Decluttering
 

I have well over 200 crafting books/magazines in my stash and it's definitely time to declutter. The majority are quilting related but there are also several in other of my interests, such as knitting, painting.

With our cold wintry weather, it's a good day to sort through these and decide what to give away. Yet after going through 3/4's of my pile I've only found 5 that I'm willing to let go of and most of those are pamphlet sized so my pile really isn't much smaller.

Any hints on how to let go of some of this? Does anyone else hold on to things you really don't need but you think someday you will? Realistically, 99.9% of the patterns in these I will never make or use yet I can't help but to hold on because in there is the .1% of them that I will use. Most of them have things I want to make but between time and money I know I just will never get to it. And some magazines I just like to look at.

I feel your pain! I have so many magazines/books and patterns also. I always think I'm going to make that pattern next, and even start collecting fabric, then....boom....next must do comes along, new pattern or book/magazine, and the cycle starts again. My current plan was finish the quilt I'm working on, (sandwich and quilt) and start the bargello I have all the fabric ready to go for. However, new pattern came along, and I've veered off, full speed ahead, into the direction of a Rainbow Lonestar. My piles don't seem to shrink either.

I do the exact same thing, I have a notebook of the next 4-5 quilts I want to make, but then something else comes along and takes precedence. Of the 6 I was planning on making last year only 1 got done becasue other things came along.

Ugh
decluttering
sigh
remember zip drives?
I once went through all my binders and magazines, craft books and saved patterns ... everything taking up space.
I was on the road to .... what?
Anyway, I decided to just take pictures of everything I really wanted to keep and put them all on zip drives.
It took some time
but I did get through everything
I got rid of all the paper versions, and boy did I have lots of room to collect more-
of something.
Now, I have a small box of zip tapes, the zip drive, and no feasible way to access them.
sigh
But I do still have them
just in case....

I have learned, in my case at least, decluttering doesn't really fix anything.
Once again, I have dozens of binders full of patterns that I just know I will use one day.
But it gets worse.
Under-bed storage
I now collect the patterns, the fabrics and everything I will need to actually make some of my favorites.
I have them "kitted up" in individual containers.
All slipped into several under the bed boxes.
Bet I have 2 dozen kits under there just waiting for attention.

It gets worse....
I love to knit and crochet
Do you have any idea how many cute-pretty-oh wow, I love that yarns and free projects there are available online now?

The internet has ruined me!
Well
at least, it sure has required a lot of valuable space here...

while still in Colorado, i gave away a lot of books and such on Art to the Senior Center there. They taught many classes and were happy to get them. I would say libraries but the one there only took books to sell and i never could get into contact with the lady who handled that.
Here i have a contact on QOV and am looking for more for when i stop sewing. Hopefully not anytime soon.

What helped me was to go through magazines and cut out individual patterns/articles I wanted to keep. Those went into notebooks and the rest of the magazine was thrown out. Years later I realized I never looked at the notebooks and got rid of those, too.

I'm in the middle of doing the same thing, but I am having success by telling myself, "Yes, this is a really good magazine, instruction book, great piece of fabric, this color of fabric can be this or that" then I tell myself how excited someone at the local thrift store is going to be to find such treasures (I volunteer there once a week and see first hand how much joy some of these things give). Just think of them finding new, loving homes with someone who will treasure them. Only those UFOs that I know I will complete are staying. Others are put with the pattern and fabric in a plastic bag and donated. Every box that goes out of my sewing room is a joy to me. I'm in my second month of this cleansing and so far, not one thing given away has caused any remorse or dashes to the thrift store to recover it. The moratorium on bringing in anything new to the sewing room stays in effect until I am done with de-cluttering and only keeping what will serve a real purpose and not something to have "just in case".

Like SallyS, I went through all my books and took out favoured patterns with any templates, and stored in a plastic 'sleeve', which was then put into a binder with other patterns. I reduced my collection by one third this way.

