I’ll spare you a picture of that mess and instead show you my empty closet. It hasn’t looked like this in 10 years.
By the time my husband got home last night, I was lost in mounds of stuff, piled high all over our upstairs landing and down the hallway. I managed to separate it all out into keep piles, donate piles, trash piles and have to ask my husband piles. Have you ever tried to get a middle aged man to let go of a 15 year old computer airplane game joystick? No? Well, as of last night, I have! He looked so sad when I suggested getting rid of it. He knows he’s not going to use it, but for whatever reasons, he is reluctant to let it go. I thought about signing “Let it Go” but I don’t think he would have thought it was as funny as I did. So, the joystick stays! I did manage to get him to part ways with tons of old, outdated paperwork, so I’m calling that a win. My shredder is going to get a serious workout soon.
I also realized when sorting through the closet items that lots of things belong to Gloria. She began college as an art major and when she changed majors, lots of her supplies and artwork found their way to this closet. One day she is going to have a large house and I’ll be depositing all of these things there. Today, though, is not that day. So, I rearranged and condensed things for continued storing. I’m not ashamed to say that underneath one of my guest beds is the new home to most of these things. Out of sight works for me!
As I continued sorting through my craft supplies, I began my putting all Christmas specific items into one pile.It didn’t take long to make a big pile. I decided that rather than keeping this in the office year round, I would store it with our Christmas decorations/trees. I can pull it out in the fall when it will be needed again. I put all of this into a large storage bin.
I managed to empty a bunch of card board boxes in this step of the project that can go straight to the recycle bin. So, I’m not just organizing my office, I’m helping the environment. Yay!
I have an assortment of things to donate to Good Will. The box is full of paperback books. I don’t know who the dart board belonged to, but it’s going. There were no darts with it. Why was this stored? The second joystick I found belonged to my son. He’s not here to protest, so this one is going. Hopefully, other items will be useful to someone.
Once I had everything sorted, I pulled out the plastic bins that I already had on hand as well as new ones I bought yesterday. None of these are overly large, so they will all fit nicely into the closet.
I finished Step Two of my organization plan this afternoon and went head first into Step Three-functional organization. I worked on that for a while and will continue to work on it over the next few days.
So far, I’m pretty pleased with the progress I’ve made.
Posts in my Home Office/Craft Supply Storage Project~
What’s Behind the Door? Step One
That’s A Lot of Stuff! Step Two
Completion! Step Three
Adding Decorative Touches to Craft Supply Space
Laurie says
Laughing about the “let it go” song that you wanted to sing to your husband! It looks to me like you made great progress and the idea to store christmas related craft items until fall is something I never thought to do.
Beverly Roderick says
It’s coming along. I’m at the stage now of trying to make it not only functional, but with a little bit of style as well! I haven’t ever stored Christmas crafting items away like this either, but it’s going to clear up lots of space for me. Thanks for following along!