How To Organize The Craft Room | Decluttering Hobby Supplies

I store my craft supplies in the basement when they are not in use, and each time I pack them away, I try to do a quick clean out so I’ll be more excited about pulling them out again.

Because when the mood strikes and I want to pull out my sewing machine, if there is any clutter there that I need to face, I’ll procrastinate on sewing.

I remember procrastinating doing a project simply because I didn’t want to have to switch out the thread and reload a bobbin…  Really!

I need to keep everything streamlined for myself so I can enjoy it. That clutter in my craft space had a lot of control over when I was creative.

That’s why I embraced minimalism: so my stuff couldn’t control me anymore.

Our stuff needs to serve us, not control us.

I completely understand seeing the potential in all the miscellaneous supplies; the fabric straps, ribbon pieces, paper odds and ends, leftover yards of yarn… all of it. And one could use it. That doesn’t mean we will.

And when we think about decluttering, the hardest part is letting go of all those possibilities.

It’s important, to be honest with yourself and what you will actually do, what you actually enjoy doing and what things give you energy.

Here’s how to fix your cluttered craft room.

How To Declutter a Craft Room

Craft rooms are special rooms, with their special craft room clutter.

I think minimizing craft supplies feels the same as minimizing books: But those things are good for you! Reading and crafting are positive activities, right?

But it’s only positive in the proper context. If your craft room is so cluttered with scrapbooking supplies, jewelry making kits, hanging shelves to hold the remnants of your knitting phase, extra supplies you couldn’t possibly use in one lifetime–it’s time to make some tough decisions and get rid of stuff.

Let’s declutter and organize the craft room!

1. Visualize your organized craft room.

Create a specific vision in your mind of what your dream craft room might look like. A clean space where you can easily access supplies for new projects that you’re stoked to work on?

How does the whole room look?

Like a craft area? Or like a craft area slash den slash office slash storage space?

Let’s assume you want it to look like a craft room!

What are your current storage solutions, and can you continue using them after you declutter your craft room?

What do you need for the decluttering process?

Tools for decluttering:

• trash bag
• boxes for keep, giveaway, and action required
• mental and emotional space
• a quiet, peaceful environment, if possible!

Also imagine where you’d like everything to go when organizing craft supplies.

What craft projects do you want to work on right now?

What supplies do you need handy on the daily for things like repairing clothes or writing letters?

When you know what you want the end result to look like, let’s keep rolling onto the next step!

2. Remove the trash.

No offense, but I’m assuming your craft room is a huge mess right now. Because you’re reading this article, and because that’s just how craft rooms tend to be!

It’s tough to stay organized and focused in a messy, cluttered area.

So let’s start with the trash. Grab your bag and do a sweep to throw things away.

Toss broken items, scraps you won’t use, supplies you’re done using but can’t donate, half-eaten donut your kid squirreled away behind the embroidery machine.

This is an excellent start and should give you a little more wiggle room to work with.

Trash collection is also lower-stakes and less emotionally involved than decluttering items that are still valuable, so it’s a gentler entrance to the task.

3. Assess storage space.

What does your storage look like?

A closet, vertical space, storage bins, multi purpose furniture–or has a tornado ripped right through the room and you have no assigned storage solutions?

No judgement either way! I’ve been there!

Get an idea of if you’ll need to buy some storage solutions, or if you can work with what you have.

Tip: If you do need some furniture or storage pieces, shop your house before you shop a store. Almost every time I think of buying something for organizing, I find the perfect solution somewhere in my house.

4. Sort & Declutter unfinished projects.

Sometimes we start something and we just don’t finish it. It’s typical for craft rooms to be littered with unfinished projects that likely haven’t been touched in months, so let’s declutter them.

Pull out your bins, baskets, and boxes where you currently store all your craft and hobby supplies.

If you have many unfinished projects, take plenty of time to sort them, one box at a time.

It’s an emotional process and can be exhausting.

Never spend more than 3 hours at a time decluttering, or you will get burnt out.

Set a timer if you need to and give yourself a break every 30-60 minutes.

Questions to ask while sorting unfinished projects:

• Is this relevant to my current life?
• Do I have enough time/supplies to easily finish it this week?
• When I think of working on it does it still bring me joy?

