Organization: Clearing Out

It's that time of year again.  Out with the Old and In with the New.  I think it is a natural progression...receiving gifts, not having any room to put what you are given, then having to purge to make room for what you are given.  For me this happens every year right after the Christmas tree and decorations come down.  I get a little energized and giddy about the prospect of an organized home.

This post is the start of an Organization series that will help me organize my sewing area and supplies.  Hopefully the series will even help you with organizing your own area...whether it is now or in a couple of months.

(Disclaimer:  This series will be a couple of months long so if you are organizing sometime in the future then you can always look back for a little help.  Also, this is organization for small spaces which I love and intend to use in the future when we move into a smaller home.  If you live in a larger home, then you can use these same steps but adapt them for a larger scale.  Every person has their own way, and this works for me.  Think of them as guidelines.  Organization is Organization.)

Here is what I had to work with...and I did not dress up the area like hoarder type television shows.

Step 1:  My first step to organizing is to pull everything out and make a HUGE mess. 

Step 2:  Make piles of like items.

Step 3:  Go through the like items make more piles:  Keep, Toss, Donate.  I have a rule:  If I have not used an item or even looked at the item in a year (or six months - however often you purge), then I donate the item.  I start strict, then I loosen up by the end.  Frankly there are some things that you want to hold on to for a while longer and that is okay.

Step 4:  Bag up the Toss and Donate piles.

Step 5:  Put away the Keep pile.  As you put away everything you might find more items that you want Donate...which makes room for new items...Just Kidding (maybe).

Here are the items that I found to Donate.  Some items have been pilfered by friends already, but since you have seen where I sew and store, then you know I don't have a lot of space and this is quite a bit of stuff.

The pile consists of extra fabric that I am not crazy about anyways, 2 plastic bags of fabric scraps, blog projects that I don't like, extra embroidery hoop (I hate the plastic hoops), a t-shirt kit, clothes that have been hacked to make other things, Christmas fabric, and clothes that I was keeping because I was hoping I would fit into them or I could some how use them for other projects.

Proof that I actually bagged everything.

Are you as excited as me to make a clean start to the New Year?  I feel like a motivational speaker right now, and I am calming down a bit.  Don't be scared.

~Leslie