This one tip can help build your crafty stash and your relationships! {Konmari Craft VLOG}

Hi friends! Wouldn’t you like to have access to more stuff without having to buy and store it? Well you can, as long as you are willing to share too. Today we are going to talk about ownership verses access. I know there are many things we want to own because we use them too often to borrow them every time but for those once in a while things borrowing can be just fine. I am lucky and have several friends who enjoy papercrafting as does my mom and sister so we borrow and lend all the time. It allows us to try new things and keep our projects fresh without breaking the bank. In today’s Konmari craft room video we will talk about owning vs borrowing stuff.

Video!

This video posted to YouTube last night and I always love to the read the comments left on these posts. They are always thoughtful, respectful and open my mind to other opinions. One theme I heard over and over was that they would like to lend and borrow more but all too often items come back broken,or they don’t come back at all. This makes me sad to hear. I think this will happen but in most cases people will treat your things better than their own (I know I do if I borrow something and I try to use it right away so I can return it and don’t forget about it!) I even had a sweet friend buy me a new die cutter platform because she thought she ruined it by putting the die in without a cutting pad. It has a scratch but I didn’t care, it still worked fine:) I guess you might not want to lend anything that would harm your friendship if anything happened to it because accidents happen and people make mistakes.  The loss of a thing should never cause the loss of a friendship.

So, Lindsay, how to we keep track of things we lend?

I got a great tip from my mom. Whenever you lend something out put a return address label on the item. I often get sheets of free return address stickers in the mail from charities I have given to in the past but you can order them or print them on your computer as well. That way the borrower knows it’s yours if they forget (it happens to the best of us!) and when you lend something keep a check out list just like a library so you know who has what (And you don’t drive yourself insane looking for that butterfly die you were sure you bought LOL!) I lend my crafty stuff to about 6 people so I can usually narrow it down if I need an item I lent for a project. I think the benefit outweighs the risk.

The other topic several people mentioned was that they didn’t have any crafty friends or they lived in such a rural area that supplies were hard to find. This is a bit more tricky but I bet there are more like-minded souls around than you think, or, you might be able to teach some folks your craft. You local library or church might also have scrapbooking, quilting, knitting or painting groups that you can join (or maybe you can start one!) I have enjoyed scrapbooking and painting groups at my local church, I am not a church member but they welcomed me just the same and I have started knitting and painting groups at the library. Find your tribe and if you can’t, create one by sharing you passion! I also realize that many viewers are homebound or not available to attend groups when they meet but you can find many forums and galleries online and share ideas and inspiration. I can tell you from experience the more light you put out, the more comes back to you.

I think the best thing about borrowing and lending is getting to see my friends more often, it builds the bonds of friendship and it feels good to help and we feel gratitude when we are helped. We were taught that sharing is good in kindergarten, we just need to remember that now that we are grown up. 🙂

Share your thoughts in the comments below, I’d love to know what you think. Happy crafting!