Minimalism Challenge 2024 - Craft Edition, Days 23-30

My latest downsizing efforts have officially come to an end.   And a happy ending it is - for several reasons:  

• It's always good to finish something one starts. 

• While I'm finished with this particular challenge, the truth is I have once again sparked a greater desire to think more intentionally about my stuff, and to continue paring it down.  In other words, the process has only just begun (again). 

• I have been reminded of what I actually own in terms of craft materials.  After our move two and a half years ago, and after parking various containers of craft stuff in this particular room, I got on with other things and rarely went into this room to see and use what I've kept there.  That bothered me greatly, but I just kept the door closed, for the most part, and ignored the whole situation.  I can see how I'll be using this room more regularly now.

• And lastly, others are (hopefully) going to enjoy what I was not using.  

I have learned some things in this process.

• Thirty days was too long for me to spend in one room.  Truth be told, because I got sick and there were two weeks of not much happening, maybe fifteen days is too long to spend in one room.

• On the positive side of that, though, is that I am eager now to dig into other areas of the house I wasn't allowing myself to sort through while I focused on this one room.  With this kind of motivation, it will be easy to go through drawers and cabinets here and there and slowly over time continue whittling down the superfluous stuff.  

• I was reminded once more that purging a lifetime of accumulations is (for me) best done in layers.  Even with stuff that holds little emotional attachment, there is a mental load that comes from making decision after decision about parting with things.

This last accounting of stuff leaving doesn't feel very impressive, but it does feel necessary to my completing this challenge here.

I went through binders of crochet and knitting patterns and recycled a small pile of paper that I had once upon a time printed patterns out on.  Some were duplicates, some I realized I had no interest in making.  (1 thing)

I gained a little space on a shelf by removing these craft books.  (9 things)

I rehomed a costume apron made years ago.  It's not a decent fabric for a real apron, but as a costume it served its purpose.  Also, I'm letting go of a man's Hawaiian shirt.  It belonged to my late brother, and I kept it after he died  thinking the prints on it might be fun to use in some craft project.  I still do think that, but letting go of this is actually a letting go of some pain.  And now someone will enjoy wearing this very nice summer shirt - on a trip to Florida, maybe.   And that little green thing is a balloon pump - leftover from my clowning days.  Yes, I was in a clown ministry for a while - in a previous life.  I actually kept a slightly larger balloon pump - why I'm not sure, but that may be a future day's purge.  (3 things)

Random items:  two embroidered pillows I bought at a fund raiser, a lone skein of sock yarn, and some jewelry pieces.  (5 things)

More lace panels, and some crocheted, stained doilies and a ruffly pillow sham.  The pillow sham and white doilies are old, and I count it a blessing I don't know their history as I might be compelled to keep them for sentimental reasons.  I have some other similar items made by Greg's grandmother, and possibly mine, that are more easily stored and used than these.  As a person who enjoys making doilies (and is thinking about making some again soon), I don't consider stained doilies to be precious - necessarily.  

That said, before hitting publish, I made the mistake of looking up uses for old doilies.  This isn't the first time I've done this, and I can't believe I saw some new ideas.  Okay...  I may be pulling out the larger round doily, but the ruffly one holds no interest to me. I'll let someone else reimagine something made with that one.  (5 things)

While I didn't cast off hundreds of items this time around, I did lighten a room, as well as my mind and spirit, by rehoming some still useful stuff. Last night, middle son spent the night here - as he does sometimes when he commutes two and a half hours to work in Indy once a week).  Taking his things into the room, he called out, "Wow, it looks like you've gotten rid of of lot of stuff."  Yay!  It is noticeable to more than just me.  Mission accomplished!

And then this morning, leaving before we were even up, he forgot to take his 14 year-old music collage/posters with him.  He did think they were fun to see again, but back they go into the corner for now...

Minimalism Challenge 2024 - Craft Edition 

Tally:   151 things gone.