So…back in October I posted about my goal to clean out my craft room HERE. I purchased a new shelving unit and had grand plans…but life kind of got in the way and it took longer than I figured it would.
That’s okay though, because I’m happy to say that I’ve finally completed most of my goals for my space! Yay! Today I’m sharing my DUMP and PURGE process–the two first steps in organizing a space. Since I wanted to compress my three shelving units into one I mostly needed to purge and reorganize the items on those shelves, not my entire space.
So the first order of business was to remove everything from my punch station. That shelf is a small half-size unit that contains almost all of my punches and punch boards. I pulled everything off, placed it on surfaces in my space, and went through them (not a lot to get rid of because I use them all pretty regularly).
I gave away most of my Anna Griffin supplies so I had some room on my wall mounted shelf to temporarily house them while organizing everything.
And here’s the blank space once I removed the small shelving unit.
I placed it out in the hall and photographed it so I can sell it online. (If you’re local check out my listings on KSL.com.)
Next, I moved on to the larger shelving units. These shelves housed all my papers, many embellishments, some tools, my idea books/magazines, some of my favorite completed projects, and some basic office supplies. This is where I had a lot to purge!
I laid out some empty boxes along with a large trash bag. I determined which were the usable items–collections and embellishment packs with either nothing missing or just a few parts missing; tools in good condition; magazines/idea books I don’t need. I placed those items into the boxes and threw away lots of scraps because I only give away whole sheets of paper (meaning the original whole size, whether 6×6 or 12×12). This took two evenings and I did it while catching up on my favorite shows on my TiVo. =)
Obviously this meant my space was unusable for a few days with everything piled up on my work surfaces, so I waited until I was in between assignments and had a couple of free days to get the bulk of the organizing over with.
Here’s the area in my space where the shelves used to be–that’s where my Ikea Kallax shelving unit ended up.
Well, that’s pretty much it for my DUMP and PURGE process. Though I do have a few dump and purge tips to share with you. These are some rules of thumb that I find really helpful, though a different set of rules may work better for you.
1) Only keep what you really love and know you’ll use. If you are unsure whether to keep an item or not, try asking yourself the following questions:
Do I really love this item and use it often?
Have I used this item in the last 6 months?
Am I likely to use it within the next 6 months?
If the answer is YES to all three above questions, keep the item.
If the answer is NO to any of the above questions, put it in your TOSS, RECYCLE or DONATE pile.
2) Remember, it’s okay to get rid of items that you don’t really love. If you don’t really love them they’re most likely going to sit and gather dust in your newly organized space, so let someone else have a chance to enjoy them. Also, if you haven’t used an item within a year, you most likely will never use it!
3) It’s important to take care of the trash, recycle, and donate items as soon as possible after you finish sorting so you have all the room you need for your favorite goodies.
4) Try giving unwanted usable items to your local elementary school art teacher, a boys/girls club, a women’s shelter, a senior center, or a crafty friend. You could also have a crafty yard sale, or check out your local scrapbook store to see if they sponsor yard sales.
Stayed tuned for the SORT/ORGANIZE/PLACE part of my craft room clean out. I’ve have lots of fun photos and tips to share so be sure to check back.
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