I’ve been ‘playing’ with some smaller projects lately, having reclaimed half the kitchen table, but they’re not entirely finished and photographed yet. So, till then I thought I’d post something just to keep the blog hopping.

I had planned this post to just be a rave about the new art supply drawers I bought on Temu. I am so happy with it! It fit in all my pastels, including an unopened box and some packs of willow charcoal I had stuffed here and there.

It even had room for my pencils – watercolour pencils, pastel pencils and ink pencils. All in one place now. Which means I now have some empty jars to spread out my paint brushes and other tools…

Since I got my new pastel storage box, and due to the fact that I’ve been watching so many organising and decluttering videos on Youtube lately, I’ve been inspired to share some of my own storage and organisation solutions.

Given I’m a creator (I won’t say artist cause I do all kinds of things) and my home has to work as a home as well as a studio, I’ve had to be creative with my storage. So here are some examples.

Firstly, who can live without one of these gorgeous drawer units from Ikea? I’d love a ton of them. They’re beautiful and so handy. Mine holds the glue guns and glue sticks in the big drawer, and markers, batteries, other glues and office stuff in the smaller ones.

And then there’s my gorgeous hotel reception key cubicle thingy I bought at an antique shop a few years ago, removed the room numbers, painted the front white but kept the inside of it blue. Then, using some thick cardboard, I made little boxes to act as drawers for all kinds of small items like various sized and type of beads, brooch pins, pegs, acrylic shapes, whatever I might need at some stage. Of course, these are mostly winter project materials. Little labels tell me what’s in each box so I don’t have to go searching.

I got little boxes below at Jumbo (a store that sell all kinds of things cheap). I bought some that come in sets of 4 and some that came as individual boxes. I did the same thing with the lables here too. These are a little bigger so hold larger stuff, or more items.

To the left of the boxes you can see some tools in jars on the right and some in an Ikea cutlery drying thing I have no room for in my kitchen.

I’ve temporarily placed 5 of the individual boxes under my monitor to raise it to the right height. I used to have a platform I’d made for it, but I hadn’t used the right type of wood and it had bowed under the weight, so it wasn’t really working for me any more.

I have this cute little basket which used to hang next to my computer where I kept external drives and USB sticks etc. But I got sick of leaving sunglasses all over the place, so I moved it to near the front door. Now I just pop my sunnies in there soon as I come in the door.

I got this cute bunny on Temu that I spray painted white (cause he’s much cuter like that). He now sits near the front door holding my business cards.

Mind you, I still have the business card holder I made out of a ruler, after being inspired by something I saw on Pinterest.

In front of the TV, I have the drop box I made for my kitchen in Tasmania. Its there for anything I want to grab before I head out the door… plus a pair of garden trimmers cause I’m constantly losing them. And I don’t even have a garden!

On the other side of the TV is this lovely galvanised caddy I bought (you guessed it!) on Temu. For now it holds some odds and ends on display, but one day it will have a higher purpose!

I made these 3 drawers to fit in the bookcase for added storage. These hold my water colours, all my tape and my oil paints. Turns out I enjoy making box/drawers!

Above my monitor I have 4 more box/drawers. These I bought at Jumbo and they fit perfectly. All I did to these was to decoupage them with the same magazine ads I did on the other drawers so they tie in together. They hold things like my camera, string and rope, candles and matches etc.

There is always a ton of stuff in jars and bottles you can’t put in drawers or boxes. I have a shelf dedicated to that.

Under the shelf that holds the printer I have a box which holds tools I need to keep in easy reach – a hammer, some nails, some screws and screw drivers, some sanding pads, a box cutter, etc. Next to the printer is a shoe box decoupaged to hide electrical cables. And a spare box, cause who can resist keeping ‘good boxes’… sigh. My excuse: when I do sculpture workshops, I need small boxes to pack the finished figures into for the participants to take home.

The yogurt containers I upcycled recently are currently living on top of the fridge with labels as well. Nothing says ‘I’m organised’ than having labels on everything, even if you can never find what you’re after!

I have a million suitcases of all sizes, they’re ideal for pretty storage. A small one under the TV holds supplies for my workshops. And larger paint tins next to that. I really don’t like all these in the house, but it gets so hot outside in my outdoor cabinet that I worry the contents will dry out too fast.

