I used to sew, and had shelves full of fabulous fabric, and boxes full of patterns, for intended projects. I finally decided I would not buy any new supplies until I finished the projects already in queue. Well, that brought a grinding halt to purchases!
I don’t recall the point where I realized most of the projects in queue would never get done, but I must have jettisoned the evidence of my optimism somewhere along the way, because currently I have zero fabric and zero patterns. I do have my sewing machine, a collection of threads of different colors (nicely sorted & displayed on a spice rack), and a small box of supplies (scissors, pins, needles, seam ripper, etc). That’s enough for the occasional project that pops up, such as:
- mending,
- a sunbrella panel for a railing, to hide an A/C unit from view from the garden,
- a tablecloth using a nice Marimekko fabric, when I couldn’t find a ready-made tablecloth in the colors/size I liked,
- re-attaching the hold-down clips to the cover of DD’s hot tub.
I could maybe have sold some of this stuff, but when you want it gone, you want it GONE
Yep. Selling? Ha, I don’t even go to Goodwill anymore if I can help it. I’ve used cragslist recently, under “free,” and have gotten good response from people who come pick stuff up. (I put the items in front of my front door when I get the text that the recipient is on the way, so I don’t have to actually meet anyone, much less let them inside the house.) Works for individual small household items, probably wouldn’t work for clothes, craft supplies, etc.
Freecycle can be good, but there isn’t one in my neighborhood.
I even had an old solid wood desk that I paid someone to take. Heavy, took two strong people to get it down the stairs and out of the house. I think he either kept it or donated/sold it himself, which is fine, saved me the trouble. I didn’t advertise it for free, because I didn’t want random strangers in the house; but I was OK with a stranger whom I was paying for a service, go figure.
Congrats on the weight off your shoulders. Who knew yarn could weigh so much?!
And yeah, definitely LBYM. Nothing like decluttering to make potential purchases clear a higher bar going forward.