Time for some stocktaking. It is just over a fortnight until the Summer Solstice and in another month we shall be at the mid-point of the year. My Craft Room is impassable. I take my life into my hands every time I clamber over the piles to retrieve what I want. By the time I have located the item that I just know has to be there, the piles have slipped and slid to create even more hazards. Why today? Well, I HAVE to tidy up to allow the electrician access to my ceiling light to replace the bulb with an energy efficient LED one on Monday.

Do you watch those programmes on TV about hoarders? My Craft Room is teetering dangerously close to qualifying. So where to start? I really feel for the hoarders who are clearly completely unable to part with a single teeny, tiny thing. When I tidy up downstairs I am in the habit of tucking “might-come-in-usefuls” and “I-might-need-that” items into carrier bags and dumping them upstairs on the Craft Room floor. As I sort through the first carrier bag carefully I realise

. . . that is where that length of dress fabric had gone

. . . and, O.M.G. here’s my old Kindle

. . . and here is my missing fountain pen! Then I also realise that progress this way is painfully slow, probably non-existent. So I ‘Google” the Konmari System for support. (click here) The problem is that Maria Kondo’s method of tidying by category does not fit easily with my Craft Room. And asking myself if each ball of yarn or remnant of fabric “sparks joy” and “makes me happy” does not fit either. However, an idea that I am taking from the Konmari System is the way that she sorts her stuff by categories. The piles in my Craft Room include photographs and mementoes. And I already do have areas specifically for the storage of my yarn/ fabric, electronics and craft materials. So lets tidy the “CoralJane Way”.

1. Place four containers labelled “photographs”, “mementoes” “trash” and “donate” near the door
2. Clear the floor space first
3. Choose the nearest carrier bag
4. Tip it out
5. Place items in their proper place or in one of the four containers
6. Add empty bag to “donate” container

Once the floor is clear then I can start to tackle one shelf at a time. Eventually I might even dare to start on the last two categories. When my room is tidy I actually will be able to use it once more.

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