How to Declutter a Craft Closet

My office/studio/craft space always feels like a bit of a mess, but the worst space of all is the craft closet. It’s always overflowing with stuff! Here’s how to declutter a craft closet if you have one that’s out of control in your house, too.

What is a Craft Closet?

A craft closet doesn’t have to be a literal closet, it can be any space that stores craft supplies of any sort. So my yarn cabinet could be a craft closet, or the shelf with my daughter’s art supplies.

I have a literal closet that holds craft supplies as well, and that’s the part of my house I’m thinking of when I write this post, but you can apply these tips for how to declutter a craft closet to any space you have that needs help.

This is basically a super short version of the method I teach in How to Declutter Your Craft Supplies, which goes through how to evaluate and declutter by category.

Evaluate Your Space

The problem I have with my craft closet is that I want to store more stuff in it than it can really hold. I moved into my current space from another room in the house that became my daughter’s bedroom, and it had a much larger closet. It had a section of built-in shelves and I moved in some other shelves, and it wasn’t perfect by any means but it held a lot more stuff nicely than the current one does.

My “new” (I’ve actually been in this space a few years) closet is small, and while it does have a little bit of shelving built in, and I was able to move in a big more, it also has awkward slanted ceilings that make it hard to store much.

Even if your space isn’t that weird, the first step in decluttering a craft closet (or any other closet) is to really evaluate the space.

What in the closet can’t be altered, such as shelves or hanging rods? Where can you add storage options like shelves, boxes or baskets to make the space more functional?

How much space is there, really? It’s easy to imagine that you have more space than you think you do, or that the space will hold more than it really can. If it helps you can measure the space and draw a little map to help you visualize the space and what should go where.

Or grab my printable worksheets all about how to plan your crafty space.

Clear out the Closet

You knew this was coming, right? Take everything out of the closet or storage space. Clear off every shelf, nook and cranny. Even if you think you want something to stay where it is after you declutter your craft closet, move it anyway.

It’s important to see the empty space and feel the energy, the potential in the space.

This is a little woo, but stuff has energy. If you know the feeling of overwhelm and just tiredness you feel from looking at a cluttered space, you know this is true.

We want to keep a good energy in our spaces, so we need to make sure we’re not overloading a space with too much stuff. This is practically important, too, because you want to know what is in your craft closet and be able to get to it when you want it.

So clearing everything out is vital so you’ll bring more awareness to what goes back in. Every thing you add back is a choice.

How to Declutter a Craft Closet

So now that the space is empty and you have an idea of what should go where, it’s time to put things where they go.

But of course you can do some decluttering as you go. Otherwise you’ll end up with a lot of stuff that now doesn’t have a home because it doesn’t belong in the closet anymore (see the pile of books next to my closet door that I removed from the shelf last time I cleaned in there).

Decluttering craft supplies is a process, of course, but there are probably some things that will be easy to get rid of (or at least move from the space):

  • Anything broken, torn, or otherwise damaged
  • Things from crafts you no longer do
  • Stuff you know you won’t use (the “why did I buy that?” stuff)
  • Things that don’t belong in your craft space
  • Things that have a place somewhere else in your craft space or home
  • Unfinished projects

Arrange what is left into categories that make sense for you. I generally keep all the supplies for a particular type of craft together (all the paper in one place, all the yarn, fabric, etc.) and that probably makes sense for most people. But if another organizational scheme appeals to you, do that. The key is that you will actually keep up with it.

(Have you seen organizing shows where they make everything rainbow colored? Seems like a huge waste to buy everything in every color, and I’m sure most people don’t keep up with it.)

Keeping up with the System

One you declutter your craft closet, it is, of course, really easy to slip back into the habit of just throwing random stuff in there when you don’t know what to do with it.

It’s important to resist that urge, and to check in on the space regularly to make sure things are still in order.

If something is consistently not getting put away, think about a better way to store it.

Or if one space still feels like it has too much stuff in it, declutter that category again, or see if you can move things around to give it more space.

Decluttering is always a continual process, maybe nowhere more so than in crafty spaces, because we’re always getting supplies out and moving things around (and, let’s face it, buying more things). But if you can get into the habit of decluttering regularly, putting things away when you use them, and using what you have, your space will only get better with time.

Closet Decluttering Challenge

If you need more help decluttering a closet (crafty or otherwise) join the Tidy Up Your Closet Challenge with Tracy Lynn from DeclutterinMinutes.com.

Over the course of five days, Tracy Lynn will teach you to:

  • Emotionally let go of things you don’t need anymore
  • Identify underused clothing by looking at your hangers 
  • “Test drive” getting rid of something before committing
  • Free up additional space by managing seasonal clothes smarter
  • Keep your closet decluttered in just a few minutes per day

Tracy Lynn is the founder of Declutter in Minutes. Through her blog and membership group, she has helped thousands of women learn how to clean out the clutter and organize their way to a home they love and deserve.

The challenge starts on March 13, so sign up now!

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