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Post by wordfish on Mar 10, 2024 15:24:46 GMT
I have two days left of my four-day weekend. The first day was spent in acquiring groceries and supplies for my studio project. That was Friday. Yesterday I spent a lot of time organizing finances and executing some plans that we've had brewing for a month or two. That is now done. I've started the washing machine to get the normal weekly laundry tasks done. But the truth is, I am procrastinating about my big project: Get to work upstairs in what I call my Scrap Attic. I need some accountability, and I think I want to document this. A little background: I have not scrapbooked or papercrafted since early October. The most paper crafting I have done since then is that I made two birthday cards a week or two ago. That's it. I do have a bit of a creative process with my Hobonichi Cousin where I record three gratitudes for each day and write a few notes about the day, then use little bits and bobs to foof things up. I did that solidly throughout 2023 and completed the year. Very satisfying to put it on the shelf, all chunked up and luscious. I have a great start to 2024 in my current Hobo. I don't really count that as scrapbooking or anything like that, though. However, the reality of the situation is that I embarked on a new career almost exactly three years ago. Prior to that, I worked from home for decades. DECADES. My new career is awesome and I love it and have been completely consumed by it. But I do now have a traditional "go to work at an office" sort of situation. I actually enjoy that, and have feathered my office nest to a point that it is a happy place for me. It's my third office in three years, but I anticipate it being where I stay until I retire, if everything goes to plan. I have picked a retirement date, so I like to refer to myself now as having a "shelf life," work-wise. My job is pretty high-intensity, quite high profile, and I supervise a staff now, so I put a lot of effort into all of that. The truth is that we all have a shelf life. I just set parameters around mine. I don't have any idea if things will work out according to the plan I made, but that's kind of beside the point. The idea of retiring actually makes me feel a little sad, so I am trying to be intentional about it and moving toward something rather than giving something up that I truly love. Anyway, back to the issue at hand: My scrap attic. I am going upstairs in a bit, and it is a neglected space that formerly was absolutely my #1 Happy Place. No question. I love the light up there, I love being surrounded by my delicious things, and I love what I do up there. The space is also a guest suite that is used surprisingly more often than I would have thought. There's a bedroom, a full bath, and a little fridge and (normally) microwave. Our main microwave broke so we moved the upstairs microwave down to the kitchen until we decide what we want to replace the main one with, so right now, there's just a fridge. This past Christmas the light fixture in the guest bedroom sort of decoupled from the ceiling support and it ended up hanging down over the bed by the cord. My son-in-law, who is a great guy and an engineer, decided he wanted to fix it while they were staying up there. However, we live in a 120+ year old house and the access was tricky. He tried to access the attic through the hidden bookcase door but it was sort of blocked from something behind it falling and blocking the entrance. All of that led to him taking everything off the bookshelf, fixing that situation, but it's all over everywhere now. It is A HUGE MESS. It was already a mess, I have to confess--but now it's just an overwhelming disaster. Added to that is that I attended a few crops in 2023 and while I unpacked my "crop luggage," I don't think I properly put everything away so there are piles everywhere from those shenanigans. It's overall just kind of a wreck up there. It's filled with deferred decisions, things I don't want anymore, and certainly things I do not need. So this is the plan: I am going up there and putting things back to the way they were prior to my SIL tearing them apart. Once that is done, I am going to set up a new Epson printer I got on sale at Costco on Friday and make sure the WiFi works. Assuming I do not set fire to the house in a fit of rage over printer setup frustrations, I am then going to: Get started on the thing that is serving as a primary motivator: I have purchased 200 tags for my scrapbook store's annual yard sale. That means 200 things that need to go out the door to find a new home. I think I get half of the proceeds in store credit--I've done this once before but I don't remember exactly how it works other than: Anything leftover at the end of the sale gets donated. Once it leaves my space, it is gone forever. I have to bag papers up and things like that to make packages (no single sheets of paper allowed in the sale), but stamp sets probably get one tag each, as do other things. I have some bulky tools I never use, so those are going. I definitely have way too much stuff for the space, and it's hindering my desire to get up there and fool around with all my paper crafty goodies. I'm done with that. It's been quite some time since I executed a major cull of my paper crafty stuff. I've done interim offloads of things, including donating a ton of stuff to a local children's museum in answer to a request for consumables for the kids to make crafts and participating in the yard sale at least once, maybe twice. But the last large-scale cull I did was in preparation for the move to Knoxville just over 10 years ago. We bought our current house 10 years ago almost to the day and moved from a short-term rental in Knoxville to the house shortly after that occurred. It's time for a major reckoning. I will take some current photos of the carnage, but here are some "before" photos from 2017. Several things have changed since then but the basic setup is very similar.  Standing near the entrance of the room by Seanna., on Flickr  Standing near the secret bookcase door by Seanna., on Flickr  Overview of the room from opposite the entrance by Seanna., on Flickr I shall return. |
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Post by Linda on Mar 10, 2024 15:31:05 GMT
You've got this!
