Rules for Destashing Your Craft Space || Craft Room Organization 

As a long time papercrafter, and an incredible hoarder 😮, I had more crafting supplies than a craft store. I wanted to destash, but wanted to find a “good home” for my giveaways. When I retired, and moved to a smaller home, I knew it was time. So, I called a few schools that had an art program, and filled moving boxes full of paints, brushes, paper, and anything else I thought would be useful. The gratitude and happiness I got back was so amazing. It made me feel so happy. Now, years later, I still do that occasionally. It brings me so much joy.

My man says I’m not a crafter, I am a collector of craft supplies. I am constantly reorganizing because I have too many hobbies. Yarn crafting, paper crafting, miniature making, stitching, sewing…

I live in an apartment, my crafting can take place here or there. HOWEVER, all storage is in two tall cabinets. One holds coloring supplies, the other includes planning supplies. Coloring books are filed in a file cabinet. Current planning takes place with a rolling cart. My planning consists of stickers and tools. In my coloring supplies, I have paints, sprays, stuff that can add to a planning setup sometimes. You have a studio. If I had your setup, I would divide into a 12 month destash cycle. Perhaps 1 month, destash washi tape, next month paper, next month planners, next month inks/paint, next month ephemera, etc.

This is by far the best no nonsense video with the best tips for decluttering that I've ever seen for crafty people. 👍 ❤

Hi Elisa, My friend and I live in 2 different states and we just started doing "destashing/organizing" video calls so we can work on a small part of our craftrooms during each call. It keeps up the momentum on the destashing questions we ask ourselves, which you mentioned in your rules. It's been 4 calls now over the last couple of weeks and it's really made it easier and more fun! Thanks for this video. Great rules!😊

Oh, my goodness. The destash rule is giving me angst! I know it's time, but it's SO hard! I literally have some supplies that I've had for 20 years. Eeeeeek! I'm going to do it! Going to let go and make my space more usable. Thanks for the nudge!

We could look at the big picture-so many of my favorite crafting RU-vidrs create content in order to sell their products on Etsy or get sponsorships. That’s fine, but it does encourage us to keep buying supplies we may not use with the hope that our craft projects will look more like theirs or that our creativity will be boosted once we have the new (fill in the blank). Maybe watching our faves with the firm resolve that we won’t buy anything new for a few weeks, or months, is part of it-to “destash” by not stashing so much in the first place.

I rent a room and have 2 storage lockers full of crafty goodness. I went from a 2 bedroom apartment to a room with hardly any storage. It was pointed out that I’m paying a premium to store my stash 😢. I’m planning on destashing an hour every weekend - it’s going to be very difficult as I had already donated $$$$’s when I initially moved. But hopefully I have been separated long enough from these supplies to let them go - pray for me 😂

I love the rule--to take time to Destash for a while but don't spend all the time organizing! Allow time to create! Such a good rule! You get a little bit of both and that's fantastic! I need to Destash and I do believe I can let go of a lot of old stuff. I plan to donate and give away a lot of things!

I would add .. destash by using! Set aside those things that you think you want to purge and when you're done getting organized, take a look and see if you can use them now. You won't feel the pressure to do just the perfect project because, hey, they're on their way out anyway! (If not, THEN donate/sell/trash.)

I've been on a No buy time for 4 years! Thank you so much for your tips and rules they will help a great deal

I had a huge destash two years ago of quilt fabric and 12x12 scrapbook paper. I gave all of it (a whole truck load) to an orphanage. It sometimes hurts when donating some of our precious crafting supplies but this time I knew it was going to a very deserving place and it was not nearly as painful.

Great advice! I began with 12 X 12 paper and now have very little of it. I also stopped buying 6X6 until I use some of it up. And I have very little washi tape since I rarely use it. I have begun looking at my stamps and dies… The goal for me-keep the floor totally clear!😊

I’m a craft supply hoarder. Always think “I might need this or that in the future”, and I can’t always just buy another one. Your tips are very helpful, but really challenging, too. Best idea for me is to do the de-stashing and organizing in small time chunks. Like the idea of stopping to play and create.

