Yvonne Glasgow
Spring cleaning your craft room is a great way to make room for new craft ideas and let go of the stuff you’re no longer using. Maybe you’ll find some room in there to do some crafting.
Crafting is a great way to keep busy, have fun, and even make money, but there’s no reason to hold onto stuff you no longer use. When it’s time to clear your craft space, here are some steps that will help.
Pull Everything Out
This means every craft supply you have. You can do it by sections if you have a lot of stuff and are worried about being overwhelmed. You can start sorting things as you pull it from its home, or you can pile it all up Marie Kondo-style and then go through everything. (I like to do the latter—you get to see the immensity of all those supplies you’ve accumulated and get a better understanding of why it’s time to let some of it go.)
Separate Everything Into Piles
Like when you’re cleaning out your closet or dresser drawers, separate your craft stuff into a few piles. You can keep specific craft items together, like your yarn with yarn and your scrapbooking supplies with scrapbooking supplies. But you also want piles for supplies you no longer need—divide these piles into sellable items, stuff to donate, things to give to crafty friends, and stuff that’s garbage. Actually, you can throw the garbage right in the trash can (or recycling bin).
If you’re saving stuff for friends, shoot them a message right away to see if they want what you have for them. No sense in holding it only to find out they didn’t need or want it, and you could have hauled it to the thrift store sooner.
If you’re not sure if you need that craft item or not, consider whether you need it for an active project or if it’s something you haven’t touched in six months or longer. Anything you haven’t used in at least six months should be on the chopping block. Keep stuff with general household use, like extra nails and your sewing kit. If you’re not using them in the craft room, put them in a utility or junk drawer.
Box Up Stuff to Get Rid Of
Even the stuff you think might sell on eBay or Etsy needs to have a home until you take pictures and make listings. Put the stuff in some boxes or plastic totes and set it aside until you’ve completed your spring cleaning.
If you have friends who might want to pick through supplies you’re donating, ask them to come over within a short amount of time, so you don’t have boxes of old craft supplies sitting around tempting you to keep stuff you know you don’t need. The sooner you haul those donations to the thrift store, the better.
Put Away the Stuff You’re Keeping
Now it’s time to focus on the stuff you decided to keep. Aside from putting things away, a few organizational tricks can make it easier to find what you need when you need it and to ensure you know where everything for each project is.
Put All Specific Project Supplies Together
Keep everything for individual projects together. If you do a lot of scrapbooking, keep all of your scrapbooking paper, embellishments, and glue together or at least in the same area of your craft room. This way, it’s easier to find what you need when you need it.
If you have miscellaneous supplies you use for various projects, keep all of those items together to save space and not have a bunch of stuff spread out.
Use Clear Plastic Containers or Cloth Shelf Bins
I like to store all of my crafting supplies either in clear totes (so I can see exactly what’s inside without having to dig through them) or in cloth shelf bins (where everything is wide open and easy to access). If I do use something that isn’t clear or open, I stick a label on the side so I know what’s inside.
Shelve It
One other thing that has kept my craft room a place I like to work in is having all of my supplies on shelves. When I didn’t have enough shelving, everything was all stacked on the floor: It was a mess, there was too much clutter in the room, and I didn’t have enough space to get any work done. So, make sure you have shelving for your storage bins and cloth bins for easier access and less clutter.
Have a Special Place for The Stuff You “Might” Need Later
The final important tip for spring cleaning your craft room is knowing what to do with things you might need later. Sometimes it’s just hard to get rid of things, especially when craft supplies aren’t always cheap to buy in the first place.
Maybe you have supplies you’re not using now but you’re sure you might use in the future, and you want to hold on to them rather than having to spend a bunch of money on replacing them. Save a storage bin just for these items and put them in your basement, attic, or under your bed. They’ll be out of the way but easy to find when you need them again.
Do be careful with this method. It might lead to you spring cleaning your attic years from now and saying, “Why on earth do I have so many boxes of yarn up here?” So, be sure if you put something in deep storage, you intend to use it later.
