destash and organise

I love the idea of a destash… in theory. Truth is I am very bad at letting go of things. Just ask my husband. Or better yet don’t draw attention to it! He’ll tell you I’m always saving things for a rainy day, trying to hold on to stuff I might never use.

If something needs a simple repair I often hold on to it, in the spirit of make do and mend. Sadly it often stays in the repair pile for a long time, comes out to be re-sorted and goes back there for a spell. Items bought new and never used or gifted and unloved make me feel equally bad and those go in the cupboard for the same routine. They are total storage hogs.

Which is a pity because one thing we could use more of round here is storage. Sound familiar?!

Its ironic because I also love the feeling of destashing, clearing out my home till there are only essentials. I love the William Morris quote:

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

I’m not quite at hoarder level though, I regularly go through the kids clothes and thin out the ones they’ve grown out of or never wear (I need to do the same with my wardrobe that is full of 'one day' outfits!)

I love passing on good stuff to Op shops or family friends. I love the recent resurgence of Vinnies and Salvos stores. And we love great hand me downs or recycled fashion here so its nice to return the favour. Actually Miss A has been volunteering at our local Vinnies and the manager tells she is great at hanging clothes and sorting shoes. I was surprised! (They must be hidden talents those.)

Its Council throw out day here this week. In our suburb it is like an unofficial swap meet. In the days leading up to it the roads and pavements are full of browsers picking the best of the piles and leaving only the truly broken and useless behind, which turns out isn’t much!

What to do with excess craft stuff though? Most of it is new and unused or vintage and precious. I know some of it could be perfect for someone else’s project. I know the investment and running around that goes into buying all these materials so I want it to go to the right home.

Recently I found out that, unlike some other auction sites Quicksales.com.au has free selling. Which suits me, that way I can put items up for sale and not pay if they don’t sell.

So I decided to sort and photograph and sell my excess. To give me room in the craft room and get back my storage, to tame my overwhelming stash.

It will be nice to let some of it find a new home with someone who will appreciate it. (And perhaps I might find some bargains over there while I’m listing too!!)

It took a week to get organised but it was so cathartic. For a few days I just sorted like with like. And then I labelled. The wool was collected up with the needles and hooks and knitting stuff. The embroidery threads and needles and hoops were put together in one place, and the fabric, OMG the fabric. Well lets just say it has never been this organised, ever. The quilting fabrics are in one place, the handprinted in another, the blank fabrics and the vintage all have their own boxes. It feels so good! And having only the good stuff, not cluttered with things I know I'll never use, well it makes the stash more precious.

It seems to me that the run up to Christmas is a great time to organise and destash. What better way to fund the buying sprees of Christmas than to virtuously get rid of all the clutter that you aren’t going to use and make some cash. (It might be the place for any those unwanted Christmas gifts too!)

This post brought to you by Quicksales.com.au