Friday, May 18, 2012

Deacquisitioning


Now there's a $10 word for getting rid of crap you've saved for nearly 10 years!  Digging through all the stuff that's accumulated in the craft room is a major project.  When the room was originally created (it used to be the garage), it had a second purpose.  I used the space as a classroom for tutoring students in English.  In addition to all of the rubber stamps, paper, cardstock, ink pads, paints, specialty scissors, brayers, embossing powders, chalks, markers, colored pencils, and assorted craft tools, I've also accumulated a huge amount of teaching materials: books, workbooks, home made games (to make learning fun!), photocopies of workbook pages (so the books can be reused), home made worksheets and study aids, printouts from teaching websites...well, you get the idea.

If you compare this photo to the one I posted earlier, you'll note that the table has more junk on it and the shelves on the wall have (slightly) less, especially the top shelf.  I filled three boxes this week: one with papers that are destined for recycling, and two with books that will be donated to the American School, which has a great library and also gives away books they don't want/need.  The thing that holds me back the most from my decluttering is figuring out where to donate things that are still in great shape.  What you can't see is that the cabinet on the left now has one empty shelf and another that is mostly empty.



Here is a view from the other side of the room.  You can see the white board I used when the room was also a classroom. After I took this photo I cleaned up a fair amount of the stuff on the table, but I still have a long way to go.  I am also trying to work out a system for cataloging my rubber stamps that, unlike my current system, will also tell me where in tarnation each stamp is stored!  Many minutes are currently wasted while searching for a particular stamp.  I also would like to find a better system for storing my paper/cardstock/precut cards with envelopes, and my various coloring media.  Clearly, I've got a long way to go.

As Liat would say: baby steps.

3 comments:

Shelly said...

The hardest part is often determining how to store, catalog, and inventory. Once you choose a system to use the rest is so much easier. You've made a terrific start on rehoming the things you no longer need! You'll enjoy the room so much more when it's your new reincarnation of your perfect craft room.

Had you thought about using a shelf system similar to what rubber stamp sellers use for displaying the stamps? In our last home I had shelves that had originally been used in a store that sold rubber stamps and I repurposed them to display a collection of coffee
mugs. Hope you find the perfect solution.

Stefanie said...

Can you come over and help me w/our office?
You definitely know what needs to be done! Keep on goin'.

Joansie said...

Liat is so intelligent. Baby steps it is!!! For me, it's a lifelong venture trying to organize my yarn....sigh!