Our hobbies are a vital part of our lives. Without them we’d lose out on a lot of enjoyment, the chance to meet people and – perhaps most importantly – a way of filling spare time. There is also the fact that by getting into an endeavor, we may find we have a skill that could help with a career. Without out hobbies, life would lose a lot of its shine.If you enjoy crafting – whatever area your particular focus falls on – then your hobby can be something else. Messy. No-one tells you before you start making candles that you’ll find beads of wax all over the house for months to come. You may love the finished product of your knitting sessions. You won’t enjoy sitting on a discarded needle.Once you’ve really got into a hobby, you expect it to take over your life in a metaphorical sense. What we’re often not ready for is the way they take over our apartment in a literal sense. And while safety is one concern (you never want your kids to accidentally find your painting supplies), space is another.
Creative Clutter Can Only Go So FarIn the movies, you can always spot an artist, because they have paint on their clothes and easels all over their home. Few real-life designers have as many mannequins in their living room as those on TV. As much as the screenwriters portray artists as chaotic and disorganized, being so will restrict your ability to do what you love.If you’re going to get much enjoyment out of sewing, for example, you need to know where all of your sewing equipment is. You want to find your needles and your pins where you expect to find them. You don’t want to find them one morning while you walk barefoot to the kitchen. The larger a stash of equipment grows, the harder it is to achieve this. You can find more great sewing tips and product reviews from our friends at Teach You To Sew.Purging Your Inventory: Make It A Habit
Whatever your crafty hobby may be, you will accumulate a lot of equipment for it. When you share a home with your family, you’ll be aware of how much space one person’s stuff can take up. You don’t want to be the one whose name is shouted when a stash outgrows its storage and infringes on another person’s space.Every once in awhile, then, go through all of the supplies connected to your crafting and decide whether you need them. Make “keep” and a “throw” piles and be realistic about it. If there are sheets of a fun fabric that you’ve never been able to find a use for, get rid of it. If you have more than five of anything, lose the surplus.Also, think about downsizing some parts of your inventory. If you have limited storage, a mini sewing machine can solve a lot of space issues. Look for foldaway easels. Do you have gadgets that you barely use? Look at selling them and using the money to buy smaller versions.Sometimes It’s Hard To Say Goodbye
It’s often frustrating to look at something you bought with the intention of using and then never got around to. Being harsh with what you keep and what you throw away is the only way to stop your hobby from swamping your home. Or is it?The things you use most frequently do need to stay within easy reach, of course. However, if you have other items and equipment you use less often, consider other storage options. You don’t need to throw out that fabric – is there space in the garage? If not – or if you don’t have a garage – then why not buy an outdoor storage unit? They’re inexpensive, easy to assemble and can save you from too many hard choices when it comes to downsizing. If you’re making money from crafting, then the other possibility is to look at taking it full time and having premises to work from. In that case, you can keep as much inventory as you want there and stop it from taking over your home.
The artists, designers and musicians in the movies may be able to have apartments that are full of the tools of their trade. In most cases, they don’t also have kids and pets running about. For your craft to be a practical hobby or job, you need to be smarter with storage than they are. From the point of view of safety and organization, you owe it to yourself not to let everything become a clutter nightmare.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
I agree! Sometimes you just have to let go of things that might be clogging up your future creativity. One of the places I donate things to that makes it easier to let go is local public school classrooms. Feels good to help teachers out.’
You are right. Seems like we just hang on the unimportant things to long.
I really need to de-stash! Haha. It’s taking over my closet!