2015 – The Year of Clean-Up

Here we are again at that imaginary start-over place, and thinking about the same old thing . . . What to do about the clutter inside and out.

My gallery is beautiful and pristine, and every time I go in the door, I feel good – very good.

As you have witnessed over the past few months, my website and my two blogs are also beautiful and pristine. I have redesigned everything online and am pleased with it, but there is still TOO much complication.

In the search for the right e-commerce solution, I currently have four “Shops” online, so it doesn’t matter how pretty they are – there are too many of them! This needs fixing. But overall, I can see progress in the online overhaul.

However, NOTHING else in my life is simple and pristine, or even close.

So, this is the year of serious purging.

I know that so many of us feel like that, but how to get it done when we have so many other things on the priority list above it?

Heaven knows I am no expert, but I have come up with a couple of tricks that work for me. They basically amount to fooling myself, but whatever it takes is OK if it gets done.

1. Procrastination

We are already doing that, right?

But, this works in reverse.

Whenever I really don’t want to do something ELSE (like taxes or inventory or calling for a dentist appointment), cleaning the studio or the work table sounds like a lot of fun!

So, instead of putting that thought aside, use it. Start cleaning the studio. You can do that other icky stuff later – when something you dislike worse makes them sound like a good idea.

If you understand this, you are as weird as I am.

2. Hoarding

Well. anti-hoarding, really.

We ALL hoard art supplies – especially if they are expensive and cool.

Don’t even try to deny that you belong to this club.

I have a theory about this . . .

Shopping for art supplies is a play date with our creativity.

You see a beautiful piece of paper or jewelry part or paint color, or sheet of gorgeous glass, and what happens? Your creative mind makes a pretty piece of art out of it – or MANY of them. And that feels good.

So we buy the thing and take it home.

Unless, we start one of those imagined projects immediately upon emptying our shopping bag, another process starts up – and it is not so fun.

We *save* the supply because it is too pretty to “waste” when we screw up the imagined project.

This goes on until our studios have filled with pretty supplies, and everything is a mess, and we have forgotten the reason we bought those supplies in the first place.

We also change our interests as we go along, and are no longer so excited about making jewelry or rubber stamping or whatever. Those supplies go on extended parade rest.

So, I am on a crusade to “Use them or Lose Them”.

I am getting great satisfaction from using my stash, and/or giving it away, which brings us to tip #3.

3. Charity

I am not good at letting go – of anything.

I don’t mind throwing away or recycling real junk, but when I revisit hoarded art supplies, I also revisit those project ideas from the past, which makes it harder to let go of them.

I feel a sense of loss – of lost possibility.

So, I need to replace that feeling with another one that feels good.

I love animals – a lot. So, I have chosen the local shelter’s resale store as my “charity” of choice. Any good thing that leaves here goes there, and that feels good to me.

A year ago, when we moved the gallery downtown, and changed it to a “handmade only” venue, we loaded a couple of thousand dollars of brand new gift products (manufactured) into Mark’s truck, and took them to that store. They were thrilled and so were we.

So, it’s a great place for my extra stuff to go and do some good.

BTW, I love that the store is called “What the Cat Dragged In”.

4. Indecision Boxes

Rather than waste time trying to decide whether I still want something or not, when there seems to be a struggle, I pack it into an “Indecision” box.

I pack these boxes judiciously – like you would a suitcase, so this stuff takes up a fraction of the space it did.

This box will be re-sorted after some time has gone by, and I know I will have changed interests enough that I will  “decide” to part with most of it.

5. Sorting

Example: gather ALL the tubes of watercolor paint from ALL over the studio.

Sort them by color. I use the categories Warm Colors, Cool Colors, Neutral Colors. Each has a small basket inside one drawer.

Not surprisingly, I often find I have duplicates. If there is a shelf life issue, I give the duplicates away.

Color and size are good methods for sorting most art supplies.

_______________________

So, those are my tips, but the best thing of all is to USE your supplies while they are still exciting.

That’s what they are for – they are SUPPLIES – and your Muse made you buy them to MAKE something. So MAKE something!