Closet Clean-Out

I set a goal this week to tackle this mess of a basement closet that I showed off last week.

This closet contains art, office and school supplies, sewing materials, craft stuff, WIPs (Works In Progress), boxes of photo CDs and other memorabilia, and an 8 year collection of Suzuki piano music, books and materials.  My objective was to sort out all of my art & sewing stuff and move it to my art studio and hopefully purge and relocate the rest.  A girl can hope right?

From basement to attic - sounds easy enough.  I set aside a few hours one afternoon.

First I moved everything upstairs to the living room floor.  It's important to take things in stages; pace yourself, go get a big glass of water.  This might take awhile.

To start things off right, I set up 3 bags:  White (to donate), Black (to throw out), Paper (to recycle).  I use different colored trash bags because...

Have you ever thrown out something perfectly wonderful that you were saving because it was in a black trash bag?  I have (sigh).  

The end result!

Sorting is the first step.  My preference is to sort out everything by category and purge as I go.  It can be challenging to remember to sort and purge.  No need to keep anything that you aren't using, just because it belongs in that category.  Someone else might love it!

These are the items I kept that were relocated.

                              

                  Photos & Memorabilia

Supplies for  our college students

Musical memories

I also started a pile for all the items that I'll move to my art studio...you'll see that soon. This took care of all of the loose stuff.

But, I still had to deal with all of these containers FULL of stuff!

I have to admit, I got a little misty-eyed sorting the piano music and remembering all those years of helping my boys practice; all the lessons, the competitions and their devoted teacher.  (Yes, I'm keeping all of this for their future lives.)

Sorting can be emotional work!

So I took a break...breaks are necessary when doing hard work.  I ate a bowl of delicious red raspberries and sat outside and smelled the flowers for awhile.

Then it was back to sorting...

Look!  More stuff for my studio!

More office supplies for the college students

The "To Donate" pile got bigger...

Who remembers stick-on letters to make signs?  I am dating myself.

The items for my art studio grew too.

Lots of empty containers - such a good feeling.  Save containers until the house is organized. They really come in handy.

Finally, all done!  The basement closet is completely empty and below is the stash I kept for my art studio.  I was happily suprised to find many projects that need finishing (as well as starting), so I am excited to have everything I need in one room. Now to find a home for it all!

Now, I've learned over the years that  some families collect wine or art or books...

Not mine!

We collect writing utensils!

At least our college students will be well-stocked.

What hidden collection is lurking in your closet?