Repackaging

Today’s decluttering prompt was “subscriptions”, which included physical magazines and digital blogs, newsletters, etc.

Truth from today’s Facebook

I did a major destash two years ago (here), donating 11 boxes of spinning, weaving, crochet and knitting books (most magazines ended up in the trash ☹️) to my guild’s annual sale, 

so I was pretty sure the magazines I kept were ones I still wanted. 

The magazine destash pile 

But… did I want them taking up prime real estate in my craft room or was there a better way?

I didn’t bother setting a timer since I wanted this finished today, 

but after 2-3 hours, 

all the magazines were organized in cubes and stored in a cabinet in the tv room, easy to get to but out of the way. 

Moved my quilting books to within easy reach from my chair, the blank cd’s to the bottom of the bookcase (can’t quite bring myself to trash them yet) and voilá…

pretty, prime shelf space ready for whatever I decide to put there in the next 18-ish days.

All the destashed kids books, novels and craft magazines are bagged up, ready to be dropped off with Friends of the Library tomorrow. In addition to whatever the Challenge prompt is on Sunday, I’m planning to go through all the kid toys and declutter those too. Want to guess what Jac said when I asked if she wanted to come supervise or risk me doing it in my own?? She does love being the boss of me. 

I’m A Meme

Today’s declutter prompt was “squatters”, things in your sewing room that belong elsewhere. With the exception of Jac’s art supplies (which are everywhere!) and the photos I moved out earlier this week, I don’t have many squatters so I picked two more spots to concentrate on instead. 

First up is the small shelf above my ironing board which holds an amazing amount of crap clutter.

All this was precariously on that tiny shelf

Which brings me to the meme -

this is soooooo me! I love a good, solid, well made box.

I was almost more excited about the boxes hubby’s Christmas present came in than the actual gift. And look what turned out to be the perfect size for today’s challenge!!

Ridiculously pleased. The left box holds tools I use at the ironing board or cutting table, the right has post-it notes, various tapes - scotch, washi, highlighter - and notepads.

And they also look great with the mug Teena gave me, which can never leave my craft room… (hubby hates flamingoes and I think they’re hilarious, so we agree they will stay out of his view.)

Today’s second spot was my cutting table, the clearing of which was my main motivator for starting this 21 day challenge. This is Jac’s favorite place to sit and do her art (which is why my big cutting board looks so awful - that and the fact it’s over 12 years old) and her stuff is like rabbits, multiplying whenever my back is turned. 

The far end of the table is a magnet for clutter, project scraps and things that have no home. 

It took more than the allotted 30 minutes, but look how pretty it is! The baskets in front will stay here - they hold (from left to right) my rotary cutters, fabric/thread scraps and my favorite cloth tape measure that I use constantly. The back row of stuff will go elsewhere as organizing continues.

I’ve decided, as a reward for all this cleaning and organizing, to let hubby buy me a new big cutting mat. He’s going to be so excited. 😜

P.S. I did not want to work on this today, no way no how, but now that it’s done I’m really pleased. Onward to day 3.

Tis The Season

I’m big on setting goals and joining ‘alongs’ at the start of a new year. Not always so great at finishing them… but it’s the thought that counts, right??

This year I’m doing the Declutter Challenge run by Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts (website here; YouTube channel here). The goal is a decluttered and organized sewing room in 20-30 minutes a day for 21 days. 

Things got out of hand the last 3 months or so. I had a couple of big projects with Christmas deadlines, plus we tend to use my sewing room as a dumping ground when we’re cleaning/decorating for the holidays, on top of ‘messy’ being my comfort zone… and yeah, it’s time for a reboot.

We’ve had those black pots since the first year we were married…

I started two days early by clearing out the pots/pans/appliances I removed from the kitchen 1? 2?? years ago but held on to ‘just in case’ I changed my mind,

then moved the overflow photo books/boxes out of my craft room…

which led to organizing the old albums by year (in pretty new bins!),

clearing out the boxes of kids books ⬆️

and novels ⬆️ that shared the space,

and moving all the photo boxes/albums/supplies to one area so I can organize everything 

New storage boxes Marie got me at Michaels - on clearance!

and maybe, just maybe, have them not be scattered in (almost) every room in the house.

Today’s declutter prompt was ‘Is this garbage?’ plus clearing around the sewing machine so we could work on fun things during the challenge. I picked two areas to concentrate on - my ironing board ⬆️ and sewing tables (see second pic from top). 

When the 20 timer dinged, the ironing board was almost done (still need to clear off Jac’s art supplies from the end),

the tables were clear (not sure what I’m going to do with the old computer…)

and I’d found a pretty basket to hold all the supplies I keep around my machine. Still lots to do but I’m loving the progress!