Ten years ago, my sister-in-law got me hooked on scrapbooking. I started out with a scrapbook full of my pictures from the time I spent living in Africa, and then moved on to scrapping our daily lives. I did several albums over the years, and always enjoyed working on them. Then we had our son, and my scrapbooking came to a pretty grinding halt. I know – most people start scrapbooking to record their children’s lives, and my timing is a bit backwards, but it is what it is. I did about 20 pages of his baby album the summer after he was born, but it stops when he’s about three months old, and the rest of the pages are blank. I’ve made a few gift scrapbooks since then, but have switched to mostly posting photos on Facebook for friends and family, and archiving them on the computer for us. I still imagine myself scrapbooking again, but with our business, two little boys, our garden, exercise, etc., my days are completely filled up now, with no time left over for crafting. If I have a free hour in the day, I’d rather spend it playing trains with our son than making a scrapbook page about him playing trains.
Someday I may come back and work on our son’s baby book again, and someday I might start a baby book for our second son. But that day is not now, and it’s probably not likely to be anytime in the near future. What is likely to be happening in the near future is our basement finishing project (I know, we were supposed to be starting on that months ago. But the garden had to take priority in the spring/early summer, and we had a baby in the middle of all that too…). We decided that the less stuff we have in the basement, the easier it will be to work down there, so we started clearing stuff out. One whole corner of the basement had been devoted to my craft supplies, even though I’ve done very little crafting since we moved here. There was a large table (covered in craft stuff) and a set of floor-to-ceiling shelves next to it, all full. I had stuff that I didn’t even remember (my mother-in-law has been buying my scrapbook supplies for ten years, a lot of which I had never opened).
I’m not getting rid of all of it. We’re planning to include a counter-top-style built in craft area in the basement, with some shelves under it to hold supplies, and a place for my sewing machine. But the area will be a lot smaller than the current “craft area”, so some pruning was in order. I started by going through my fabric scraps and sorting out all of my felted wool scraps (I had used them to make diaper covers for our son a few years ago, but haven’t used them since and don’t have any plans to use them in the future). I posted a listing on Craigslist for a free box of wool scraps and soon got a reply from a lady who has a “very crafty” ten year old daughter who would love the wool. We emailed back and forth, and it turns out that the little girl loves anything to do with crafts, and the mom said she would be thrilled to have any craft supplies that I don’t need anymore. Knowing that a specific little girl would be getting my stuff made me much more motivated to clear out my supplies. They’ve been gathering dust in our basement for two years, and she’d actually be using them. After about an hour down there, I’ve got quite a stack for her: a drawer organizer, a shelf organizer, a large bag of fabric scraps, the box of wool scraps, and a large box of various scrapbook supplies. Hopefully they arrive with a car that has lots of trunk space…
I also listed the table on Craigslist, and had several responses right away. Listing things for free is an easy, fast way to get rid of stuff you don’t need anymore. And one of the bonuses of purchasing things used is that when it’s time to part with them, you don’t feel a need to recoup the money you spent on them, since it wasn’t much to begin with.
So this weekend, we should have a person coming to pick up the table and a little girl getting lots of craft supplies. My craft area in the basement feels much more manageable now, and I think it will all fit in the smaller area we’re planning for it. As time goes by, I’ll revisit the craft supply question. If I’m still not using what’s left, I’ll let it go. There’s really no point in holding onto stuff just because we imagine ourselves using it someday. In an interesting coincidence, Miss Minimalist wrote a post today that addresses the same issue.
Are you holding onto stuff you don’t use, just because you imagine yourself using it someday? Or because someone gave it to you and you feel like you shouldn’t get rid of it? Or just because…?
Jaime B says
I bought my first home about a year and a half ago. Now that I’m relatively stationary, my Mom has been sending me home with things after every visit to their house. A lot of it is stuff of mine that she’s kept – old yearbooks, scrapbooks, trophies, etc. However, the rest are momentos from my birth father who died when I was 2 and other items of my Mom’s – their yearbooks, articles that my paternal Grandmother wrote that Mom kept (Grandma is still with us), articles about my father’s death, grade cards, pictures, etc. I just have everything in boxes in the basement right now. Almost all of these things were never displayed in the house while we grew up (Mom remarried when I was 5), so it’s not really organized. I’m hoping to put together a couple of displays, maybe a couple of large shadow boxes, so that some of it is out permanently. I also need to divide it so half can go to my brother. But, it’s a lot of stuff – all of it sentimental. My own things should be fairly easy to deal with but it will be tough letting go of my dad’s things since I feel like even if I don’t feel attached to something today, who knows if I will change my mind as I get older or if I have kids, if they’ll want something. I think the solution is to just keep what I want and send anything questionable to my brother. LOL, I’ll let him make that tough decision of whether to throw something away.