May I suggest tackling the scrappy area one drawer/shelf/box at a time - decide what you are going to store there (category wise - is this a space for stamps or markers or adhesive or cardstock...); take out what doesn't belong (and put it in/near where it does or in the trash or the sale box) and then put back your favourites first until the space is comfortably full (not overfull, not overflowing, not jampacked) and perhaps it'll be easier to tag the leftovers for sale? (This is Dana White's method and I've found it really helpful for both making decisions and for not making a huge mess in the process)
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Post by wordfish on Mar 10, 2024 15:42:14 GMT
You've got this! May I suggest tackling the scrappy area one drawer/shelf/box at a time - decide what you are going to store there (category wise - is this a space for stamps or markers or adhesive or cardstock...); take out what doesn't belong (and put it in/near where it does or in the trash or the sale box) and then put back your favourites first until the space is comfortably full (not overfull, not overflowing, not jampacked) and perhaps it'll be easier to tag the leftovers for sale? (This is Dana White's method and I've found it really helpful for both making decisions and for not making a huge mess in the process) This seems like a fabulous idea. First I will clean up the SIL mess (he really did help us but OMG it was like the tipping point into disaster in terms of M E S S), which is from literally last year (end of December but still) and get some space to move around. Then I will take this advice. It sounds pretty smart to me--thank you, Linda! OK I am still on my bed. I'm dressed and ready, though. I just really like my bed.... On with the AirPods. I'm going to watch some YT videos while I do this--or at least listen to them. |
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by kitbop on Mar 10, 2024 16:03:24 GMT
Thinking of you wordfish! You've got this - but give yourself lots of slack too - you're done when you're done. Definitely echo Linda's "one drawer at a time" thing because otherwise you end up with too much out and when you need a break it feels like you've created more mess than you started with. It's a lovely space! |
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Post by wordfish on Mar 10, 2024 16:47:21 GMT
Thanks, kitbop. I am officially upstairs and what I have done so far is take a one-minute video and a bunch of photos to document the before part of it all. YIKES. I also lit my candles and am sitting here in the glorious light. I definitely think my plan to set things back to how they were prior to the son-in-law intervention is the best way to start because I need to make some space to work. I'm looking right now at the half-dozen CTMH postbound albums I picked up over the last year or so. They are neatly on a Kallax shelf along with extra page protectors, but I'm wondering what's next in my 12x12 album odyssey. I am done with the giant 3-ring binders--crappy quality and way too unwieldy. I think I'm going to my secondary plan to use CM albums with straphinge page sleeves. I did order a bunch when I heard CTMH was going out of business, but they have not shipped yet, so I am not counting on them. Anyway, it does feel good to be back up here. As long as I don't look at the mess...
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fawkes76
Junior Member
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Post by fawkes76 on Mar 10, 2024 16:56:41 GMT
Cheering you on! This is a big project, but you have a plan. You will be so happy once you see some progress.
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Post by mom on Mar 10, 2024 17:14:09 GMT
Ohh this is my favorite sort of clean up! Go all in and and feel free to donate whatever I am not loving, without any guilt! You've already got the sale tags so you HAVE to get rid of things. Soooo freeing!
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Post by Margie on Mar 10, 2024 18:01:15 GMT
I'm excited for you! What an amazing space!
Be sure to have a box in there to toss all the "donate" stuff so that you free up that space. You can go back later to attach price tags.
