Due to space, do you have to store craft supplies in garage?

It sounds like it's time to make some hard decisions. You really ought to pare down the volume to something reasonable rather than risk it being destroyed to the point it's not useful to anyone at all.

I understand your plight. I used to be a big time scrapbooker and had all the toys. After realizing that I didn't touch any of it for 3 years, I let it go.

The children's hospital in my area has a use for craft supplies so I gave all (well most )to them. Truthfully, it went to a good place and not once have I missed any of it.

Good luck as you decide.

Donate the paper with spots on it and you give yourself a nice area for other supplies. You don't need both sets of paper. My guess is if you have had it for 10+ years, you might not ever use it. Can you keep 6-8 sheets of each and sell the rest?

^^^  that.  Just because it was 'free' because they let you keep it and replaced your order, is it worth the mental angst, and will you ever realistically use it all?  Decide to donate that, at least, to give yourself a starting point.  If you DIDN'T have the paper with the spots, you're out NOTHING, because they replaced it all for you.  Start there, because you don't have any sort of 'attachment' to that paper.  It was defective, they sent you new paper.  Donate it to give yourself a TINY taste of what it feels like to get rid of something you realistically won't use (I'm saying that because the paper was replaced-- use the good paper!), and see if you can possibly do it again by choosing to donate or get rid of other things. 

On the room makeover show they used to do about clutter they asked a few basic questions-

Do you absolutely LOVE it (whatever it is)?  Does it have any sort of sentimental / emotional meaning to you?

If it's supplies, will you USE it in a realistic timeframe, such as a year or two? Heck, even 3-5 years, for supplies.  (be very realistic with this.)  Do you have more fabric than you will realistically ever use?  what if you find fabric later that you love? Can you decide to buy in the future, but only if you get rid of some? Can you decide to keep a certain amount, and as you move new items in, agree to get rid of some that you don't love as much, to keep the stash manageable?

And, if the item(s) IS something you LOVE, are you honoring its meaning by having it shoved in a box in the garage?  If you want to display it / use it, is the other clutter keeping you from doing that? 

--Those are the kinds of questions that you can start to think about.  But deciding to donate the paper with spots- to someplace like a school or hospital, where you know THEY'LL love getting it, and it will GET used-- might help you to keep going with it. 

With fabric in a garage space, more than the heat and cold I would worry about mice or bugs getting in with it and ruining it. I would rather donate it before letting that happen and then have to throw it away.

I am going to say maybe but yes there is a scrappy suitcase in the garage that is 100 lbs or so of paper and embellishments. There is an iris cart thing one wheels that has stuff in it. There also might be a mini white storage thing with stamps and embellishments and stuff in it. I know there used to be at one time.

BUT

(Silver lining here)
There are two decent sized Rubbermaid totes of stuff to be donated, too. That stuff really doesn't count as storage so I would say "No, I don't store stuff in the garage."

I am giving my opinion as someone with a degree in Clothing & Textiles, as well as a vast collection of fabrics gathered over the past 40 years. What type of fabrics do you have? Are we talking all quilting cottons, or is there wool, silks and linens as well? With the right preparation, you might get away with storing the cottons IF they are packed properly (and that means NOT storing them in those moving boxes). And that's a big IF. There is no way on earth I would put wool or silk fabrics in an unheated/uncooled garage. That just begging for problems.  Ask yourself this:  would you store your entire wardrobe of clothes in the garage long term?  Storing your fabrics out there is no different than putting your entire wardrobe out there.   You need to really look for other options for storing them if you are intent on keeping them all.  


Instead of shuffling boxes of fabric from one spot to another, you really need to come to grips with the need to declutter.  Have you considered a few sessions with a therapist to get to the bottom of why you need to hang on to everything?  The need comes from somewhere, but you have to do the hard work to zero in on that and conquer it.  BTDT myself and finally reached the point of letting much of it go.  It is very freeing to reach the point where you control your belongings, and not them controlling you (which is where you are now).  I found that once I starting get rid of things, I actually had more time to sew/create because I wasn't spending my time managing my stash.  I also found that having less around me took away all the guilt I would feel when I saw all those fabrics/supplies bought for projects that had never happened.  

Your scrapbook paper for instance.  You ordered it 10 years ago, yet still have "an insane amount" of it.  If and when you do decide to commit to scrapbooking again, are you really going to want to use old and outdated paper/supplies?  Most likely not.  You are going to want the latest & greatest, as well you should.  

I know you wanted to know about putting stuff in the garage, but like most everyone else, I am against it. If you were going to use it, you would have used it by now. If you have to put stuff in the garage, are you willing to forgo ever purchasing any more fabric? I mean not one piece? If you have that much you should have no reason to purchase any more fabric until at least half of it is gone. If you have looked through your stash and just can't find fabric to work with, chances are that what is left is fabric that you will never use. Go through your stash and remove anything that is over three years old. If it hasn't been used by now, chances are you really won't use it ever. The same goes with your scrapbooking supplies. Have a garage sale and be realistic on the prices. If you advertise fabric and scrapbooking supplies, you will get a lot of customers.

This is coming from someone who finally realized that a lot of stuff I have I will NEVER use. I would get so tired of over and over going through what I have looking for something fresh and it not being there. That was because I had used the stuff that motivated me and what was left was not motivating. The same with my UFO's. If I had a project that was not finished after two years of waiting, them I probably was not really motivated to finish it.

Our hobbies are supposed to be fun. If you have to force yourself to use up supplies or to finish a project, then it is not fun. If we have so much stash that it is having to be stored in the garage and it becomes a burden then that is not fun. Make your hobbies fun again and de-stash. Make shopping for supplies fun again, sell what you have and then you can get some more updated stuff that motivates you and you won't have to store it out in the garage.

My rule is if I can't fit it in the house, I need to pare down my stash. I am very creative with space though.

Do you have a pantry? I would move food items into the garage before putting fabric or paper there. I'd pare down my linen closet and use part of it for other storage.

What is this garage you speak of? I have half of an unfinished basement filled with crap.

I DID convert our formal dining room into my studio space. I wanted to see if I used the space more with it open to the house and nearby. And I did. Probably at least double the amount of time than I did previously. It was so nice to have the space off the kitchen. Pot of noodles boiling for 8 minutes? That's 8 min of scrap time. Soup on the stove that needs someone nearby? Yup, right next door to the kitchen.

The only downside is that I had to keep it picked up. But I bought some Jetmaxx storage cubes and the space still looked like a studio, but tidy.

I liked it so much that I took over both the formal living room and formal dining room in the new house. There's now space for a sitting area and the family can be in the space with me. Unless you use those spaces frequently, I wouldn't hesitate to turn it into more usable space for how your family lives.

Whew! Your last points really struck me today, as I have been thinking quite a bit lately about the amount of scrapbooking and stamping stuff I have around, and how little of either I do any more, and why that is, and what to do about the clutter. Thanks!

Spoken like a true crafter.

Sounds like you have come to terms with getting rid of stuff and that is probably the more appropriate course of action. I've gotten rid of a lot of crafting stuff in the last year and not only do I miss none of it, my creativity has sparked. Maybe draw a line like you will only keep a certain amount of fabric that fits in a container or spot. Or you will only keep tools and get rid of paper. I personally drew the line at, have I used this in a year? Will I use it up in a couple of months? If not, it went.