Decluttering & Moving Things Around

We live in a little house; he's a collector and I'm a crafter. And, to top it off, last year I eagerly and perhaps even greedily offered to take the contents of my mom's craft room as she was decluttering. I shipped 14 boxes of her craft supplies to my home last September following a visit to her house in Alberta - I packed up, labeled and found a carrier to send them to my house. I was definitely a willing participant.

However, I hadn't thought it through and so a couple days after returning from my trip all the boxes arrived. But where was I to put them? I ended up cramming them in a shed/workshop next to our house. That shed was so full only the door could open. It was piled high to the rafters! And I couldn't access these craft supplies to make anything with them.

This weekend, JP and I worked on cleaning that shed/workshop out. I know 34+ degrees and we're in a hot shed moving boxes! But we now have a carport full of things to go to charity and bags to go to the dump. He would have gotten rid of more, but I had reached my limit. I can't do one big reduction, I need to do several smaller ones. Still, we have so much space in that shed! I am very pleased with our results so far. And this meant that I could now reduce the boxed piles in my office/workroom. And so that is what I did today - in 28 degrees/55%+ humidity(thank goodness for air conditioning in our house!)

Yay! I have space there again! What a feeling! And now I can access more things in my office/workroom so they can be dealt with accordingly. I boxed it all up in clear plastic containers and large storage bags and put them in the shed until I can work through them. I know, I know. I'm sure this is not the way Julie Morgenstern or Peter Walsh would tell you how to do it, but it's how I'm going to do it. Baby steps people, baby steps; I find it an emotionally draining task.

My issue is that I don't like unecessary waste. So if I can pass things on to someone who will use them, then I am happy to do so, however the thrift stores wouldn't be able to sell some of the items and I don't think I'll have the time to use them all up. But I do have some crafty ideas on how I'm going to reduce these supplies as well (stay tuned!). And, if you happen to know of a school group, community group or seniors home that is in need of random craft items, just let me know - I'm willing to hear your suggestions.

A picture would have been an nice addition to this post, however, that definitely exceeds my comfort zone and besides what do you want to see? A pile of boxes?

See?

Does that help?

photo from: podsboxes.com