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Post by lindamh on Mar 10, 2024 18:20:18 GMT
I can say, based on first-hand experience, that this will be totally worth it! In the past year, I've completely purged and reset my craft room. That sounds kind of crazy when you consider the fact that I only moved into this brand new house three years ago, and I did a major clean out before I packed to move! And I had previously done a couple of major purges and resets, including another move, but this last time I learned some things that I'll share. First, Linda's suggestion to tackle things one drawer/shelf at a time is spot on. (Must be that us Linda's think alike!  ) This worked so much better than emptying out the entire room and moving things back in bit by bit. I get the point, I did it that way a time or two, but for my life right now it wasn't the right way. This was my first purge since I retired, and I was much happier being able to do a little at a time, take as long as I wanted, and not have to stare at a complete disaster in the mean time. Also, this time, the first thing I did was clean off my work space, and keep it neat. This time if I got the creative urge, (which I got a lot more now that I was retired!) I had space to scrap and was still able to find things. Doing this eliminated a lot of frustration for me. Yes, it took me longer than doing it all at once, but I was so much happier! I could clean when I wanted, and create when I wanted, and not deal with the frustration and mess. The surprising part was that when I was done, I had done a much better job than other times. I really got rid of stuff that I couldn't or wouldn't use, and I took the time to find the right place for everything. I've never loved my scrap room as much as I do now! It was so worth taking the time to get it done. Good luck! Just keep doing what works for you, no matter how crazy others may think you are! |
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Post by wordfish on Mar 10, 2024 20:47:33 GMT
Thanks so much for the encouragement. Very smart to just set stuff aside and then tag it, so thanks for that idea, Margie. lindamh, I also like the idea to get my workspace cleared. I will try to prioritize that. I am currently back in my favorite chair, truly my HAPPY PLACE, after putting it back where it belongs, pretty much where it is in the photos above. It was pulled out and turned around and had crap piled on it and I really underestimated how much that was bothering me--it was necessary for my son-in-law to try to get to the attic to then fix the light fixture in the guest room and again--not upset with my SIL at all, he was doing a lovely thing for us--but holy moly it really was bothering me so much. I spent a solid week up here in January during the Knoxville Snowmageddon, working from home, and I felt so chaotic and unsettled in all this mess, but I had a ton of work to do and really couldn't stop to take care of this. It's still a huge mess up here, but I've put everything back on the secret bookshelf door to the attic, rearranged a bit, and put a few boxes back in the attic space before I did that. For example: I bought a new iMac about 18 months ago and I didn't put the box for it in the attic so it was just cluttering things up. I think I was debating whether I would sell it, but the truth is that although the reason I bought it no longer exists (part-time job at a university that I had to quit when I got a huge promotion a little over a year ago), I'm up here watching YT on it right now--a 2Peas YouTuber I just discovered and LOVE LOVE LOVE (lasteve1). Go check out her YT channel if you haven't already. Linda Loves Creating Highly recommend, best channel I've come across in quite some time and I watch a lot of YT. One other thing I have discovered is that some stuff that was downstairs has made its way up here and really doesn't belong, so I am going to move all of that out of here as I go. It was one of those "tidy up the public spaces" things, I think. I don't remember doing it so I think my husband might have done that--not mad or annoyed, but it does explain why this place just sort of exploded over and above all the crud I did to make things worse up here. Now that I have this dumb brown "man recliner" back where I like it, I feel so much better. I don't usually sit in it like a recliner but sort of sit in it sideways with my legs over one arm and propped up on pillows against the other arm. I got an undergrad and a graduate degree in this chair, by golly. Ahhhhh. Next up: I am going to open the box and set up my new printer. This is the one I got:  Then I am going to start somewhere and go through stuff until I find 50 things for the yard sale. I could probably do that just from stamp sets, but I will try to grab some big stuff first. I have a couple of ideas. I had an appointment tonight at 6 that got rescheduled, so I have no plans for the rest of the evening, and I also have tomorrow off. My husband came up to visit and can already tell it's starting to look better. I will post some before photos when I have some decent progress photos to post also because Y I K E S. |
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Mar 10, 2024 21:47:08 GMT
all chunked up and luscious I just must first say, I *love* this description for embellished pages!
And, wow! You have a fantastic space!
Tidying little by little, as others have said, will get you where you need to be. You got this!
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Post by lg on Mar 10, 2024 22:18:36 GMT
Can I suggest you start with the larger tools and machines as then you get a big visual change that spurs you on - plus they are items you probably won’t ever sell online as they’re too heavy to post?
