Believe it or not, clearing clutter from your workspace releases huge amounts of blocked creative energy. This is why it is the best creative project you can start in the New year. Make it your first project in January and you will see and feel the huge change. No, do not organize without removing. Organizing doesn’t eliminate the clutter. Organizing containers just makes the clutter invisible while it still exists and is piling up.
Make it a game! 2020 is a great number. Can you find 20 and after that another 20 things to toss or donate from your craft space?
Here are my first 20 suggestions
- Old craft magazines and brochures. (Let’s be honest, we don’t even like all the ideas in them. Scan the ones you like and donate the magazines to a charity workshop or for recycling.)
- Craft books you haven’t opened in the last 2 years. (If I am honest, I love craft books, but there are a few reasons to put them in this list: books collect dust which can contribute to allergies; some publishers keep putting in different themed books the same ideas and in the end you have a whole one metre long shelf with books and only 50-100 original ideas; online you can find almost everything; sometimes these books are not on topic for us. Of course, if you are a collector of old craft books, it is different.)
- Flyers, advertising craft materials, shops, workshops and techniques.
- Expired gift cards and coupons from different craft shops.
- Old planners and bullet journals. (Read them and rewrite the tasks you didn’t complete in your new planner then recycle the rest. I know they are beautiful, but every new planner book steals more and more space and air from your craft area and home.)
- Collected clean and unused notebooks and planners. (Keep the best 3 of them and donate the rest.)
- Pens, which are too decorated to easily write with, or pens which are beautiful, but don’t work and can’t be fixed.
- Unused boxes. (We all have these – beautiful or not, which we keep to use “one day”, because “maybe I will need a box”. Keep the most beautiful and useful ones and donate or recycle the others.)
- All the storage jars which are not convenient to use or not full enough, or difficult to dust and clean. (For example, I had a few beautiful rustic ones with corn decoration that were very difficult to dust and clean.)
- Unused instruments. (Including broken instruments which we are planning to fix “one day”.)
- Especially for paper crafters: cracked stencils, bad quality dies, which is not easy to fix or sharpen
- Especially for paper crafters: all the little pieces of beautiful paper which you haven’t used in the last year.
- Chargers for tools and instruments that actually have no instrument anymore.
- Old paints, markers and glues.
- Old brushes.
- Scissors and cutters which are not sharp enough.
- Paper bags collected from different shops.
- Ribbons, twine and string from presents you have been given.
- Decorative wraps from gifts and flower bouquets you have been given.
- Old ink sponges and ink pads.
Another 20 ideas what to toss or donate in 2020
- Blending tools with scuffed and worn surfaces.
- Supplies that have never been used in at least a year (paper, wool, fabric, beads…)
- T-shirts which you are keeping to make a patchwork bed cover, but haven’t got around to it in the last two years.
- All the rag pieces you are keeping to create a rag mat one day, unless you can say exactly when that one day will be.
- Clothes, scarves, gloves and hats you are planning to redecorate or fix with decorations, but still haven’t.
- Painting canvases with twisted frames or shapes which you hope to fix one day, but haven’t in the last 3 years. (I had two, I was keeping for 7 years!!!)
- Old polymer clay or polymer clay which expires soon.
- Craft projects you didn’t finish in the last 3 years or make them a priority for the first days of the next year and finish them! (If you don’t, then throw them or donate the materials. The third day of Christmas I finished a crochet bag, which had been waiting for me for 4 years. It took me only 3 hours to complete it. I was surprised how little time it needed.)
- Old greeting cards.
- Old kids’ drawings. (I know, they are all amazing. But scan them and keep them in your computer. You can also frame your favourites like I have. An idea: there are coffee shops which will appreciate your children’s drawings for wall decorations.)
- Old seasonal or not so seasonal decorations (especially the ones, which are difficult to dust).
- Broken things like pieces of wooden drawers, mugs, jewellery, spoons… which you haven’t been able to involve in a recycling project for the last year.
- Things you bought from someone’s garage sale just because they were beautiful and cheap. (I really believe that stuff collects its owner’s energy – don’t keep it!)
- All craft materials which don’t suit your presently preferred style of work.
- Jewellery you plan to separate into pieces and use as craft materials “later, in the future”.
- Old party make-up supplies, especially children’s ones.
- Old party decorations, such as tiaras with horns or flowers, fairy wings, wigs and all the others, which you or your children haven’t used in the last two years.
- Expired food decoration such as food colouring, pearls, glitter etc.
- Herbs and dried flowers you haven’t used for your craft projects in the last year.
- All the folders, boxes and temporary shelves which now are empty – hopefully!
These were my suggestions? Did I forget something important? I will be happy if you share in comments your ideas – they can be really helpful for others! Thank you!
Happy New year! ♥
If you are curious about seriously changing the concept of your craft space, read my book Capsule craft collection
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