It’s been a while since I’ve tidied up, but in April, I decided it was time to recommit to the process after taking a month or so off after tidying up paperwork (I’ll leave that undocumented because it was very boring). It was time to tackle the category I was dreading most: komono or miscellaneous items.
This is a huge category, so I decided to focus on one subcategory: craft suppplies. To me, this was the komono that was really standing in the way of my original intention, which was to make my hobbies and everyday chores easier and more joyful.
Despite loving embroidery and most every other craft, I just wasn’t finding those hobbies so joyful wading through old papers, overstuffed baskets and disorganized threads. So in the midst of prepping for all my spring fairs, I decided that I had to clean up my act Kondo-style.
And, yes, this is what it looked like before. I was in full craft fair production mode but it’s still hugely shameful. However, for the sake of a good before and after, there it is.
Prepping for a KonMari Craft Closet
The first step of the KonMari method is to gather all like items together. Then after going through them all, you organize. However, since I started with almost no organization and zero suitable containers, I broke one of Marie’s rules and bought containers in advance. For a project like this, I recommend it. I’m also not an organizing guru, so take that with a grain of salt.
I also bought a label maker. It is my new best friend, and it makes me feel very put together.
Onto the Purge
OK, so I broke a rule by buying containers in advance, but I did follow through with Marie’s grab-everything-and-put-it-in-one-spot rule.
Hauling out my fabric, floss, paper and all the rest was pretty overwhelming and incredibly messy. Michael, of course, came home right in the middle of this process. He was kind enough to ignore it.
Going through crafting supplies was relatively easy. It wasn’t emotionally draining the way clothing was and it wasn’t as tricky as books. To me, craft supplies are mostly about utility. Is that pattern the right size? Do I use those pens? Is that pincushion the most functional? Questions like that helped me power through fairly quickly.
Because I was dealing with a lot of small odds and ends, I decided to start to organize as I went along. Yes, this is not very Kondo-like, but the way I saw it, if I had all of my thread in one spot, I may as well box it, label it and get it out of the way of the mess. Seeing what I thought would be an untameable pile turn into a small stack was encouragement enough to keep me going.
In the end, I got rid of about three shopping bags full of supplies and miscellaneous tchotchkes. Not a major dent, but still a lightening of the load.
The Perpetual Hiccup
The only hangups with this session of getting my sh*t together was coming across a lot of mementos. I’d pull out a box and find it was full of recipes or old photos. After the memory pile reached a small but critical mass, I decided just to put all those family history bits into one box. And then I labeled that box with the label maker, of course.
Having a dedicated and conveniently located home for these photos and papers is actually really nice. Now, whenever I come across something meaningful, I know where to stash it. And when my family wants to see something or reminisce, I can just grab one box.
I ended up doing this for modern-day mementos, too (though they are in another closet). It’s good to have a home for nice letters, photo booth pictures and the like.
The (Almost) Finished Product
It turns out that actually putting away my junk made a huge impact on this space – who knew? My desk looks clean, the closet drawer closes and I only have one basket of miscellany to deal with (this will likely sit in the den for too long because, as always, I’m the worst).
But really, the place looks pretty good. The closet is pretty well transformed in my opinion. Everything in there has a home and is tucked away inside a labeled container (the organization inside the floss container is not great, but it’s finally all in one place). The only thing I really want to change is to build some shelves so I don’t need to unstack every container to get to the things on the bottom.
The unexpected bonus of Kondo-ing this space was that I got my desk back. It was previously home to my sewing machine and the drawer was filled with random stationary and manuals. Now the sewing machine is in the closet, which makes me kind of sad because it reminds me that my regular sewing days are gone. But it also gave me plenty of room for my computer and a nice empty drawer to hold my light table and stitching papers.
Overall, I’d say that my hobbies are more joyful now and putting things away a bit easier, which was my original intent. So I’m going to call this one a win and definitely on par with my closet transformation-wise.
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