So how do you know if you’re becoming a hoarder or just hanging on to things to be frugal? I found this out after my husband and I decided to have a big clean up at home. I wanted to finally get my craft and sewing supplies together and I knew they were in a few different places in the house. I thought, if I’m going to do this, I want them all together and then sort them into groups so I know where they all are. I’m talking about years of accruing supplies plus inheriting supplies from my Mum, my grandmother and, more recently, my mother-in-law. I just can’t bare to part with any of it but when I got it all together I had to ask myself “is this the first sign of becoming a hoarder or are your frugal ways taking over the house?” I had to start asking myself was all this stuff really worth hanging on to.
When I was a young girl, my grandmother never bought a piece of stationery. Well, perhaps maybe a pen or pencil but only when it ran out of ink or the pencil had been sharpened so small you couldn’t hold it. She kept rubber bands that were around the mail or newspaper. She saved envelopes and used them as notepaper. She saved the cardboard from cereal boxes to use for patterns, crafts or I remember she’d stick a pretty picture on it and make a jigsaw puzzle out of it for us to play with. She saved tin cans to pot plants in. Plastic containers were used to freeze stewed fruits or leftovers. I don’t think she owned a piece of Tupperware. She held onto all these things yet her house wasn’t cluttered. Why is it that I felt like I’ve just got too much of everything?
I’ve tried following my Nanna’s methods but my crafting supplies are bursting at the seams. I always hang onto things thinking that they might come in handy one day and they usually do. Trouble is I need another house to store them. I know I managed quite well before I inherited all those extra supplies but there is so much sentimental value in these items. Things like wooden thread spools, vintage buttons and notions, vintage tins and all sorts of treasures (to a crafter, that is). These kind of things are irreplaceable and I’ve used some of them already in crafts.
My late mother-in-law was an avid crafter and she loved crochet, embroidery, cross stitch, knitting, quilting and many other things. When she passed away it seemed just awful to donate or throw away all her supplies so I was lucky to get them. There is enough crochet cotton and wool to last me a lifetime. Will I use it all or am I just taking up valuable space? I kind of think that if I’ve got the room, which I have in the form of a double shed in our backyard, I can hang onto these and other sentimental items. It’s just organising it all. Craft supplies have become very expensive and I just can’t see the sense in paying money for some of these craft ‘kits’ when you can find most of the supplies in your house already. With all the sorting, tidying and decluttering I’ve been doing these last few days, this is what I do when determining if it should stay or go and how to keep on top of it.
When decluttering, group similar items
I found this the best strategy. I didn’t realise how much of everything I had until I grouped it all together. Things like stationery, craft supplies, sewing stuff, kitchenware. Once you see it all together you can cull it, once and for all. I’m still yet to finish the stationery because I found yet another cupboard full of it in the shed. I swear this stuff multiplies when I’m not looking. You see, here in Australia, our children get given ‘book lists’ at the end of every school year which lists the stationery they’ll need for the next year. It’s got out of hand, in my opinion. When I went to school, we had 2 pencils, a ruler, an eraser, a sharpener, a pair of scissors, a couple exercise books and a box of colouring pencils, and that usually lasted you a couple of years. These days they need a couple boxes of everything. I know they’re not expensive but my daughter is in her seventh year of school and boy, have I accumulated some stationery. I say every year that I’m going to send her with the things she had in her current year but never do. I’m certainly going to do that this year. Between her and my son, I’ve got enough school stationery to start my own shop!
I will, however, bundle up exercise books that have only had a couple pages used and rip them out, pencils, erasers, sharpeners and anything in excess and donate to a charity that takes them for less fortunate people overseas. Check your local charities to see if they do this.
When you’ve finished going through everything, store somewhere convenient and label where things are and keep it all in the one place. That’s your ‘go to’ point when you need stationery. When my husband moved in, he brought his stationery with him and he’s an enthusiast, like me but I’m donating a lot of it now. We will never go through what we have in a lifetime and no more! I think I can confess to being a stationery hoarder.
Don’t buy new unless you’re 100% certain you don’t have it
Having items stored in the one location, you’ll be sure to know if you have it or not. Because of the lack of organisation in my life these last couple of years and combining two households of ‘stuff’ when my husband moved in, I lost control of exactly what I had.
For example, if I needed a rubber band, do you think I could find them? No, so I’d go and buy another packet. Again, these items aren’t really expensive but who needs that many rubber bands. As I mentioned above, my grandmother never bought a rubber band in her life because they’re always around the mail or junk mail. Start a rubber band ball whenever you get one. You’ll be surprised how quickly that grows.
Check the use by dates of products
I often go through my pantry and pharmaceutical supplies to check the use by dates. This is a great way to keep on top these things and avoid hoarding them. You can also use the opportunity to use products that need to be used up and throw away medicines or lotions that have passed their use by date.
If you’ve got the room, keep it
Not everyone has a double shed in their backyard like we do but I make the most of it and use the space to store things so I don’t have to buy them again. Things like wool, crochet cotton, excess stationery, craft supplies etc. I was recently working on a craft project and I was positive I had some decorative small rocks. I searched and searched and eventually found them but hanging onto that small bag of rocks did come in handy. It saved me having to go and buy more. (If I couldn’t find them I would’ve used rocks from the garden but you get the idea.) I have so many tubes of paint that I’ve held onto over the years because the kids get the urge to paint and I don’t have to go and buy more.
Look out for frugal buys from charity/thrift stores
I know I’m trying to avoid people hoarding but I’ve found so many little bags of embellishments for craft projects or wrapping paper, for example, for next to nothing from thrift stores. I know they don’t take up room and if I keep them all together in the one place, for example, setting up a wrapping station, you’ll always have a constant supply of these sorts of things. There’s nearly always an occasion to wrap a gift or if you have children that enjoy crafting, like my daughter, they’ll find a use for everything. I use a lot of embellishments for all sorts of projects. Just about all of my wedding crafts were created from things I had found over the years and I utilised what I had. I must admit, I was organised when it came to storing these things.
Of course, if you’re not crafty or a sewing enthusiast, you can still apply the same practice to buying anything. Things like food, magazines, kitchenware, clothes, jewellry, shoes etc etc. You can read the current issues of magazines at the library but if you have a young child who likes to cut pictures from magazines, buy a couple from the thrift store. These can be kept in a box with your craft supplies. Know what you’re buying, food wise, and use it up before the use by date. If you haven’t worn an item for 12 months or it no longer fits, donate it. And so it goes on.
I used to be so organised before having children, to the point of being anal so these last 10 or so years really has troubled me, not knowing exactly where everything is at all times and not having what I do own organised. I’m slowly getting there now my children are older so feeling a lot better. I guess it was a small sacrifice to make because I got to spend a lot of time with the children and not worry about whether my craft supplies were all lined up straight in a box or my pencils were all sharpened.