As long as I have the room to store them, I see no reason to get rid of them. Same with fabric and everything else. I have a big house and lots of storage so I toss what I'm sure I won't use (cleaned out a whole cabinet of not so thrilling stuff while looking for a pattern) but I keep what I want. I can't tell you how many times I've been doing something and had just what I needed or had the information I needed because I didn't just toss things out because I'd had them a while. If you look at it and enjoy just having it, why get rid of it?

This is what I did, but I've actually been making some of the patterns and using some of the techniques I saved.

What really helps me is once I get one area cleared out, I feel a huge weight lifted off, and quite honestly I don't miss anything I tossed out or re-homed. Stuff I liked 5-10 years ago is no longer my style. Just having empty space where there used to be clutter is visually calming and peaceful. Another benefit of this is it helps a LOT with my quilting mojo.

I agree with Cash's Mom that no one with the room to store their items should feel compelled to get rid of it. My sewing room was causing me to be claustrophobic. There were bins of crafts I haven't touched in 10 years, I had so much fabric it was overwhelming. It seemed when I needed something either there wasn't enough of it or it was just not the right shade. I had all the NFL fabrics - but no one in the family follows the NFL so why keep it? I gave 10 paper boxes away to my sister's church quilting group. They wanted roll of batting that was taking up space because I have fallen in love with using washable wool. Also, I found that if I send a quilt to a long armer they prefer to use their batting - so it went to a good cause. The LOVED the NFL and MLB fabric - seems I had a lot of hard to find fabric. But I didn't feel bad what I kept. (A book for crafts to make with kids.) But so happy about getting rid of stuff others will use.

I don't even think of decluttering until it hits me that my room is a mess, or it's getting out of hand. I then go through everything and because I'm tired of decluttering I get rid of more, just because. I haven't missed anything yet cause as far as books or magazines, the internet has more than what is needed.

I did a lot of -- cutting down, as I called it. When I moved into my new quilting room, I knew it was time to cut down on a lot of hold over crafts and what nots. I pared away a lot of crafts that I hadn't worked on for ages, and slimmed down on what I was keeping. It felt so good to let go of most of it. Some I passed onto family, some I sold (most of my hard back books -- over 1200 of them), donated yarn, sewing patterns, fabric I couldn't use for quilting, and crafts I no longer had an interest in, etc. etc. taking it to donation sites (Savers/Goodwill) or listing it for free on Craigs List.

My Quilting Room is now pretty much just that, all quilting supplies/fabric etc --- with only a tote on top of my shelves of sewing/mending thread, mask making supplies, a cardigan worth of good yarn w/my knitting needles and pattern, and Brazilian Embroidery supplies. I kept a book case worth of my crime series books from three fav authors, some classic books and one shelf of Quilting Books.

It felt so good to get rid of so much. It was like a breath of fresh air to get rid of things that were just collecting dust for so long.

I've been going through quilting and knitting books, made a pile of those I realistically know I will never use again, and offered them to my quilt group. I know that one day my kids will have to empty out my house -- that's a horrific enough task without them also having to wade through extra extraneous stuff. I'm trying to make things as easy as possible for my kids. When my sister and I emptied out our parents' house it was a grueling task, even though my mom was very neat and organized and was not one to keep a lot of stuff.

What helped for me was using eBay and Amazon as I went through my books. If I could buy it back at a reasonable price, then it was easier to let it go now. I had all my quilt books inventoried and moved everything I donated to a subset, so that when my brain says “You have that book”, I can verify whether it’s still on the shelf or not.

It also helped that I had a goal: get rid of 1 of the 2 bookcases to make room for my new sit down quilting machine. Still, it was an emotional process and I just had to recognize that.

About 5 years ago I did a major purge of quilt books. I honestly don't miss one single book I got rid of.
When I started quilting there was no internet. Now that we have so much at our fingertips I find books to be annoying, at least that's how I see it. I'm not into keeping things the way I used to.