I am in the middle of moving my craft room to a smaller room in our home. I have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and I am finding it overwhelming your video is so encouraging thank you so much. I can only work at a little bit at a time before the fatigue takes over. Right now my hands are the worse so I cant even craft so watching is so encouraging

I did a whole craft room reorganization a year ago to incorporate my friends craft supplies I was given after she passed away. Yes, I already had tons of supplies for a lot of different crafts including quilting, but she did scrap booking and now I am utilizing her "stuff" when I make greeting cards and paper crafts. While organizing I created an inventory spread sheet on my computer and I labeled my various storage containers with a code. I didn't count every button, but I can now put my hands on anything I need without digging for it. I'm not throwing anything away for a while. I have 10 grand kids who come over to do crafts/sewing, etc. They know if they need it, Nana probably has it!! 🙂

I’m constantly working on destashing and reorganizing my space to make it work for me at the time. I’m also helping my friend with her space. The main stumbling block we run into in her space is that, as an art journal/mixed media artist, EVERYTHING has potential so it’s very difficult to destash even just every day items that could be used for gel plate printing. Right now we’re just trying to clear off surfaces and SORT items and then work on letting things go a little bit at a time. Also, I suggested she put up a dry erase board and keep a running total of all the money she will save because once her space is organized and she can FIND her tools, she won’t have to buy more of them! Lastly, following a Marie Kondo approach, I love to think of the joy of the person who will be using the items I destash as well as knowing that the items will be getting used instead of being “sad” just sitting on a shelf and possibly drying out or becoming unusable in some way from being stored for so long.

The hardest part of destashing for me is looking at all the money invested. That makes it incredibly hard! Yes, I know I need to & at times I can just suck it up, but other times it isn’t so easy!

I agree!! ALL of my seasonal scrapbooking kits are kept in the closet in my craft room. It is so nice to have them out of my active crafting space. When a season rolls around, and I pull out that season, it is like seeing it all again for the first time!

This was a little bit “ouch” and a LOT of wisdom! Especially the one about organizational items not solving the fact that I have too many items. I do find that periodic de-stashing helps me shop “smarter” when I buy new craft items.

Really enjoyed this video, thank you for assisting all of us, procrastinators! Luckily, our supplies don't actually have to physically "breath" because a great deal of my stash would be dead from suffocation!. :) I totally agree with the container advice, I have a small pile of organization bins purchased before I determined what I needed them for, and are not currently in use. Thankfully, not enough that I feel the need to destash them. I really struggled with destashing until I came across a woman on social media who I spent a little time getting to know. Turns out she is a big junk journaler on a fixed income who also was bound to her home in order to care for her sick husband. I wanted to help build up her stash because she really was in need of being able to spend a little time attending to her self-care in order to keep caring for her husband. This chance meeting turned out to be a huge blessing for us both! Her biggest need was pretty scrapbook paper and ephemera. I tell you it was so much easier destashing when the focus was on helping a fellow artist in need! I just really wanted to make sure she had a lot of options for her journals. I ended up going through every piece of paper I owned (which was A LOT as paper is my biggest weakness). It took DAYS, I went through 12x12, 8 1/2 x 11, 8x8, 6x6; everything! I even pulled out all my paper stacks and pulled all the sheets in those pads that I knew I would never use simply because they were not my aesthetic. They were gorgeous pages, just not my style/preference. By the end of this process, I shipped 4 large USPS flat-rate boxes to her; I charged her only for the shipping & I felt AMAZING! I now knew I loved everything in my paper stash and I had cleared out a TON of product all in the name of helping another in the crafty community. For me, this is the secret to getting destashing done and actually enjoying the process. SIDE NOTE: most of my crafty stash was gifted to me by my sister when she tired of spending a small fortune every month to keep her HUGE amount of crafty supplies in storage. This too made it easier to share, because I have never had the means to shop for craft supplies and it was a really big deal to be gifted so much, I loved that I was able to share it with another.

I could never get rid of supplies after a year. I keep them for as long as they are good and I am always going to older items to create new things. My space stays pretty organized because I have a place for everything, so cleanup is quick and easy. I also have boxes that I use for all the bits and pieces that go into ongoing projects. I do an occasional reorganization and sometimes put things I know I will not use into a crazy mix of things I sell. Often Moms buy these to let their kids have some creative supplies.

