The Great Destash: How to Clean Out Your Craft Room

destash letting go

Tips on Letting Go

My friend Kari Chapin, author of Grow Your Handmade Business, has also been clearing out the clutter in her life recently, and she had this advice, which helped me immensely:

This a really hard process for me for several reasons. Mostly, I end up with strong emotional/sentimental attachments to things. We have KEEP PILES, CONSIDERING PILES and DONATE PILES. Things we’re keeping are getting packed into big plastic tubs, things for donations are going into cardboard boxes, because we’ll have a yard sale first, and the considering piles are going onto shelves, where we can look at the items for a while to decide. I have a list of questions I refer to when I’m having trouble deciding what to do – and that helps me fight against my feelings.

This way, you don’t have to let go, and you can give yourself time to process. I still have some “considering” items on shelves in my craft room. I can always donate them later!

The other tip that I found invaluable speaks to my inner crafty hoarder and comes from my friend Annie. She said that when she destashes, she makes sure to leave one empty shelf or space in a drawer and gives herself permission to treat herself to one new craft supply. Picking up supplies might sound like the antithesis of decluttering, but I have to tell you that when I was deciding whether to part with something or not, having that reward out there helped a lot!

What I ended up doing was a modified take on Kari’s suggestion. I mentally grouped my supplies by type and area: fabric, sewing notions, stuff I crammed into that basket, mystery closet of crafty horrors, etc. Then, I went through each group to clear things out. Grouping things like this made it a lot less overwhelming.

It also helped me to set goals. Since I used to run a crafty business, for example, my fabric stash was HUGE. I mean, wow. I decided that I wanted to cut my fabric stash in half. Once I got going, though, I ended up parting with a lot more than that. Purging is a little bit addictive, and my fabric stash is now just 25% of what it used to be!

Fabric was the biggest part of my collection, but I was able to cut back on pretty much everything, from sewing notions to vintage suitcases to glitter, and it feels so good to have all of that SPACE!

Next>> Getting Organized

Image Credit: Letting Go photo via Shutterstock

1 thought on “The Great Destash: How to Clean Out Your Craft Room”

  1. Just wondering. You say people are looking to swap craft supplies they no longer want, but I can’t find any list anywhere on your site as to what people have to swap or what they want. Is there, in fact, as list, or are you hoping people will post ads?

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