Spring Cleaning: Stash or Space? | Sangui(knit)ie

Last weekend, I did something I’ve been meaning to do for ages. I started the long (and dreaded) process of tackling my two closets, organizing and purging myself of accumulated stuff. You would think this wouldn’t be such a scary thing, especially since I only moved roughly a year ago, and I generously pitched stuff beforehand. But the truth is, it seems I’ve become an adult. I’m living with my mister, have been on my own for about 6 years, and while we may be renting, our apartment is a bona fide adult apartment—you know, the kind with a dining room, and a backyard, where you have to shovel your own snow and the hallways aren’t communal.

Seriously, we even own a hutch. Yes, it was a free hutch from his parents, but it’s a piece of furniture that is not essential in any way, though it does the wondrous job of holding our towels (which also number more than just one for each of us).

I’ve never been exactly a minimalist, but I also really love not having an excess of doo-dads with no distinct purpose. I admire both people who can live out of a suitcase, and people who can turn nothing into something very beautiful.

And I’m a creative person. So I have things like a box of crayons, a paint set, and a fully stocked cabinet of kitchen items (the useful traditional ones, not those gadgets Williams Sonoma charges the GDP of a developing country for). And I like having those things around, even if I only I pull out my paints a few times a year, and I can’t use my zen sandbox because the cat tries to pee in it every chance she gets. Some day I want to.

Yet, at the same time, they are taking up space. What if I want to pack up and leave for a bit? There’s a lot of stuff that will need to be taken care of. Then again, while I stay, it’s comforting to have my favorite book sitting on my shelf, waiting for its annual read-through.

The creative argument for stuff is the same. Less means you have a blank slate, room to be innovative. Having stashes, utensils, and tools is inspiring and gives you the freedom to just play, without worrying about what you may not have to produce your latest creative endeavor. And stuff can stir up an awful lot of inspiration.

Is less more? Is a stash, an arsenal of tools, an important part of a creative life? Should I toss the half-used notebooks that remind me of the summer when this writing and craft thing started to fuse together for me, or the cheesecloth I’ve been saving for a painting project?

Stash? Or space? Which is it for you?