The one thing that has helped me so much is I destash everything I buy before I go in my home. Weather I buy a thrift store grab bag of stationary supplies or something from the craft or dollar store, I destash it right away in my car. For example if I buy a ream of 500 sheets of color paper because it's $4 I will open it and take out half or more out. The grab bags of art supplies, stationary, etc. I instantly take out what I don't use and put it in a donate bag I keep in the car. The items from the craft or dollar store I open and throw away all wrapping and any thing that I know I won't use that came with it. If I buy markers the same I never use burgundy so I take that and any other color I don't work with and put those in the donate bag. And the trash bag goes in trash too before I get in the door. The only thing I destash in the house are the Happy planner sticker books because those take more time. I organize those by flowers, boxes, words, seasonal, Misc., etc. I put each category in a metal ring and that way I add to my category of stickers and know what to reach for

Something to keep in mind is that destashing/clutter busting is NOT a one and done thing! You need to keep evaluating and destashing on a regular basis. Keeps things from being overwhelming.

It took me awhile to figure out that organizing and decluttering are two different things. Once I decided that shifting things into totes or just neatly putting things in better places wasn't making things better I started just getting rid of stuff. Before that everything had been organized to death but because I had so much stuff I would just look at it, get overwhelmed and quit. Your brain may be different but I had to reduce my inventory by half before I could start actually making anything again. It was hard but it was worth it. I sent everything to other crafters. I didn't have the time or energy to try and sell stuff. I watched all kinds of videos about minimizing, destashing and decluttering and they gave me the momentum to keep going. I agree with all the points in this video. In the beginning I told myself a lot of lies about why I needed so many things but as more and more stuff went away I kept feeling better and better. The I spent so much money thing was one of the hardest points but I had to let that go. If the answer to the question would I buy this again was no I got rid of it. It may take a few passes to get there but I would recommend not stopping until you really are down to the stuff you are really liking and are prepared to use.

Great rules. I need to follow them. 😆 🤣 😂

Some good tips. The only one I won't use is the one on putting away seasonal stuff, for the sole reason that I don't do things seasonally. I make Christmas cards all year long, and there is no rhyme or reason to when I scrapbook various photos. I could well do a Halloween page in March. So instead, I have one bin for season stuff that stays easily accessible.

Thank you for this! I am just starting to go through my stash and I can’t believe how much I have. I won’t even talk about duplicate items. Talk about being overwhelmed. Your rules make so much sense and now I can actually accomplish this, while making time to enjoy crafting.

I am in the process of creating/moving into a new craft space and I just did a big destash of my stuff... Lots of it goes to an organization called DAFI, that helps disabled artists and they are always so grateful of what I send but I think my 1 rule right now in my smaller space (shared room with my kids!) Is that I have to have a home for every single thing...I tend to leave a pile on the corner of my desk of random bits that have no home so I'm really pushing myself to give every single thing a home... Even if it's something that goes into my "stray paper" box... It has to have a place

I truly need your advice on destashing. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It's so hard to let go of items (books, art supplies, stationeries, etc.) because of how they make you feel, you know. But you're right. At some point, you have to, to make room for new loves. I'll try my best.😊💕

With greenery, florals, ribbons, picks etc for Christmas crafting/decorating, ive only kept the resources that contribute to my chosen decor palette of olive green, champagne gold, whites and minimal silver. Helps being ruthless about what stays, and what i will buy, esp from thrift stores.

These were such great ideas! I'm destashing some stamps right now and I love the idea of putting away seasonal stamps. I was doing it for Christmas and Halloween, but now I'm going to do it for Fall and Spring holidays as well. It will give me so much more room!

Such great ideas.

Hi Elisa! This video is perfect timing! I have started to do tiny tidies in my craft space and will do the big purge beginning in June. I do keep my supplies out (and store others) seasonally. This helps a lot! Besides planning and journaling, I am a decorative painter and paint on wood...yikes! that takes up space! I am pretty good at organizing it but it's time to go through everything.

This was amazing. So needed. So helpful. Thank you!

Thanks for the great advice!!!

What a great video! Thank you so much. Saving this forever -- to watch occasionally -- again and again.

Thank you so much for all the advice. The best tip you have given is to put a hold on buying. I am overwhelmed with the supplies I have and even if I goit rid of half of them I would never need to buy anything new. It's time to spend our money on something else.