Peg says
I wanted to suggest that you might enjoy hearing about Finding Photo Freedom by Stacy Julian. She has a great approach to scrapbooking that might really speak to your heart and mind and allow you to enjoy scrapbooking in a different way. You can hear more about her philosophy at her blog at http://www.stacyjulian.com and she also teaches a class at http://www.bigpictureclasses.com but unfortunately the most recent session is ending this week. There is a book but it is very hard to find on the secondary market. Anyway, wanted you to know there might be other options besides the chronological scrapping you were doing before. Also, what you are doing with blogging, FB and all that other stuff ‘counts’ too…it’s all about storing the memories so keep taking pictures and it’ll all sort out in the end. Some people keep a private blog for just such a purpose.
Frugal Vegan Mom says
I would love to hear more about your time in Africa – you should start a weekly story series sharing some of the pages from your scrapbook =).
I am not very crafty. I put photos in albums, but that’s it. My M.I.L. (upon my request – I got dizzy going into the store!) got me some scrapbooking supplies to make a wedding album three years ago and the project hasn’t been touched… since my amount of “craft” things are so minimal I’m keeping them for the time being…maybe my creativity will flow again once I’m a stay at home mom – starting next week!!
Karen says
I resisted starting new crafts because I tend to go overboard. When I do a scrapbook page I really do it and spend way more money than I need to. I have decided to only do the crafts that I don’t need tons of supplies for. Sewing I have been doing since I was 8 and knitting I took up within the last few years but love it as it’s portable and the projects don’t take up tons of room.
I still keep scrapbooking supplies at home to make gift tages but I STILL have more than I need. They take up an entire dresser we use as a buffett in the dining room. We need that for storing other items so the supplies need to be weeded out.
This post came at the perfect time as I am laid off right now and going through my house on a MAJOR purge. Thanks!
Kelly says
We are in the process of turning our playroom into a babies room. The closet in said room is full of junk and one of the things in it is a huge duffel bag of yarn from when I thought I was going to be a crocheter. That never panned out, so I have been holding on to a big bag of yarn (mostly given to me) that I am thinking of parting with. My husband, a big hoarder, says I should hang onto it in case I get into it again, but I am not really thinking that will happen. We need the space for the new baby!
Kelly says
babies should be baby’s – there is only one coming!!
Sense says
I tend to hoard but I’ve moved every 4 years since leaving the house at 18, most of them overseas trips where I can only bring 2 suitcases worth of stuff to start over, so my things have been culled to a minimum. I love it, but sometimes I do wish I had kept more stuff from my childhood.
Maybe you have some advice for me…my mom keeps everything. She still has empty plastic binders from my 7th grade year (I’m 33 now), ‘in case [she] needs them.’ (http://sensetodollars.blogspot.com/2010/09/on-hoarding.html)
I don’t know what to do with her! :) my parents have a whole room and a huge backyard shed FULL of junk. (Picture of the junk room about halfway down (AFTER I spent two days cleaning and organizing it–I had to keep most of it because Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me throw things away): http://sensetodollars.blogspot.com/2010/10/pictorial-of-my-trip-abroad.html)
They keep saying they are going to have a yard sale and get rid of it, but it has been 5 years now and nothing has happened. What to do??
Leah says
I spent a good chunk of this summer sorting through boxes at my parents’ house. They moved a few years ago and packed up *everything* in our childhood rooms, and I’ve revisited this stuff a few times. This summer, I decided I had to be done. I didn’t quite finish, but I did get rid of a lot. The hardest part was definitely letting go of old dreams and old things I did. I wrote so much stuff in high school (short stories, bad poetry, etc). I’m not amazing, so this was only somewhat interesting. I recycled tons of stuff and let a lot go. My parents are doing the same this week; they took vacation to finally deal with stuff they’ve moved around the country. Again, they are getting rid of things they like and enjoyed at some point but just don’t want to haul around anymore.
I find it’s simple to declutter things that are not longer useful or interesting to you. It’s far harder to declutter your interests and hobbies to have only what is workable in your life now.
Kay says
My clutter is my sewing stash and notion stash. Even though it isnt huge, it still is overwhelming for me. I’ve been thinking destashing and letting go atleast 20% of it.
Stephanie says
My hubby and I are currently working on turning our craft room/office into a baby room. We aren’t expecting and aren’t planning on it for a little while longer, but as a way of preparation, we are trying to face the reality that we may be stuck in this little 2-bedroom apartment for a very long time. It’s been way more difficult than I imagined to pack up all those pretty papers. I’m not sure if it’s the paper itself, or the thought that we may have to raise children here, or the thought of not having space or time for “me” activities anymore after a baby comes that’s making this difficult, but it’s been a whole lot harder than I expected. :(