crafting even better. It’s turned into quite a collection, but the problem is that it’s getting harder to find what you need, and you’re overwhelmed by how many wonderful crafty options you have.
I had a massive collection of crafty treasures. Even though I loved looking at it all every now and again, I realised that I’d changed over time and I no longer felt the desire to make pretty things with beads, and stamping was something that no longer sparked joy for me.
I realised that someone else would be excited to buy and use the crafty treasures that no longer inspired me.
The thing that I loved about doing my Craft Declutter was having less made me feel more inspired. Decluttering helped me to get clear on what I actually wanted to make, instead of feeling guilty about not using all of my crafty treasures.
The good news is that doing a Craft Declutter can be a breeze if you follow a process and have an end goal in mind.
Do your Craft Declutter in 5 easy steps:
1. Work out where and how you’re going to store your craft supplies.
Before you start pulling things out of cupboards, knowing where your craft supplies will live will help keep you focused. I ended up buying shelving from Bunnings and plastic boxes from Kmart so I could store my craft supplies in our storeroom in a way I could easily access them.
2. Get all your crafty treasures together. All of them.
This is the messy but important part, and it will get worse before it gets better. I took over the spare bedroom and had boxes piled up and crafty things all over the bed.
3. Work out what’s going to stay and what’s going to go.
Sort everything into 3 groups – stay, go and uncertain. If it sparks joy for you then it stays. If you feel nothing for it then it goes. If you’re not sure then put it in the “uncertain” group to reassess at the end. Go through all of your craft treasures and don’t put anything away and until you’ve been through everything and have split up your “uncertain” group. Be relentless and know that the “go” pile is going to someone that will love and cherish it.
4. Sort and store your “stay” treasures in categories.
How you store and sort out your “stay” treasures will depend on how you’re inspired and your style of creativity. Maybe organising everything by colour makes sense for you, or perhaps having it arrange by size or type? Try something and know that you can rearrange it later. Put it all away neatly.
5. Get rid of your “go” items.
When I did this step I split up my “go” items into a few groups – I gave some of them away to people I knew would love them, I sent some to charity and I sold the rest on eBay, Etsy and Facebook, but Craft Swap is a new and exciting alternative designed specifically for craft supplies!
Happy decluttering!
With love, Lynda.