Destashing, a hoarder's guide

Why indeed?

When you have painstakingly searched and located each item, kept them all these years, maintained them so they will remain good as new ?

Destashing or otherwise known as , stash-busting is not for everyone. Let me tell you my story :)

I learned crochet when I was 7 years old. My sisters have their school projects , and I saw my mom teaching them. My sisters just want to finish their school projects and does not really have that certain interest.

So my mom also taught me how, I was given a ball of mercerized cotton thread and size 8 or 1.00 mm steel hook.

Fast forward to 2012, from owning one single steel crochet hook, I now own a ROOM full of stash. I have an entire bookshelf lined with multilingual crochet and knitting books and magazines, from all over the world. China, Russia, Japan, United States. I have several boxes of yarns and crochet thread. I have one big box of knitting needles, accessories, crochet hooks...

I own all those and a very depleted savings account hahahaha

You would have thought that I am a very skilled knitter and crocheter already, with all the resources that I have. WRONG. I'm anything but. I am just a hoarder.

I hoard things, making a mental note to use this for this and that, and so my collection ballooned to a room-full of crafty items.

I love every single piece, I know every single magazine, books and charts on those.

I just haven't made use of them . hahahhaha

I have found myself reserving items for a future, that sadly never came after 4 years.

When I got married, and got myself my own family to take care of and provide for , my priorities completely shifted.

I used to be proud of my collection, now there is a shadow of doubt whenever I discuss my stash. I have started to destash this big collection and is able to let go of the yarns,crochet hooks and crochet thread. I made a good dent alright, but still have a long way to go :)

According to me, here are some benefits of destashing :

1. Practicality. If you invest your money on a better investment medium, you will have more money to buy your stash whenever and wherever you need it, plus, you have a lot more extra for more important things in your life. So if you are not making as much output from your hobby, might as well, sell off your things, and you'll be surprised that you'll have more space and time and resources and even , time, for more important aspects of your life :)

2. Space-savvy. Trust me, knitting needles and crochet hooks, books and yarns,will clutter your room for a while, even if take extra measures to be organized. The more you segregate and organize, the more chances you'll be hiding these things , and the more you don't see them, the more you will think that you don't have any of them, and so you will buy more. So before buying and hoarding, ask yourself if you are ready for that clutter.

3. A lot of stash does not equal a lot of finished-offs. Period. The more variety you own, the more chances your focus will be diverted to something else. It's similar to a child playing 7 different toys at the same time.The focus will be short-lived, you'll end up finishing nothing.

4. You will make more time, if you have less :) when you see a bulky mountain of crochet thread, the brain translates it to how many hours you need to use up all these. So you will have that tired feeling before even starting, and it equate to you don't have enough time. :)

How about you? Should you or should you not destash? Please share your thoughts on the comments below or participate on the survey.