I so need to do this, Elisa❤

I love this video! Thank you! 🧡

Such a great video! Thanks for all the tips! Saved to my "favourites" :)❤

Lots of great tips… I’m definitely working on it… It feels good to pass it on… Thank you!!

My best de stashing tip is to share with friends. I go to crops with my friends several times a year and we always have a free table and a sale table. I won’t let myself pick up new stuff if I didn’t bring in some things to get rid of. The sale table is nice for getting rid of old stamp sets and tools you no longer use and the money I get I use for classes at the crop or our silent auction.

Thank u Elisa. I agree with your detash ideas. When I detash I have a keep pile, maybe pile, donate or sell pile, & a throw away pile. The throw away pile I immediately throw away in the garbage bag. Something I took away from the paper crafters get organized summit is that if u don't use a product or item & u hold on2 it u r wasting money. That just hit me between the eyes. I have 1 of the old cricut machines & cartridges & books that the only time I use it is once or twice a year when my mom comes 2 visit. Other wise I don't use it 4 me. So I am planning on getting rid of it (donating it or selling it). What r your thoughts on detaching while u r looking 4 a particular item that u know u have, but can't find? I do that sometimes. Have a great, blessed day.

U r the best I’ve watched in a very long time thank u for your inspiration it has helped alot

Wow that board got really full recently!! Great job! ⚾️

Thank you for sharing this content! I enjoy decluttering and destashing and sharing the items, since I have a small space that is a good thing.

I really struggle with "I paid money for it, so can't just get rid of it!"

Great tips! I find I am continually review my supplies and destashing. You are absolutely right - too much stuff is overwhelming!

Great tips. Tfs Blessings

I absolutely love you! I have replayed this video 4 times and I will keep doing it, until I have completely destashed my room.

Such a great organizational video! I have a very large craftroom with several spaces for different crafts. Getting rid of supplies you just don’t use anymore is amazing! I’m going to put your suggestions to work - can’t wait! Thank you ◡̈

Thank you so much. I have been working on the craft space for me. I have recently taken to Salvation Army 4 boxes, (medium moving boxes) of things out of my space… I probably could move out 6 more boxes. I really do need to divest my self of “stuff”. I appreciate your input. Again I thank you.

like the psychology of the stash de cluttering,,make lots of sense to me

Love this video...Great tips! Two of my favs are: "No buy season" while destashing.... and, creating the seasonal storage....really makes sense.😃💖😃

Hi, thank you for this video. I am lucky enough to have a large craft room but it's crammed full as I inherited my late friend's craft supplies when she passed a year ago and she was a hoarder as I guess a lot of us are and loved all crafts, Her husband told me to keep what I wanted and do what I will with the rest. I have given so much to a charity where the proceeds go to a mental health cause, some to friends and family/neighbours, etc. I have managed to sell some bits for him but my hubby told me yesterday he's fed up with looking at it. Sometimes I have to use the dining table when I'm doing certain stuff as my worktops are covered. It's also stashed under our bed and I have about 12 totes in his garage! Also I have a lot of my late mum's stuff so I also have the emotional side when it comes to getting rid of things Your video has been very inspiring and I'm going to go for it this weekend. I haven't even finished clearing my friend's room so there is more to come. Wish me luck. I've just subbed to you.

This is the most helpful video I have watched regarding declutterring a craft room. It all makes sense. I have run into every problem u have mentioned and the strategies u have mentioned are extremely helpful. This should be organizing your craft room 101 video. Thank you!

Good video! I think I’ll try the idea of storing seasonal items, and I’ll mark the dates to bring them out. Maybe in late August, I’ll bring out the autumn, Halloween, and Thanksgiving stash, then in mid October I’ll bring out my December holiday projects.

I think you just crawled into my brain! Thanks for the advice. My main problem is that I sometimes find that when I change emphasis I find I really need some old supply and I'm so glad I saved it. But generally those rules are spot on.

Thank you for sharing just retired and it's working getting my attic insulated sheetrock and paint it to make it my craft room it will help me a lot washing this video because I do not know what I have cuz things has always been in boxes thank you and God bless

I’m in the middle of destashing right now! I wish I would have listened to your rules before I started the process!