I have a beautiful antique hat and coat hook where I hang all the aprons for sculpture workshop participants. Next to that is the cabinet I made over that holds towels.

A couple more small suitcases live under that, holding wire and wire tools, and felt and felting tools.

In my bedroom, the bedside table is a little shelf unit I found in bad need of some TLC. Its baskets were rotten so I put in shelves and then made a couple of boxes to hide electrical cords and other bedside stuff. The middle shelf houses my modem… Not the best place for it, but its the only phone outlet in the house.

On the other side of the room is the kitchen dresser I made over which holds my linen up the top and boots and grooming stuff in the lower sections.

Opposite that is the suitcase stack. I’ve had these suitcases for years and they’ve been in all my homes and held all kinds of things for me… always labelled of course!

So that’s a quick tour of my home and my storage solutions. It’s an ever-changing, ever-growing situation, as needs change.

It’s not perfect, but it suits me.

z

Having moved quite a few times in my life (four times to the other side of the world where taking much with me was an issue) plus having been put in charge of moving people out of their longest place of residence twice in one year, I’ve had to go through this process way more than I’d have liked to.

I guess I’m kinda an expert at it. At least I consider myself an expert when it comes to moving myself and my own stuff. Its a lot harder when the stuff belongs to someone else… well easier AND harder. I have no sentimental attachment to someone else’s stuff so its easy for me to pare things down, but I need to take their feelings of attachment into consideration while being practical. Easier said than done at times.

When I’m the one moving or de-cluttering the rules are easy. These rules apply to moving someone else just as well, but the choice on what to keep isn’t mine alone. I can basically distill it down two basic rules:

A. Throw out anything that’s expired or broken.

B. Donate anything that doesn’t fit, you don’t wear, use or need (ie have too much of).

So without further ado, here’s:

Zefi’s Guide to De-cluttering

1. One room at a time, one area at a time.

Don’t get overwhelmed, cause trust me, looking at a whole house that needs emptying is hugely overwhelming. Start one spot at a time. I always start where packing won’t affect my every day life. For example, I start with bookcases. Give away, donate any books, cds, videos, dvds etc that you no longer want. For decorative items use the ‘does it bring me joy’ method. If it doesn’t, out it goes.

As you move from room to room, wardrobe to cabinet, etc anything that is important and moving with you should go into a box, labelled, to take to your new place. Select a corner where you can start stacking ready to go boxes so they are easy to gather when the time comes.

I’ve always began packing way ahead of the moving date when possible so that by the time the removalists (or three friends with a wheelbarrow) arrive I have everything ready to go, even down to the boxes which go in my car and which I’ll need to make the new place livable straight away: coffee, milk, bedding, toothbrush etc

2. Wardrobes, clothes, linens etc

We all have clothes in our wardrobes that we don’t need or even wear. Especially given our current covid restricted lifestyles. Starting with one wardrobe at a time, one drawer at a time, go through with one thing in mind: do I wear this? Anything that doesn’t fit should go. Anything you like but never wear cause it doesn’t sit right or makes your butt look big should go. Frayed underwear – out. Bras with dodgey underwires – out. Socks with stretched elastic – out. Anything with shoulder pads – out. Ok, sure, keep a few skinny clothes in case you lose that weight, and a few fat clothes for those off days, some old t-shirts to wear when painting, but generally you don’t need 50+ jumpers and tops, 4 bathrobes, 6 jackets and coats, work outfits from our previous career and clothes you bought on holiday and never wore since.

Linen and towels are another thing most of us have too much of. How many sheet sets do you need per bed? I think 3 for each bed is more than enough. Maybe 2 for the spare bed. One to have on the bed now, one in the laundry basket waiting for the perfect drying day, and one in the cupboard as a spare just in case. Get rid of old sets and keep the ones you love the most.

Towels we want more than 3 of, but we don’t need to keep any ratty looking or stained ones. Pick the best, maybe even the matching ones, and toss the rest. Donate them to our local dog groomer or animal shelter.

