Decluttering - can you do it if you are crafty?

[reindeesandchristmastrees]

Ok so I've been reading the hoarder or chucker discussion o the day? I have diagnosed myself as generally an idle declutter, i can do it just dont often get round to it. But part of the problem is my craft stuff (material and yarn stash plus bits for crafts i dont often do but do irregularly and will do again. Presumably that stuff is exempt? What do others do?

I had a clear out of fabrics about 6 months ago. People had given me stuff that I really didn't like. A lot of it was cotton so I handed it onto someone who was making little dresses for Oxfam to send out to Haiti.

Other fabrics I really want to hang on to, and make stuff with. You have to be quite brutal!

Watching with interest here!
I have lots of craft stuff and I also have a job with children which means I keep things ''in case we need them''. I need to be more decisive about what to keep and what to get rid of, but am finding it hard!

I had to get rid of lots of my art things last year as we were moving into a smaller house. I missed them and some things I should have kept. Then I had to throw away a lot more of my things as they got water damaged and mouldy in the new house. Then we moved again and I was brutal.
I have more space but don't do as much making things anymore :(
Only chuck if it is replaceable, i.e. you could buy a new one somewhere.

I am very much a chucker-outer, but have a very healthy craft stash! I'm very lucky that I have a dedicated craft room, so I figure that as long as it all fits in there, it's not in anyone else's way, so it doesn't have to be decluttered.

That said, I do periodically go through and sell bits and pieces - things I've bought for projects that I've since changed my mind about, leftover yarn from completed projects, etc. I really am not going to use one and a half 50g balls of yarn that doesn't go with anything else I have. This way the stash gets condensed - it doesn't get too massive, and I know that everything in it is good stuff.

Besides, it's a good excuse to have a rummage through, and that tends to lead to inspiration, for me.

I am lucky enough to have a clutter room Craft room, so my stash can be hidden away and a door closed so that it doesn't have to have too much impact on the rest of the house.

I am currently trying to de-clutter that room, sell off some old stamps, embellishments, dies etc....not just to make more room......but to buy different crafty clutter to put in it's place!

I think the key is to having good storage and organised clutter.

Strict discipline about not buying anything new, I have to use up old stash instead. Only keeping my favourites, not lots of "maybe" stuff or anything I instinctively blanche at.

Am madly trying to finish up a quilt today, actually :).

I am currently trying to re-organise my stash and stack it neatly in large lidded crates at the end of our floored loft. I have yarn and fabric going back 30 years or so... plus some stuff that is probably older, that my Mum passed on to me when she had a clearout a few years ago. Like lljkk I am trying to be disciplined and not buy anything new... unless it is to be used alongside something in the stash.

I have packs of wool that I bought when various local yarn shops closed down. Some of these I have now sold on eBay as I have decided I don't really want to work with them. I have also sold some lengths of 1980s Laura Ashley fabric, but am now slightly regretting that!

I haven't got as far as sorting out my UFOs - it is going to be very difficult to be ruthless with these.