Stationery is my biggest weakness

Close second comes fabric and craft materials. Colourful things make me swooooon.

Remember this list? 

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Here is the list of areas that I need to work on so far:

1.  Books

2.  Stationery

3.  Paperwork 

4.  Clothes - attempt 33 items including outerwear and accessories

5.  Craft materials

6.  Tools and electricals

7.  Decorative items

8.  Bookcase in the study

9.  Crates on the floor of study

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I knew number 2 would be most difficult, because I've been pretty much addicted to stationery, pens, pencils, crayons etc., since I was a child.  I didn't have loads of dolls or Barbies (I had 5 when other kids had 50), but I always had multiple colouring books and lots and lots and lots of crayons. I loved it. Now it includes every type of folder, notebook and pen imaginable!

The dilemma here is that I'm also trying to simplify my life and eliminate as much of the visual clutter as possible. I finally psyched myself up for the challenge of de-cluttering the stationery. My reasoning was that if I succeeded at this challenge I could do anything.

I began by going through every room and collecting every pen, pencil, folder, scissors, etc. that I could find and dumped it all in the living room. 

This is what I ended up with (*hides behind the sofa in shame*)

Now, I reckon that must be half a car load right there. Or close. Erm yeah. That lot doesn't really fit in with the lifestyle I'm trying to achieve, so I started going through it. It was a lot harder than I thought. Turns out I'm attached to my stuff. 

The challenge took a long time (I struggled with it over 2 days). I managed to let go of this stuff: 

Folders, pencils, pens, coloured paper and so on. It's a start, but I will probably have to do it again in the future. It made me realise how hard it is to declutter an area that you still value, or is somehow part of your upbringing/childhood. 

The things I kept, I was determined to display. I wondered why I'd kept all the lovely colourful pencils hidden, when they could be displayed and enjoyed, even just by looking over at the shelf!

So I set about collecting some glass jars, and chose the items that were colourful in my remaining collection.

Here they are in their new home: 
  

I look over at my shelf lots of times every day and each time, it makes me happy to see the lovely jars with all the colourful pens in them!  The leaves at the back of the shelf are a result of a random evening of watercolouring. It definitely brightens up the shelf.

I'm done with stationery organisation for now so that means I can cross it off my list!

1.  Books

2.  Stationery

3.  Paperwork 

4.  Clothes - attempt 33 items including outerwear and accessories

5.  Craft materials

6.  Tools and electricals

7.  Decorative items

8.  Bookcase in the study

9.  Crates on the floor of study

I've conquered a couple more on that list, but the fun bit is writing about it!


Anyone else been de-cluttering an area that's difficult, for any reason? I'd love to hear about it!