How I ever got through this in one piece is beyond me, but I’ve KonMari’d my stationery. Planners and stationery are my big weakness, and I’ve amassed quite the collection in recent years. It was probably the category I was dreading most. But now it’s done, so I’m pretty sure world domination isn’t too far behind.

Fasten your seatbelt because it’s going to be a long ride.

Having learned the lessons from previous categories, I broke this down into sub-categories. I started with my planners because I thought that would be the hardest (and I’m a big advocate of starting hard and then breezing downhill thereafter). Surprisingly, one of the planners I never thought I’d be able to get rid of didn’t spark that much joy for me when I held it, so I let it go. Long story short, I started with 15 and finished with 10. (I’ve since bought 2 more but also decluttered 2 more, so I’m still on track.)

Then it was washi and deco tapes. I hardly ever use these so this wasn’t particularly difficult. I was surprised at the amount I had, though. A lot of them were bought as multi-packs and, as is always the case with variety packs like that, you’ll usually find one decent thing and the rest will be crap. I started with 40 washi rolls, 42 deco rolls, 13 washi samples, and 8 deco samples. Ended with 33, 7, 3, and 0.

Next was one of the biggest sub-categories and, really, it shouldn’t have been. It was Project Life and journaling cards. Bit of a mystery when I actually don’t use any of them. I’ve no excuse other than I was weak and sick when I bought them, and feeling decidedly sorry for myself. I’m horrified and ashamed to admit that I had over 2,200 PL cards, and over 100 non-PL cards. (Counting them all was my punishment for being silly enough to buy them in the first place.) Out of over 2,300, I kept… *drumroll*… 128. I’ve started selling off the rest in bundles.

I remembered the book saying that Apple products come in boxes that are great for storage, so I grabbed the box from my iPhone and VOILA, perfect size for the smaller cards. I was a little bummed that the larger cards didn’t fit in, until I remembered my husband has an iPad Air. Five minutes later I was pretty damn pleased with my little box of joy.

Then I went a bit mental and pulled everything else out and threw it on the bed.

Thankfully, I still had the sense to continue dividing them into sub-categories, so I went with writing implements next. A total of 220 pens, pencils, markers and highlighters. There used to be MUCH more but, a while ago, I actually dumped all the ones that didn’t work. 128 left now. (In my defence, I do write a lot.)

The sticky notes sub-category is a little ridiculous because I don’t even use sticky notes. It was just a mad spending spree on eBay that resulted in a crazy collection. 43 packs in total, but I whittled them down to 9. The little colourful arrows and page flags I sometimes use when I’m reading, to mark important bits. The others are really just to look at. (That’s a good enough reason to keep them, right?)

And who needs this many clips?! About 200 in that tub. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve used a handful, but also picked up a handful from documents people have sent me, so the vast majority of those went. I kept a few for practical purposes, and the shaped ones for pretty purposes, and donated the rest. Started with about 223; ended with 9 (Looking at it now, I forgot to include my unicorn clip that’s in my planner but, in fairness, that isn’t going anywhere!)

Stamps and punches next. (I included my stapler here.) I use all but one of my punches, but the stamps have hardly seen the light of day. Still kept most of them because… umm… Maybe I’ll re-visit this sub-category soon.

Notebooks bring me joy. There’s no two ways about it. No matter how “digital” my days have become, I’ll never be able to get away from pen and paper. My ‘to do’ lists are usually digital (click here if you want to see what app I use), but I still end up scribbling things down on paper throughout the day. Sometimes I’ll even re-write my list on paper, just to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything, and to cement it in my brain. There’s something about the act of writing that just helps bring clarity. I find the process very calming, and list-writing is my go-to stress reliever. (If you’ve been reading recent posts — like this one — you’ll know how important that is to me right now.) Having said that, I did manage to let go of 2 small ones (mainly because they were smaller sizes than I generally like and I’d have them filled in a matter of minutes).

Next up: scrapbook paper. Another odd one here because, again, I don’t scrapbook. Still, the paper had pretty patterns, and I got most, if not all, of it on sale so, y’know, it was almost a necessity. Ahem. 458 sheets before. Still, I do plan on starting a scrapbook at some point so I’m sure some will come in useful soon. Right? I kept 253 because of what the road to hell is paved with.

Finally, there was the stickers sub-category. Long story short (and because I’m getting tired of typing), I had a bajillion and I got it down to half a bajillion.

If you’re ready for more (you masochist), or you’ve skipped all the above and jumped straight here (you bastard), here’s the accompanying video:

And now I need a long lie down.