Other than that have fun - you are going to discover so many hidden and forgotten gems 😁
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blemon
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,252
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Post by blemon on Mar 10, 2024 23:30:25 GMT
Woot woot!
so excited to hear about your progress
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Post by dewryce on Mar 11, 2024 0:12:46 GMT
I can say, based on first-hand experience, that this will be totally worth it! In the past year, I've completely purged and reset my craft room. That sounds kind of crazy when you consider the fact that I only moved into this brand new house three years ago, and I did a major clean out before I packed to move! And I had previously done a couple of major purges and resets, including another move, but this last time I learned some things that I'll share. First, Linda's suggestion to tackle things one drawer/shelf at a time is spot on. (Must be that us Linda's think alike! ) This worked so much better than emptying out the entire room and moving things back in bit by bit. I get the point, I did it that way a time or two, but for my life right now it wasn't the right way. This was my first purge since I retired, and I was much happier being able to do a little at a time, take as long as I wanted, and not have to stare at a complete disaster in the mean time. Also, this time, the first thing I did was clean off my work space, and keep it neat. This time if I got the creative urge, (which I got a lot more now that I was retired!) I had space to scrap and was still able to find things. Doing this eliminated a lot of frustration for me. Yes, it took me longer than doing it all at once, but I was so much happier! I could clean when I wanted, and create when I wanted, and not deal with the frustration and mess. The surprising part was that when I was done, I had done a much better job than other times. I really got rid of stuff that I couldn't or wouldn't use, and I took the time to find the right place for everything. I've never loved my scrap room as much as I do now! It was so worth taking the time to get it done. Good luck! Just keep doing what works for you, no matter how crazy others may think you are! Great advice! Especially keeping your desk cleared off if you can, I always get more motivated when I go through my supplies. Because you built up your decluttering muscles every other time you did it! I’m watching a lot of decluttering/minimalist videos and this is my most effective round of decluttering my entire house yet. So I definitely recommend watching/listening to videos about craft rooms to motivate you. Hope you’ve had a productive day! |
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Post by wordfish on Mar 11, 2024 12:34:01 GMT
I'm back. I did get the printer installed, and I made a pile of stuff for the yard sale. I forgot to count. I have some work stuff to check in on, a small mess to take care of down here, and then I am back upstairs for the rest of the day to try to make headway and get to 200 items. It's starting to look better up there. That's going to change once I get into it again--you know how you get to a point in a big organizing project where it looks worse and you don't know why you even started it? I hope to get through that part of the process today and leave it at least reasonable.
All right. Last day off...gotta make it count. I'll try to post some photos later today.
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Post by Linda on Mar 11, 2024 12:49:36 GMT
wordfish - that's awesome progress! well done!
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Post by grammadee on Mar 11, 2024 15:12:22 GMT
Cheering you on, wordfish. Hope you get the room to a condition that makes you feel so good that you look forward to getting in there and playing with paper. |
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Post by wordfish on Mar 11, 2024 23:02:51 GMT
Thanks so much for all the encouragement! I haven't taken photos, but I have set aside at least 100 and probably over 200 things for the sale. I don't want to stop, so I am just going to keep going and then go get some more tags if I need them.
Things I have learned so far: When I went through a cabinet that has some of my oldest stuff, I thought it would be super easy to part with it. Turns out, it was some of the my most favorite stuff I looked through today. No way am I getting rid of it: Old October Afternoon, KI Memories, 7 Gypsies, etc. I loved a lot of it. I'm going to put it in my current stash rotation and get to work with it. I did not expect that at all.
I did find lots of big things plus a ton of stamps and other things. I think I am just going to keep going until I go through everything and just keep tossing things on the pile.
I had lots of fun! Still haven't taken photos because it's now at the "looks worse than when I started" stage (not really but...does look worse than it looked yesterday!) I made lots of room and I am going to keep on trucking with it through the next few weekends. What fun this was today!!!
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blemon
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by blemon on Mar 12, 2024 18:55:40 GMT
it's now at the "looks worse than when I started" stage Awesome! This is how you know you're getting stuff done. So excited for you. |
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by kitbop on Mar 12, 2024 21:24:12 GMT
wordfish- yay for loving on old supplies! Good to hear you've also found lots to move on to new homes. I hope you can get back to some crafting soon and find mojo from rooting through your supplies. I hate that "in between" stage where everything feels messy. Cheering for you!
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Post by bossymom on Mar 12, 2024 22:26:06 GMT
Yay Seanna! I am also excited for you. Thank you for the updates!
