Hi Minnie, Lots of goodies there. Was it hard to part with it all? How did your sale go? Hope you found new homes for all of it. What are you gonna do with all your new found space? Luvs

I've been reflecting on my experience ditching all that stuff, and I realized: Not one of those decisions was hard. In fact, I already *knew* I wanted to get rid of that stuff. So this declutting problems--having all the stuff that needed to go out--wasn't an emotional or decision-making problem. It was purely logistical. It takes *time* to declutter. And it takes *time* to deliver stuff to the donation spaces. Not having that time is what has been holding me back. I don't have any trouble being willing to get rid of stuff. I just have trouble carving out the time. It's been nice to be able to shove stuff to the side to get my coat out, etc. And I dressed up yesterday for a family party (celebrating a 25th anniv), which I haven't done in a while! All because I could *find* the clothes.

So, I've been working in that room a LOT! Packed up and donated a ton of stuff, but still have plenty left. The fabric and trims will be getting another thorough culling after I regain some steam. I wish I had taken a "before" pic, but it was just a mess. Imagine tubs and stuff and junk just strewn everywhere. Here's my "during" pics: That lamp was a $2 thrift store find! I just found an inexpensive shade, dressed it up with a little ric-rack and painted the finial to match. The desk is getting new paint and hardware. The shelf is also getting fresh paint. That yellow chair is the inspiration for the feel and color scheme of the room. The table...also getting fresh paint. I wanted a table big enough to really work at. Something big enough to sew, paint, cut fabric, etc. I already had that table, and decided this was the perfect spot for it. It has another leaf, too, so I can add another foot or so if I need to. I was looking for a rolling cart or shelf to store the sewing machines on, but couldn't find anything that met all of my needs, so I just made one! I used a piece of heavy plywood, added casters to the bottom and handles on the sides. The paint is still curing, but both machines will fit on it, and it stows nicely under the table. So far, the only new things I've bought were the lamp, the red rolling chair, and the hardware. I'm still searching for closed storage for the fabric, either a pantry or an armoire.

This is definitely an eating-the-elephant-one-bite-at-a-time situation with the paperwork. I've found it helps to just grab one file and go to another room- then you are only dealing with that one stack of papers and not looking at all the rest. I bet when you get started, you will find that you know pretty quickly what things to toss and what things to keep. Another tactic I've heard is to imagine what it will look like when it is all done. That's suppose to motivate you to get it done :^) More and more I have applied that Marie Kondo theory about keeping like things together. It does help especially with craft supplies. Just grouping stuff that goes together all together has eliminated a lot of unneeded duplicates. I've also found that sometimes when I get all the supplies for a particular craft together, it was very uninspiring and the whole lot goes to donation. The one craft I still enjoy above all others is sewing and in particular, sewing scrap style quilts. That means I have a lot of smaller pieces of fabric to get organized. Right now they are grouped with like fabrics, folded and put in gallon ziploc bags. Then those bags are all in a large, opaque rubbermaid tub. I've been going back and forth lately with the idea of moving them all to clear under bed style boxes (that will still fit in the closet) which would give better organization and easier access to them. Still don't know if I will eventually do that, but I wouldn't do that with all my craft supplies, only the ones that most interest me. Once you identify that, then they aren't clutter, they are something to organize. I also keep a couple of drawers of rather disorganized craft supplies- these I have little interest in and am keeping them for DD in case she has some interest in crafting with them. When she has outgrown them, out they will go, but until then they aren't worth the time to organize, only to hide away. You can do it. It might not happen overnight, but it can happen!