Cutting Back On Hobby Time

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The new year does always bring an intense desire to reorganize and declutter. This year in particular I am thinking about simplifying a great deal. Running a household and raising a little one full time has changed my priorities quite a bit and I am very desirous to fine tune my goals and the use of my energies.

I have always had a bazillion hobbies that I have dabbled in. This has also brought with it a bazillion craft and art supplies. I have always had the luxury of space to keep them in and time to dabble away when I wanted to.

I am feeling itchy to make a change. I don't want to have all sorts of small boxes stored away just in case I need one anymore. I don't need plaster right now or drapey cheesecloth. I want to get rid of unwanted yarn, unused fabrics and tools and crafting toys that are of no use to me. Out with any paints or other products that may have dried out or gone bad. I am also willing to let go of some of the crafts I have made because they do begin to stack up and you only have so much space. I will keep the ones that mean something to me, but if it's clutter, it's gotta go.

I am also trying to impress upon The Bug the same principles of decluttering. She's like me, if she sees a one inch by one inch square of paper she wants to keep it because she knows she could make something of it. And we really do use those tiny bits. But they start to accumulate and take up a lot of space after a while. I have to draw the line somewhere -- for BOTH of us.

I will keep my basic supplies, for sure, but I can definitely slim down. I have a lot of paper I don't care for, that can go. I can really slim down to the hobbies I actually do regularly. That would be jewelry making, paper crafts and some painting to refurbish thrift purchases. I also will keep my sewing and knitting supplies.

This simplifying ache I'm feeling also extends to my time. I do not have time for a lot of crafty goofing around right now. My priorities have to be elsewhere. Every ounce of energy I have needs to be spent mainly focused on the family and taking good care of myself. Both take considerable time and thoughtfulness to do well. And I enjoy both, which is good. So I'm removing any pressure from myself to be too crafty right now in my life.

I can't be one of those bloggers who's redoing an entire room in her house every month to feature on my blog. I won't be designing and constructing my own couch, redoing a bathroom over a weekend or making anything out of pallets for a while. Not that I wouldn't love to be doing those things, but they aren't a priority right now. And as much as being part of the blogging world makes me feel a little deficient that I'm not doing all those things on a weekly basis, (ha-ha), I'm good with super simple. I know that is the best thing for my little family.

Now this is not to say that I won't still regularly be finding small projects that I am thrilled to do, but I will not be doing them to keep up with the Joneses. I'll do them when I really want to and when I have the time and energy. I'll tell you about one such project soon. An afterschool art adventure.

Can anyone relate to my desire to lay down my inner Martha Stewart for a while? Sometimes she does need a good spanking and a nap, haaha. Are you okay putting aside some hobbies for a while to focus on the family or other goals? I'd love to hear in the comments below how you felt and how you acted on your desires. Wishing you a spectacularly lovely day!