But first, we declutter

Hey all! WHEW � I have been working my tail off on our basement over the past week. It�s been exhausting, liberating and a little disturbing all in one. :)

Every single year in January, I start a massive decrapification of our house. I go room by room, putting all the STUFF I�m not sure about in the basement. And then after I�m done with every. single. room�I start on the basement.

That�s usually around August, just in time for the fall decor bins to start creeping out. And then the holiday mess in the basement begins�mixed in with the rest of the stuff from the house.

It�s a recipe for an absolute disaster. I feel like I�m working on cleaning out the basement constantly, all year long�because I am. Gah. What�s that definition of insanity again?

I finally realized a solution this year � first of all, I need to start with the basement. Then I�ll have a spot for the STUFF from the rest of the house. And if I don�t have a spot, I�ll know it�s gotta go. Which brings me to my next revelation � we have way, way, way too much stuff.

I know, I say that a lot, and I get rid of a lot every month�every year. But as I get older, my tolerance for stuff is getting less and less. I just don�t want anything that�s not meaningful, pretty, or useful in our home. If it�s not one of those things to us, it�s OUTTA HERE.

Buh bye. Don�t let the door hit you in the patoot.

So, with all of that in mind, I started with the basement last week. The befores are not pretty. Prepare yourself.

My craft �room� started like this last week (excuse the poor iPhone pics):

It�s like this half of the year, and did I mention I�m SO OVER IT?

I ask you, who can craft in this?:

 

Holy cats, it�s giving me hives just looking at the pictures. Did I mention I was over. it? This is the very last time I will have to do this � mark my words.

It helps to have thousands of people mark your words. ;)

I�ll give you a little tour of the space first, because I�m just so darn proud of it! First, the wrapping shelves, which were filled before:

I keep a TON of gift bags � so I went through all of them and tossed (or donated) any that weren�t in great shape, or that I just didn�t like. If I wouldn�t have picked it out myself, it was gone.

Why? Because otherwise I knew it would continue to sit there for YEARS (like some of them had). And I was over. it.

I also had so many little random gift boxes � boxes I�ve kept for probably 10 years now. Seriously�OH EM GEE. Will it kill me to get a box from the dollar store if I need one?

Ridiculous. You can�t see in that picture above, but the bottom two shelves are now pretty much empty. It is a glorious thing.

WHOOHOO!!

Next up is my crafty stuff. This area was more reorganizing than purging:

I separated everything into categories -- wood crafts, random crafty stuff, paint, ribbon, contact paper/wallpaper and a big bin at the bottom that holds all holiday crafts.

By the way, do you see that empty spot on the shelf? Gleeeee!

My decorative stuff is next:

This was a HUGE purge � and it wasn�t easy. I had to pry a few things out of my own hands. I held each piece in my hand and asked myself � have I used it lately? Do I love it? How much would it cost to replace? Do I love it?

Do I really, really, I�m-not-even-kidding, this-is-insane, REALLY love it? If not, gone.

(I still think I kept too many candles, but you should have seen what I had before.)

On a quick side note � I�ve used these plastic shelves for years and luuurve em! They hold a ton of weight, it takes about five minutes to put them together, and they�re cheap! I�ve gotten them from both Target and Lowe�s.

I like to install the shelves backwards for decorative stuff, so there�s a little lip at the front edge:

It keeps things from sliding off. :)

I was determined to only use what I had to organize everything, so a lot of the stuff is in random baskets:

Looks like a farmer�s market, eh? ;)

It�s hard for me to part with lamps. They�re not cheap and they�re so easy to redo -- but they take up so much space. I moved them up to the top so they are out of the way:

Next up � the tools (happy sigh):

I�ll tell you right now � I don�t purge tools. :) Tools (usually) aren�t cheap, and if I buy something � I know I�ll use it. It stays.

Back away from the tools peeps!

I keep the major power tools in the garage, but the smaller ones I keep in small bins down here:

 

I�ve had them organized like this for years and it works great (for me!). I can�t do a big toolbox � the organizer in me needs separation and labels. ;)

The last set of shelves is one I�m pretty excited about. First of all, because it�s half empty:

Secondly, because I decided I want a mini-pantry of sorts down there. Not for food, but for entertaining pieces, party supplies, surplus paper products � all that stuff that I don�t have room for upstairs.

LOVE!! :)

(YES, you can see adult diapers sticking out of one bin, and NO they are not for us. :) We use them as piddle pads for pee cat. Long, long, story.)

Many of you have seen my craft table:

The table is really a large, (nasty), metal folding table. I covered the top in fabric and then hot glued a �skirt� around it (with cheap muslin). Talk about a transformation! It�s so dang cute, I can�t even stand it!!

My life is complete with colorful supplies, a picture of my baby Bub, a coaster for my hot chocolate and my silicon hot pad that I rest the hot glue gun on:

:)

I found a spice organizer at Goodwill forever ago and knew it would be perfect for the glitter:

I hung it up on the pole next to my table and it�s just perfect!

My craft room -- purged, organized and with EMPTY space:

I feel about 150 pounds lighter. :)

I like decluttering and it was still a monster. But I�m SO glad I got this done, and in January? I�m ready to tackle the rest of the house!

Maybe next week. ;)

Let�s take a look at the before and after again, shall we? Cause it�s pretty fantastic!!:

It took four days of working down there every free minute. But it was so worth it � I�m just not doing it ever. again. Did I mention that? ;)

Sooo�what are YOU working on? Spill it! It can�t be as bad as my before. Really.

P.S. Anything I don�t want the Bub to get to it placed up on the higher shelves. He doesn�t get into any of my stuff anyway. Yes, he�s that good. :)

P.P.S. I�m taking some of stuff to Goodwill, some to the consignment shop. That�s my standard after-purge protocol.