(you know me as the chubby cherub/anmore)
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Post by wordfish on Mar 16, 2024 15:44:47 GMT
Hi, anmore! Thanks, everyone. I am back at it now that it's the weekend. My work week is so all-consuming that I really don't have much time for anything but work, a little bit of YT and puttering downstairs, and sleep during the week. I did get upstairs briefly on Tuesday evening but really just looked around, shook my head, and went back downstairs. One thing I may not have mentioned is that the HVAC broke upstairs last summer. The HVAC guy came, said we needed some sort of part, and then said he would be in touch. He never did get back to us despite my husband checking on it once or twice, and this was probably on the slight downside of supply chain issues, so we chalked it up to that. Then the weather cooled off and we decided just to let it ride until spring. Well, guess what this coming Monday is? Yup, first day of spring. My husband has checked back with the HVAC people, who told him that the part costs more than the HVAC system is worth at this point. It's ten years old. They are a great company so I do trust them, but geez. I think we are going to get a quote for a replacement system and then if it's ridiculous, just get one of those fancy new room A/C units that is not a window deal and use it until we set aside the cash specifically for this replacement. We just paid off a ton of stuff, so while we have no debt other than the mortgage and a small student loan, we don't have a ton of cash sitting around (who does? I guess people who are great with their money do ). No appetite for incurring debt again, either. Since we have other options, I thought we could be creative about this challenge. We have separate HVAC units for upstairs and downstairs, and we don't really use the upstairs all that often. Anyway, that's sort of an aside. It's not warm enough outside for this to be an issue yet, so it shouldn't be a problem to work up there for the next month or so. By then, we'll have made a decision about how to handle the AC/heat issue up there for the next year or so. I've heard that HVAC replacement costs have really soared in the last few years, but we'll get the info about replacement/repair and then decide whether we want to do it now or wait until next spring. I think in my head I'm expecting to hear it will be 20K or something--and maybe it will be. But we had it installed for the first time--so ductwork and a new unit and all the electrical work for around $6500 10 years ago. That would be dandy and I'd tell them to come on down if it were in that neighborhood. I just really don't think it is. I dunno. This is sort of a catastrophe mindset but I'll bet I'm not the only person who does that. I would even let it ride over the summer but I don't think some of my stuff can take another "attic summer," know what I mean? I'm already worried about what I'm going to find when I hit the adhesives drawer, or the mixed media stuff. One cool thing that happened over the week is that when my husband and I had our weekly lunch date, he asked if we could have it with a couple of his coworkers. I rather brattily and reluctantly agreed. It turned out that one coworker brought his wife and young adult daughter. We've had lunch with them once before--very nice people. I think the daughter may have autism. She very rarely speaks. However, it turns out she is completing a graphic arts program at the local community college in a few months. I started asking her about what sort of materials she likes to work with. She does not prefer digital design but likes to deal in paper and mostly pencil. So I asked her what kinds of stuff she liked, and we were off to the races with Copic and Uhuhu and Prismacolor talk. I very carefully grilled her about her preferences and she lit right up. Of course you guys know what I was ALSO doing: Seeing what I might have and be willing to part with that she might like to have as she builds her studio. So I am going to dive into my "colorants" drawer when I go upstairs. I am positive I have a set of Prismacolors, moderately used, as well as a BUNCH of other stuff she would love to have. I didn't say a word to her about that, just asked questions about what she likes to use. I for sure am going to throw in a Blackwing or two just for coolness' sake. I think I also have a couple of sketchbooks for her, and some paper as well. I should be able to post some photos this weekend. We'll see. It really is at the horrific stage, the dark before the dawn stuff. I'll be back. |
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Post by hoopsfn on Mar 16, 2024 16:03:28 GMT
Congratulations wordfish on all your progress! I admire your efforts and especially your determination.  And how nice that you are helping the young lady with some art-y supplies. She will be so tickled. Great job! |
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anniebeth24
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,544
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Post by anniebeth24 on Mar 16, 2024 17:18:34 GMT
Re: your HVAC issue. We installed a DIY mini split (heat and a/c) unit from Mr. Cool at our cabin. It's quiet, incredibly efficient, and has increased our enjoyment of the cabin immensely.
Have fun with the process and the results of your cleanup.