Blankets, doonas, throws and things like that, I guess you know what you need and what you use. Be ruthless. Donate what you don’t need. There are plenty of places that will happily take warm blankets.

3. Cupboards, cabinets and other hidey places

Hall cupboards, bedside tables, cabinets, sideboards, etc. These places are usually crammed full of stuff. Again tackle these one at a time, starting with those you use the least. Chances are there are things in those places you forgot you owned, and fact is, if you forgot you owned them you probably don’t need them. Start there. Toss out old remotes you no longer have the TV for, chargers for old phones, anything that no longer works. Toss out old business cards and anything that’s no longer valid. Gather photos, photoframes and albums and deal with them separately. Those are a whole ‘nother story which goes under ‘sentimental value items’.

4. Bathroom

My favourite room to declutter cause its the easiest. First thing you do is toss out anything that’s expired. Go through your medicine cabinet and throw out expired pills etc. Ditto with your make up, hair care and body care products. Throw out old sample packs, remants of body washes and conditioners. Give away perfume you don’t use or just throw it away.

Seriously, if you’ve never done this you have no idea how freeing it is. I’m not saying be wasteful, give away things of value, but things not being used are wasted anyway and you don’t need the clutter.

Look at old brushes, curling irons, hair dryers, etc. Anything you no longer use, you no longer need. It should go. Same with anything that doesn’t work. Once that’s all gone you can pick and chose what you keep from what’s left.

5. Kitchen

A daunting job on its own but one I find easy enough. Even though this will most likely be the last room you tackle if you’re moving, you only need to leave out the basics you need daily. Start with the pantry and throw away any food items which have expired. Do the same in the fridge. That alone will make you feel brand new!

Then you can start tackling the cupboards. Throw away any chipped or stained cups, glasses or dishes. Get rid of any plastic containers that are stained, cracked or have lost their lid. You don’t need dirty old tea towels. No one needs a million empty jars or empty take away containers. Most of that can be donated or recycled.

Then there’s the utensil drawer, you know the one with the mess of ladles, spatulas etc. I once read a suggestion on how to deal with this drawer if you’re too chicken to just go through it cold turkey. Get a cardboard box and put it on the counter. Empty the drawer contents into the box. Every time you use an item from the box, put it back in the drawer. Get rid of everything that’s still in the box 1-2 months later.

6. Garage, sheds and other places

Follow the same two basic rules. If its expired, broken or you don’t use it, get rid of it. Chances are whatever you’ve got in storage out in the garage or shed isn’t something you need – if you needed it it wouldn’t be out in the shed, in a box gathering dust on a top shelf. For the things in the shed that you DO use, box them up and label them for the move.

7. Sentimental stuff

Of course this is the sticky bit. Those boxes of things which belonged to your parents, children, your own childhood etc. We all hold onto things for from our past and its hard to let it go most of the time.

I’ve gone through my own stuff many times over the years. And as I’ve gone through them again and again, I find I’m ready to part with things now that I’d held onto in years past. This time round I finally threw out all correspondance except that from family, mainly my dad. All my other letters (and I had TONS) are gone. I no longer need to hold onto letters from people I corresponded with who I lost touch with years ago.

What I suggest is to get rid of what you can and keep what you absolutely can’t part with. You don’t have to keep every teddy bear you ever owned for instance, keep your favourite(s) and rehome the rest. Gather all your photos and put them in boxes. Maybe down the track you can have them scanned, but if you’re like me, you’ll still want to hold on the prints. And if you’re like my mom and aunt, you’ll have a million framed photos on every wall and every flat surface in the house. My plan for this is to go through all frames and photos, select what to keep framed or re-frame and create gallery wall areas for mom in the new apartment, then put the rest in photo albums for her. AFTER I sort through all the other stuff in the house.

There is so much stuff. Which I plan to reduce by at least half.

Then again I am ruthless. I’ve had to be since I’ve had to sell or give away almost everything I owned at least twice in my life. Its not easy. I am a collector of stuff. I collect things I like and I collect things for creative purposes. Its not easy for me to give up holding onto things I WILL use one day, so I try to compromise. I keep less of everything so I have room for the things I need to create.

Hope this is helpful to anyone facing this daunting task.

z