5. Sort non-passion craft supplies.

These items are lower stakes–maybe everyday things for mending and repairing or supplies for old projects that you or your kid is no longer interested in.

Sort them into Keep and Donate, and let’s move along.

6. Sort passion craft supplies.

This will either be harder or more fun than the previous step. Sort through supplies for your current passion projects and special interests.

Again, sort into Keep and Donate and keep rolling.

7. Category purging.

Now go category-by-category with whatever is left.

You may be able to toss entire categories of things. Think through what you have, what you want, and what you use. 

8. Revisit space planning.

Now that you have some room to breathe, how’s your idealized craft room looking? Still like all of your ideas, or need to make some tweaks?

Solidify your vision before you begin to organize your remaining crafts and supplies.

Sort & Declutter Unfinished Projects

Unfinished projects can be a heavy burden, so let’s get a little further into it.

It can be hard to admit that you won’t finish something, especially if it’s something you were once excited about.

But if you only have negative feelings as you assess the item, then it’s best to let them go.

Letting go of these things will free up space to allow you the room to be creative.

Donating unfinished projects.

There are many people who enjoy crafting, but are unable to afford supplies and would be blessed to receive those projects and complete them.

There are also many who craft to bring in an extra income for their family and would be grateful for supplies they don’t have to pay for.

Check your local buy/sell facebook groups, garage sale groups or young mother support groups.

Donating craft supplies.

And here are some options for donating your discarded craft supplies:

• Local MOPS groups
• Mothers Of PreSchoolers does crafts on a regular basis and may be happy to take donations.
• Makerspaces: Many communities offer maker-spaces for artists who do not have their own space to work it, for impoverished children or a place for parties and gatherings in the community. Find a local donation center by contacting ScrapUSA.org or Makerspace.com
• Contact your local school or church to see what they take.

How to deal with current projects.

Let’s look at the supplies and projects we have left. First, purge obvious duplicates, damaged items, things that never worked right for you, dated items, and things that you no longer love.

Questions to ask:

• Am I likely to use this up?
• Do I love this color/pattern/fiber/media?
• Is this my favorite brand?
• Do I have enough room to store this much?

What to do with finished projects.

If you have finished pieces around your craft room, you can give them some attention as well.

If any need to be mounted or framed, put them in a pile to do so

Distribute completed projects as gifts, or throughout your house as relevant.

Depending on the medium of your art, it might make more sense to prop things on hanging shelves or a gallery wall.

How to maintain your newly decluttered craft room.

That glorious feeling after giving an entire room a makeover…that fades three weeks later, even though you promised yourself it would be different this time.

If you love your organized craft room and want to preserve it in amber for the reset of time, here are a few tips to maintain your craft room organization.

1. Set up zones.

Keeping specific areas just for particular projects, that way your supplies stay together instead of mixing up and wandering around the room when you turn your back.

2. One In, One Out.

You might establish a one in, one out policy to keep things from getting out of hand again.

If you decide to take on a new hobby or project, consider wrapping up or tapping out on another.

Again, it can be difficult to let go of creative projects, but it will get easier with more practice, so keep trying!

3. Leave time for clean-up.

Plan to spend five or ten minutes straightening things up after crafting sessions. Then? Do that! Then you keep your craft room clean! Life-changing advice, I know.

I have the same tip for decluttering–stop well before you’re burnt out, so you have the energy to straighten everything up, take out the garbage, and drop off donations.

4. Use project trays.

A tray or box to contain your craft projects can work similarly to zones, but it’s a bit more flexible and convenient for smaller spaces.

You can bring a project tray to the living room to craft while watching TV, or you can create a storage system when you need to set them aside for more space.

5. Use vertical, clear storage.

Vertical storage of clear material will allow everything to be in view, therefore easier to put away in your specific system’s way.

6. Keep an inventory.

If you’re a CRAFTER crafter, it might be worth it to create a written inventory of your materials while you declutter your craft room. Keep it on hand to consult when buying new supplies and to locate rarely used pieces.

What next?

Now that your craft room is perfectly decluttered and organized, great work! What now?

Let’s branch into the rest of the house!

Check out one of these related articles:

• Create a Minimal Living Room By Removing These 10 Items
• Decluttering Kitchen Counters
• Decluttering Toys With Kids