A Consumer Relapse {Stamp Out Chaos}

Hello friends,

So, it's been a moon or two since Lindsay and I did a Stamp Out Chaos post.  No we didn't abandon the effort.  We have been working on finishing up some bigger projects in our spaces, and it's summer- you know where the call of spending a lovely day outside with the family is more powerful than a siren's song.

I thought I would pop in today with a post to share the current state of affairs in the crafty space.   A few months ago, I had the epiphany that one of my biggest challenges to organization was that I simply owned too much stuff.  It was suffocating me and seriously impeded my creative efforts.  So I purged.  Boxes upon boxes of crafty supplies left my room and were donated to the school, to daycare and some were even sold.

This made all the difference in my space.  Sure there was more work to be done and of course more could (and will) eventually go, but simply freeing up some valuable real estate from items that were in excess, no longer fit my habits, or my style was an absolute game changer.  Rational minimalism was the way to go.

But then something happened...

Looking back, it started in June with the Father's Day weekend sales, continued through July 4th sales, a couple "must-have" new releases from favorite stamp companies, and an online shop's moving sale (40% off people!).  After not making many crafty purchases over the past several months, I had a full-on consumer relapse.  I engaged in the online equivalent of "shopping until I dropped." The padded envelopes started arriving at the house and stuff started creeping it's way back into my little crafty space.

In one way, the delayed gratification and waiting for these sales allowed me to acquire many sets that had been on my wish list, but as a result of all my new acquisitions, the craft room equilibrium shifted and my space was teetering on the bring of chaos once more.

What I came to realize is that as much as my initial goal when I started this journey was to organize my room "once and for all," that's really not how it works.  Do we unload the dishes once and for all?  Vacuum once and for all?  Nope, these are daily/weekly maintenance tasks we (begrudgingly at times) perform to keep our homes running smoothly.  It's the same with creative spaces. It's never done. Maintenance will be necessary to keep the space functioning at an optimal level.

So what's to be done? Two (really three) things...  

The Great Purge- Part IX
As new stamps have arrived, I took an opportunity to go through my stash of supplies and pull out those that have not and are not being used.  I am in the process of listing them for sale online where I hope that they will be able to find new and happy homes.

A Month of Neglect
As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is nothing inherently wrong about crafty purchases.  New products are inspiring and they help fuel this creative industry that we all love.  The problem happens when the items are purchased and not used.  I have many, many sets that I purchased and still love (in other words, I am not ready to let them go), but I need to put them to use.  So to address the horde of unused stamps and supplies in my possession, I am declaring August 2014 as a Month of Neglect.  I will be devoting most of my blog posts in August to stamp sets that have seen little to no inky action.

It is my hope to post daily or nearly daily to share projects created with my (previously) unused stash of stamps.  I hope that you will continue to pop in to see what I have been up to!  The fun starts tomorrow, August 1.

Learning  
I also signed up for an organization class called Workspace at Studio Calico.

The class is being taught by Marcy Penner and starts August 4.  Enrollment ends tonight at 11:59 PM EDT.  I hope that between letting go of more excess, using what I have and seeing some new ideas through the class, I can continue my mission to Stamp Out Chaos.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Katie