I bundled up piles of magazines I had been keeping over the years. I really never looked at them twice so why was I keeping them? I donated all to the local charity thrift. I have not missed one single issue. I don't even remember what patterns were in them anyway. I have so many new patterns to make. I purged most of my quilt books when we moved twice in one year. Books are a pain to pack and move. I haven't regretted or missed not having them like I thought I would. One thing I found with the patterns I did keep from pages in some magazines and books is that so far every pattern I have kept I found online now. Most are free tutorials on youtube. LOL

I take out the patterns I want to keep and then recycle the rest. I love reading a magazine in the evenings so I subscribe to quite a few.

Thank you for your responses, so interesting to read everyone's take on this. A couple years ago I tried to clean up my stash of books/magazines and was able to give away a good amount. Somehow the pile has again grown sky high again. I don't have the room for these and live in fear my attic floor will collapse under the weight. Well, it's probably not quite that bad, at least not yet. I also have piles of home decorating type magazines, mostly "Old House Interiors" which I used to love!!! I decided to start with that pile rather than the quilting/craft pile and was able to put 95% of them in the "no longer need" pile which I'm happy about even though I love looking at the pictures of those beautiful old homes and reading about other's restoration stories. I thought was done with that pile when I opened up a cabinet and found a pile about 2'-3' high of magazines I forgot about. A combo of craft and home decorating mags that I must have put away when doing my purging a couple years ago. So the task continues. I know once I've cleared some of this out and have to move around in my quilting area it will feel better but I've always been one to hold on to things.

I like all my “stuff “. I makes me happy to see all my fabrics, even though it’s way too much. I like all those books. They make me happy too. Why get rid of things that make you happy. I’m having trouble getting into my sewing room due to excess fabric. So I’ve been sewing in the family room. And all my stuff follows me out. I say if you like all of your collection of sewing items, then why would you get rid of them.
I am who I am.

I feel it is easier now to get rid of physical books, etc. as it seems you can find just about anything on the internet. That is how I feel about recipies also, can look up what you want on the internet.

I enjoy my fabric stash and supplies but when it spills over in other rooms of the house that is where I draw the line. I wouldn't like it if my husband's hobby started taking over the house.

For me, getting rid of books, fabric, thread, art supplies, jewelry making supplies, cool stuff that could be useful someday and tools is very difficult. Every time I've decided to do a major purge, I end up getting rid of clothes and keeping all the stuff listed above. All my clothes now fit into one small 19th century wardrobe and a small dresser and I'm down to 5 pairs of shoes. But my art supplies, books, quilting supplies etc. take up two whole rooms and part of the garage LOL.

Rob

I totally agree with Cashs-mom! I keep what l like, and often go through old publishings and find ideas and inspiration that l missed the first time Our tastes change. What l liked when the book/ mag was new is different from what l like now...and my skill level has changed as well. I won't keep something l don't like. My bookcase is full, and l plan to keep it that way until l'm forced to move to a smaller place.

Some years ago when the sparkles became popular to put on quilts I bought a dozens of bags of different color crystals, the tools to adhere them to the quilts and the accessories, storage case,etc. Every time I saw a kit on clearance I bought it. I embellished a tote bag but never have embellished a quilt. Every time I saw the supplies I would say I one day I will use these. Really? I gave it all to a 4H leader. She said these girls will have everything they own blinged out.

There is nothing wrong with not getting rid of anything. I assure you that the second you get rid of something, you'll need it! If it doesn't bother anyone, there is no reason not to keep it. It's your life and If you have a reason...like you can't see the carpet because of the clutter, or you are tripping on it, or it's falling off the shelf etc., then, yes, you probably need to add on to your house. I am the queen of clutter. I enjoy going through my treasures and rereading quilting books a hundred times and enjoy seeing the pictures of quilts. I find it enjoyable and inspiring. It's your life, and if you want to keep it all, you most certainly can!

You know I enjoy going thru books and patterns but knowing I probably will not do them. So then I think I should get rid of some of it.