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Post by wordfish on Mar 17, 2024 16:31:47 GMT
Good lord. I've made a little more progress but it is slow going. I definitely want to pare down my paper collection quite a bit more. I did get a box together for the graphic art student. I am 80% convinced to give her my Ohuhu markers (really inexpensive but completely comparable Copic alternative). She definitely knew what those were and really brightened up when I mentioned that name. I'm thinking I would rather get the largest set they now offer, lots more colors, so I can part with the 100-marker (I think that's the number) set I bought a few years ago, didn't use much, that was the biggest option they had to offer at the time. It will be months before I want to play with alcohol markers again. I even kept the case they came in so I can pop them in and pass them on to someone who will actually use them right now.
I'm off to a very inconvenient hair appointment. I'd really rather skip it, but it's not going to color itself, nor do I want to fool with that...
If I get back before 6, I will try to at least get to clear floor space. There's still so much left to be done. I'm going to start labeling the items I've already set aside before I go too much further. I may need more tags.
I think I'd like to clear out at least 20% more of my paper stash. I'll bet I could clear 50%, but 20% seems like a more realistic goal. Plus, paper is a lot more expensive than it used to be...like everything else, I guess.
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blemon
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,252
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Post by blemon on Mar 18, 2024 16:44:53 GMT
Thanks for the update.
I'm enjoying following your progress.
We will be moving in about a year. I've done what I can to organize as much as possible. But I know that when we start moving stuff, all of my craft stuff is going straight into the room and I'm going to have quite a mess to go through. I scrapbook, like cameras, and collect dollhouses and the minis that go inside. I have a LOT of stuff.
I am moving into a very small room.
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Post by wordfish on Mar 24, 2024 18:45:20 GMT
Hi, I'm back again. It's been quite a bit of "down memory lane" every time I'm up here. It's still not photo-ready but I am taking photos now and then so I can document the stages of this.
I'm going into all sorts of bins and containers that I have not touched in years. The good news is that I have cleared out FOUR Kallax cubes--that's the most noticeable thing so far because you can't see inside drawers and cabinets. I've gone through paper shelves and containers and pulled from most of them.
I've also been watching tons of craft room reorg videos, and one of them, just a random one I came across, gave me the idea to rearrange the orientation of my main work desk. I'm really excited about that and it's going to be great. However, I'm nowhere near implementing that particular plan because the floor is covered in stuff I need to gather up and toss, or bring over to the scrapbook yard sale pile. I may hold off on getting the labeling and bagging done for that until next weekend. I think the first day I can drop off stuff is Friday, so I'm pretty sure I can finish up and drop off the Monday after Easter. Yup, just checked. I can drop it off through the following Wednesday. We'll see how far I get today and this week, but I'm making such good progress on the sorting and clearing that I don't want to slow down to bag and tag stuff. I should probably check to see if I need more tags, though--I'm pretty sure I'm past 200. Hmmm.
I have a few more drawers to go through and then a couple of random bins of this and that. I'm going to stop and clear all the trash and storage containers that I've emptied out.
It's so funny. Years and years ago, I'm sure in the 1990s, I was a Creative Memories consultant. When I stopped doing that, I got rid of a lot of the inventory I built up, but I kept two bins of stuff and I just never would get rid of it. Turns out, in the fullness of time I have discovered that I really very much dislike 3-ring 12x12 binders. I was going to use Close to My Heart postbound albums, but my second choice was Creative Memories albums with portrait sleeves (vs. the pages with the strap hinge bindings). Now that CTMH has closed down, I am going to go back to CM albums. Fortunately, I snagged some of those portrait sleeves that CTMH sold before they ran out. (I got a LOT of them.) That order has arrived, so I went through all my Creative Memories old-old-old stuff, kept all the portrait sleeves, the albums I never got rid of that are unused and still in shrink-wrap, a few packs of the paper and page protectors, and I put all that together with the CTMH postbound albums I managed to acquire in preparation for the switchover, along with the new portrait sleeves. I'm all set for probably 5-10 years at my average 12x12 production rate. Good enough. I actually mostly make smaller projects now, easier to store and I really enjoy the smaller canvases. Travelers notebooks, 6x8, etc. I feel sort of vindicated for carrying all that CM stuff around for OVER TWENTY YEARS without using it. Probably closer to 25 years, really. It's all still in great shape. I did put more than half of it in the yard sale pile, though.