Elisa, this video is going on my paper crafting playlist, so I can easily revisit it. I think the rule to set a goal of destashing x amount each day is one that will help me. I recently moved and in an effort to clear out the moving boxes, I placed all my supplies on shelves. This is a good time to organize and destash, yet also making sure that I build in time so I can craft too.

I so need to follow your rules for destashing! I’m such a hoarder with all of my various supplies. It’s soooo hard to let go but I’m drowning! And I definitely love your rule of don’t buy any storage items until after I destash. 💙💛🪴

Wow...I do about all those things wrong. I have a small nook for my crafts...its definitely too crowded. I bought a ton of things for scrapbooking...and have yet to scrap book anything. I definitely will try to remember your tips...but especially no buying!! Thanks

I’m feeling completely attacked in this video 😫🤪 I think I need to destash 😬😂

Oohhh where did those wood grain looking boxes come from? They are the ones with lids that show up around 8:35 in the video.....those are so pretty! Thanks for all the great tips....destashing is definitely a MUST and one I'm just staring to come to terms with. Videos like this really help, TFS!!❤

Good advice, I can definitely use these tips. I just donated a bunch of dies and stamps because I didn’t use them too often in card making for cards I donate . You are so right about being organized and creating, can’t do both lol at the same time ….

Thank you. I sew. I make jewelry and I have 2 cricuits. My husband thinks I have too much lol. I can’t sew in the summer, the kids are wild. I think this advise will help a lot thank you.

I destash my crafting supplies as I need room in my “nook” I also do a no buy New Year’s resolution every three years. This means I can’t buy ANY crafting supplies for that year…I must use what I have. If I don’t have it I figure out a different way to use what I do have. This keeps me continuing to be creative in new ways.

Thanks for your rules - and a couple apply, a couple don’t, since they’re your rules, and people are different. I don’t use the one year rule for my craft space or for the rest of the house, which my husband and I have heavily de stashed. For me - not everyone! - a date is arbitrary and artificial, probably because in general I’m so bad at dates and how much time has passed. And I had to smile - your stash looks massive, including the biggest and prettiest washi stash than I’ve ever seen. It’s art on the wall! I purge by supply, not by shelf or drawer, which may contain different types of supplies and I need to hone in on one type. So just stamps, just adhesives, etc. I also allow myself to buy during purging. No problem there, they just go into a “new” box and there wouldn’t be many.

I am way behind on your videos, but I’ve always liked your content, so I am challenging myself to catch up on them! I think one of my biggest stumbling blocks with destashing is the money invested in those items. Something I was into for a period of time or season of my life that I spent a lot of money on building up my stash or supplies for that project or craft, or hobby, just to get rid of it all. That seems so wasteful or uneconomic to me. Don’t misunderstand me, I am a firm believer in the occasional destash, and I really like your suggestion with seasonal crafting items. I have separated all of my planner stickers and scrapbook paper pads in that way. They are in iris cases that go in a closet or in our basement until that season comes back again.

I so appreciate these type videos that you do. It would be nice and appreciated when you do organizational videos that you would share the fonts you use to label your bins and paper holders Could you also share where you got the marker and pen holder loved it TFS

I love your rainbow earrings! I also collect rainbows and use them throughout my home. I am in the process of designing my new craft room. Can you tell me where you got the card catalog style drawers? I covet something like that! 🤣

❤❤❤ your video, Ty for sharing. What do you do with everything that is being destashed? Ty

I enjoyed your video. Can you do a video about what you do with the items you no longer wish to keep in your craft room. Do you toss, donate etc. thank you.

Thank thank thank youuuuuuu..!😂❤😂❤

I am curious when you pack up your Christmas or Halloween items do you include stamp sets for those or are these specific to just paper type items? I have never considered packing up my seasonal stamps, but I honestly think that might be a good idea.

Hi. Thanks for this and now i just have to wait for the right mind set and energy levels to coincide and kick in.😂

I’m currently in the middle of a craft room destash and I’m going to have a craft supply ‘swap’ with my friends when I’m done. I’m looking forward to giving away my things to friends and ‘shopping’ through their extras for free!

