How To Declutter Craft Supplies & Equipment
Today's mission is to declutter craft supplies and equipment from your home that you no longer use or love, so you can enjoy the hobby materials you do keep.
This mission is designed to be done while we work on the Craft Organization Challenge here on the site, which is one of the 52 Week Organized Home Challenges.
The reason, of course, is that you should never organize anything until you first get rid of the clutter, and that includes craft clutter, because you don't want to organize clutter!
In fact, we'll be working all week on getting rid of craft clutter, in all of its forms, eventually leading up to being able to declutter your craft room or area, because the ultimate goal is enjoy doing your crafts and hobbies again, instead of sifting through lots of clutter trying to find what you'd like to use or work on.
What Types Of Craft Supplies & Equipment Does This Mission Include?
I purposefully made this mission broad in scope, because we all have different hobbies and enjoy different crafts, and I didn't want anyone to feel excluded.
Today I want you to focus on whatever types of supplies and equipment you have, including, but not limited to:
- Yarn
- Knitting needles and crochet hooks
- Fabric (get an idea for fabric storage here)
- Quilting supplies and equipment
- Ribbons
- Washi tape
- Thread, needles, and other sewing equipment and supplies, including large equipment like a sewing machine, serger, etc.
- Beads
- Jewelry making equipment and supplies
- Rubber stamps, and ink pads
- Paper, such as for scrapbooking or card making
- Scissors and other cutting tools like punches, etc.
- Glue and other adhesives
- Glitter and sparkles
- Floral arrangement supplies and equipment
- Candle making supplies
- Woodworking supplies, equipment and tools
- Paints and paint brushes and other supplies
- . . . And the list could be endless! There are so many fun hobbies and crafts to do!
Please note that you can focus on your own crafting supplies and equipment today since tomorrow we'll focus on the kids' arts and crafts supplies.
How To Declutter Crafting Materials & Equipment
If you really enjoy crafting, and therefore have lots of supplies and equipment, this mission can take quite a while, which is fine. It will take you as long as necessary.
I suggest always decluttering in 15 minute increments, so that you don't get overwhelmed, or pull out too much stuff at once that is hard to clean up and can end up making a bigger mess.
Here's my explanation of how to declutter your home 15 minutes at a time, which you can use during this process.
You want to get rid of any craft supplies that:
- Are broken, or no longer work (such as dried up glue, broken tools, etc.)
- Items you haven't used within a year or longer
- Crafts you are no longer interested in working on, such as supplies for hobbies you no longer enjoy
- Duplicates, if you can't reasonably use them all within a given period of time, such as within a year or less (keep your favorites, or the best ones and get rid of the rest)
- Any supplies and equipment you do not have room to store properly in your home
This last criteria is the one that is often the hardest to deal with. You may love all of your supplies, and have every intention of using them all, but if you have two drawers worth of craft items, but only have room to store things in one drawer, then you've got to keep prioritizing and choosing the stuff you love the most, until everything fits into the one drawer.
Hopefully, as you work through this sometimes tough decluttering process you'll make some realizations about how much craft supplies you've purchased or received, and make choices that work better for you in the long run. (I personally found, at one time, that I enjoyed the hobby of buying craft supplies more than actually using my supplies. Perhaps you're the same, and this mission will help you decide to change that.)
Photos From Declutter 365 Participants Who've Already Done This Mission
Here are quite a few photos sent in by readers who've already done this mission, to show you their results, and hopefully inspire you to tackle this task for yourself, today.
First, here are several photos from a reader, Erica, who explained that these photos showed her, "decluttering my craft punches. I did 4 rounds of purges to get to my after. First I got rid of the ones that I obviously didn't want anymore. Then I decluttered the ones that I knew I wouldn't use. Next went the ones that were similar to anything that I could cut with one of my electric die-cutter. The final purge consisted of punches that were broken, hard to use, or ones that I missed previously! Now I can better see what I have and actually use them."
Here's a before and after set of photos from a reader, Dora, who said, "This was my 'craft' stuff. I purged and condensed into smaller containers. They are now in my spare closet!!"
Next are a set of photos from Tina, who had recently moved and tackled her crafting supplies as she unpacked. She said, "I am still unpacking my garage from the move and brought more stuff in tonight to put away, namely my craft section." She continued, "I ditched the two 3 drawer containers and combined all our arts and craft supplies into two drawers in the kitchen instead of five spots all over the house. I also decluttered a lot of half finished projects that will never be finished...lol!"
Finally, here is a photo from Geriann who figured out a great way to get those crafting supplies out of her home -- she mailed them off. She explained, "These are full of craft items. I'm so happy to be sending them off to people who can use them. It's going to scout troops, children's cancer camp, a heart disease group and military mamas who make cards. And I still have plenty."
That's a great idea Geriann! Using this method gets them out of your house, but you don't feel as bad about it because you know the supplies are going somewhere to be enjoyed!
Want To Do More Decluttering Missions? Get Started With Declutter 365 Today!
Once you declutter one type of item in your home I bet you'll want to declutter some more. After all, decluttering gives you a great reward for even a small investment of time and energy.
The Declutter 365 system is designed to help you declutter, over the course of a year, your entire house, with just 15 minutes of decluttering each day!
Hundreds of thousands of people use this proven system to get rid of their clutter, and bring peace and calm back to their homes.
Declutter 365 works to guide you to clear the clutter without overwhelm, focusing on just one small area at a time, and without making a huge mess in the process, so you see consistent forward progress without all that "messy middle" that makes it even harder to function in your home than before you started.
In addition to building a daily decluttering habit, the Declutter 365 program, along with the accompanying 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, teaches you the skills, habits, routines, and mindsets necessary to maintain the clutter free and organized state of your home from now on, so it'll never be as messy and cluttered as it is right now, ever again.
If you haven't already, make sure to get your copy of this year's Declutter 365 annual calendar here (it's FREE!), find today's date, and do 15 minutes of decluttering on the day's mission. Then, repeat again tomorrow, and again and again. Over the course of the next year, if you do this 15 minutes per day, you'll declutter your whole house!
Get This Hobby & Craft Decluttering Checklist + 32 Other Decluttering Checklists For Your Home
Right now you're decluttering your crafts and hobby supplies, and there's a lot of stuff to declutter in this category of stuff in your home.
I've done the hard work of breaking down these tasks into smaller more manageable steps for you, so you don't get overwhelmed or worry you're forgetting a task, and you can go at the pace you want, whether that's fast or slow.
In addition, you can tackle these decluttering tasks in whatever order you want when you use these checklists!
In addition, here is a round up of over 60 craft storage solutions and organizers (referral link), for many types of crafts and hobbies, to get your supplies, tools, and equipment organized and ready for you to use and enjoy.
Finally, here's a little decluttering funny for you, about craft supplies.
Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase a product through them I receive a small commission which helps me provide this information to you for free, plus support my family. My integrity and your satisfaction are very important to me so I only recommend products I would purchase myself, and that I believe would benefit you. To learn more please see my disclosure statement.
Related Pages You May Enjoy
Getting Rid Of Craft Clutter Hall Of Fame
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