Another thing I have come across and that I still freaking LOVE: Studio Calico kits. These are the old-school 12x12 ones from maybe 2014-2016 or so. Remember when they were getting rid of them for like $5 each, or even cheaper? I got a ton of them back then. I also got the really old SC Project Life kits years and years ago--bought them at the same sale, at an in-person warehouse sale, and on ebay, etc. I have not gone through those bins yet but that is coming up. I expect to get rid of very little of that, either. I sometimes grab one of these kits and challenge myself to make a certain number of layouts. I always enjoy that, and I still have quite a few left. I did throw a couple of duplicates into the yard sale pile--remember when they had mystery kits for a couple of dollars? I got some doubles and triples of those, no need to hang onto those. The combination of stuff in those kits is so fantastic--still love it.
I've also come across more completed layouts. For sure I have one album's worth but I think I might have closer to two. I'll get those in albums and that will take care of a couple of large piles still hanging around in here.
The last thing to tackle, after the SC project life bins, is all the stuff I brought back from crops over the last year and never put fully away. Then I think I'll be just about done for this round. Well, except for my workspace. It's gotten piled up again. Part of the process, I guess.
I told my husband this is really like three projects:
1. Sort and cull things for the scrapbook yard sale.
2. Rearrange the stuff, including furniture and ultimately build another cloffice (the space has one great one that we built during the pandemic, but I have another identical closet right next to it and I want to do the same thing to that closet. The current cloffice is a combination of occasional WFH space, home office, and paper crafty space. The new cloffice will be 100% paper crafty).
3. Organize everything that's left for optimal function.
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,384
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Post by kitbop on Mar 24, 2024 19:24:52 GMT
I still freaking LOVE: Studio Calico kits. These are the old-school 12x12 ones from maybe 2014-2016 or so. Oh yes, I loved that era and before. I still like the papers I find, and I'm sure I've used most of the ephemera. Glad you are making headway. I know what you mean about a project not being a single focus. You forgot to add the "deep clean" step of any reorganization! |
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Post by wordfish on Mar 24, 2024 20:13:53 GMT
I still freaking LOVE: Studio Calico kits. These are the old-school 12x12 ones from maybe 2014-2016 or so. Oh yes, I loved that era and before. I still like the papers I find, and I'm sure I've used most of the ephemera. Glad you are making headway. I know what you mean about a project not being a single focus. You forgot to add the "deep clean" step of any reorganization! You're right! I have a spray bottle and a roll of paper towels and also I sneeze a lot. As I'm working my way through the rest of the weird stuff that got shoved up here, I just went through this file box of stuff from around 2003-2006. Not scrapbook stuff; it was apparently our file storage system. I've looked at it on and off for years but I did not put it together; my husband did as he was trying to help organize a system when we moved into our first house in Tennessee, so I think I've always thought of it as "not my problem." But I think he thinks of it also as "not my problem," and that is why it ended up here, in my domain. I went through the whole box. I found some awesome gems that I saved, including letters to me from my then-12-year-olds because I apparently caught them talking to strangers on the computer and took away their computer privileges and cell phones, and also made them write me a letter explaining what they did wrong and what they planned to do going forward. Hahahahahaha that is priceless. I saved that and some birthday cards they made me and their dad, and tossed the rest. WOO. Soon it won't be anyone's problem, because I'm sure my husband will throw all these papers in the burn pile. |
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Post by wordfish on Mar 31, 2024 20:13:10 GMT
I'm back again. I've apparently fully committed to this project. However, I had to spend this weekend finalizing the yard sale stuff, which I did. I did not have enough tags for the stuff I set aside, but honestly: bagging and tagging 200 items is A LOT so it's just as well. I may just donate the rest of the stuff I didn't have tags for. Toward the end, I prioritized the larger items just to be sure they would be gone. Here's what it looked like. There are tons of stamp sets in there, at least 75 sets I think.  200 items for scrapbook store yard sale by Seanna., on Flickr Now that that is done, I will focus on putting things back together and rearranging the work area. But that will likely start next weekend. It's still a HUGE mess up there,but I've emptied a ton of shelves and cabinets and not put stuff back yet, so that's a big part of it. It will help having all this stuff out of the way. I did also give the graphic design student a nice pile of stuff, which was really fun. I will be back. I am determined to get this place back into shape. Some of the stuff I threw out and put in the yard sale, I've had for more than 20 years and never used. That's nuts! |
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) This worked so much better than emptying out the entire room and moving things back in bit by bit. I get the point, I did it that way a time or two, but for my life right now it wasn't the right way. This was my first purge since I retired, and I was much happier being able to do a little at a time, take as long as I wanted, and not have to stare at a complete disaster in the mean time.
