Early Spring Cleaning

I have not sewn anything... nothing... so far this year (ok, it's still January, but in a normal year, I would have sewn several things by now).  I think this is a first for me!   What have I been doing?  Cleaning, sorting, organizing, purging!  I think for the past 7 years (I had a fire in 2005 and HAD to clean)  I've been adding and collecting sewing items which means stuffing, stashing.... ok hording, and was feeling stifled with all the *stuff*!  So, my friend Kathi, emailed me her excel template and I starting going through my fabric, pile by pile, bin by bin, closet by closet.  If I didn't love it, the fabric went to the garage where it will be on its way to the Boys and Girls Club where ASG Los Angeles members mentor and teach sewing.  I think there are at least 10 boxes in the garage so far.

I pulled out all the fabric, measured and counted and sorted it.  I have over 700 yards that I'm keeping and 6 more bins to sort through. Those bins are in the guest room, so I may hold off on those until I finish the sewing room.   After I finished my fabric "cleansing", I almost stopped, but then thought, I really need to go through the closet in the sewing room where there are receipts, bills, photos, *stuff*, and supplies for other hobbies.  If I didn't sort it now, it would probably be another 7 years before I thought about it again.  So, I dove in, sorted, organized, purged, and shredded.  I then went to Target and bought new shelves, plastic shoe boxes, and bins and re-organized.  I have 1 last cabinet to go through... but I see the light at the end of the tunnel... at least in the sewing room.

What have I learned?  I have enough zips, buttons, interfacing, buckles, batting, fabric, thread, and supplies for at least the next 10 years!