I would love ideas for saving small shop stickers. I have 3 or 4 books right now that I’ve used up all I want of the decorative stickers, but want to keep the functional boxes, checklists, bullet points, etc. I’ve made books from my HP sticker books with those Chicago rings, but not sure if there’s a better way for the small shop stickers. Once I’ve taken the book apart, I can gift the decorative stickers I don’t want to planner friends, but hate doing that until I can figure out the best way to approach this. I’d love a UTube video addressing your ideas.

I'm one who desperately needs to destash my craft room, but the thing that I'm missing is encouragement to start. I did 5 minutes last month and that is all I've done. I just come sit in here and do everything but clean and destash, it looks like I had a paper fight party. So where do I get the encouragement? I've watched so many videos, mentally I can say I'm a organizing destash expert.

Where did you get your happy planner storage? Great tips!

I am all for destashing, its needed in every craft space/room from time to time. But we live in a rural area of Kansas and I am running out of places to give it all away to! Church kids classes loved all the washi and craft supplies but, they don't have room for everything I need to purge! Ideas for rural areas without lots of places to donate?

I've just basically have quit buying anything except score tape and Elmer's glue. I have enough tools, dies, stamps, and paper. Still working through my paper pads, and bargain packs of 8x11 printed sheets. I also want to make more printed paper with my stamps, inks, markers, and paints, and colorbursts. I only buy solid cardstock, now, and only when I need it. I'm still a little overwhelmed with what I've accumulated. I'm not destashing yet, though, just using what I have. Much of it was gifted from family, and I still love it!

Oh girl, I have watched so many organizational videos for ideas. This has been beyond helpful in so many ways, especially rule seven, I do tend to spend way too much time trying to organize, and it's discouraging. Mainly because i have way too much, but thinking i have to get it all organized before I destash. I also try to stick to rule 8. I also like not getting containers until the destash happens. Oh, soo many helpful things. Thank you! I actually feel hopeful. ❤

I have been working on de-stashing my studio since mid-last year. I have misplaced my die cutting/embossing machine some place and hasn't been able to find it to use with my new dies.

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Great video! We are about to put on house on the market and I didn’t know how to begin! This was so helpful! Also what font did you use on the clear containers? (Time stamp 9:35)

I think what has prevented me from destashing is we have made two major moves in the last 4 years. So I feel like I just get set up in my craft room and then we moved, and we just moved to Georgia last year and I just got my craft room set up in December. So I think I haven’t really looked at my supplies yet to see what I want to craft with or not.

I broke my ankle in February and the kids went crazy playing downstairs. They got into my craft stuff so much I had to put a lock on the craft room and put extra things in there (saw, drill ,etc). Now there's no room to move in there but I can't declutter the tools and there's not much I'd be willing to destash right now. So I need to figure out how to organize too much for now.

Great ideas but ideas for getting rid of de stashing would be helpful.

My mom has a mini craft store with focus on paper crafting/scrapbook 😂 she likes makin the bases for different projects but lacks being able to decorate em, decorating semi falls to me lol

What do you recommend to do with your destash? Going through a big destash right now. Really nice Anna Griffen, Brenda Walsh Sizzix Bigz dies, Tim Holtzs and I get over whelmed with what to do with it. I can’t imagine just throwing it away. Any suggestions on what you would do? I enjoyed your video. Thanks!

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Hello Elisa, good information 😊. How do you find where to donate? I dont know anybody else that has the hobby of card making

My biggest problem is who to pass my stuff off to. Some things I would like to get a little reimbursement from but I’m not good at resale sites and no garage sales. I know I can just put it all in a box and GoodWill it but really don’t want to send it there or someplace like that. I’m just stumped but I really need to get rid of a lot of stuff.

Please please tell me where to find the video on your wooden & acrylic vinyl storage on the wall. Edit: and the metal and wood drawer pulls! ❤

I think one part I find difficult is how much money I’ve spent, so it’s hard to get rid of, and that some stuff has never been used. I think I need to at least try it. My stumbling blocks

This hit close to home! I haven't touched my Sizzix dies in years. I know it's time to part with them, but how? I spent a small fortune on the collection. FB marketplace buyers want everything nearly free. Should I donate? But how can I find an organization that will appreciate it?

Where do people donate their items? Schools and community centers don't have die cutting machines or stamp positioners. I'd like the items to go to someone who will use them. Thanks!