Clean Your Workshop, Clear Your Mind, and Make Room for What's Next

Lunar New Year falls on February 17th this year, and 2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse — a combination that only comes around once every 60 years. The Horse in the Chinese zodiac represents energy, independence, and forward momentum. Add the fire element and you get something bolder: transformation, ambition, a year for making big moves.

But before any of that can happen, tradition says you have to clean.

Sweeping Away the Old

In the days leading up to Lunar New Year, many asian families undertake a thorough deep clean of the home. It's not just tidying — it's ritual. The practice is called "sweeping away the dust," and it dates back over two thousand years. Here's the part I love: in Mandarin, the word for dust — *chén* — is a homophone for "old." So when you sweep away the dust, you're literally sweeping away the old. You're making room for new energy, new luck, new beginnings.

Once the new year arrives, you stop cleaning. Sweeping on New Year's Day would push all that fresh good fortune right out the door. The idea is that you do the hard work *before* the turning point, so you can step into what's next unencumbered.

If you're a maker, this should resonate. Your workshop is where your livelihood lives. And if you're honest with yourself, it probably needs attention.

The Workshop Problem

Most makers I know have some version of the same issue: the space where they create has slowly become a space that works against them. Offcuts pile up. Tools migrate away from where they belong. Materials bought for a project two years ago sit in a corner, too expensive to toss but not useful enough to reach for. Half-finished prototypes collect dust on a shelf — there's that word again.

The creative clutter problem isn't unique to any one craft. Whether you work in wood, leather, metal, or textiles, the accumulation pattern is the same. You acquire materials and tools faster than you use them. Storage fills up. Work surfaces shrink. And at some point, the friction of a disorganized space starts quietly eroding your output.

Marie Kondo's KonMari method — originally designed for homes — translates surprisingly well to a workshop. The core principle isn't about minimalism for its own sake. It's about evaluating each item honestly: does this serve the work I'm doing *now*, or am I keeping it because of what I paid for it, what it meant to me once, or what I might use it for someday? [

Read more about the KonMari Method here]

A Practical Approach for Makers

If you're going to do this, here's what actually works:

Go by category, not by area.

Don't just clean one corner of the shop. Pull all your clamps together, all your finishes together, all your leather scraps together. When you see the full quantity in one place, the decisions get easier. You realize you have fourteen Quick-Grip clamps and haven't touched eight of them in two years. You find the same adapter you've bought three times because you could never locate the first one.

Be honest about "someday" items.

That piece of curly maple you've been saving since 2019? The tool you bought for a specific commission and never used again? These things take up physical space, but they also take up mental space. Every time you scan past them, some small part of your brain is processing an open loop. If something doesn't serve your current work or your near-term plans, let it go. Sell it, donate it to a maker just starting out, or pass it along to a school shop program.

Evaluate your sentimental pieces last.

Your first hand plane. The mallet your mentor gave you. These are the hardest calls, and you'll make better decisions about them after you've already built momentum letting go of the easier stuff.

Create a home for everything that stays

. Clutter isn't really about having too much — it's about not having a system. If a tool doesn't have a designated place, it ends up wherever you last set it down. That's how workbenches disappear under piles.

Making Room for the Fire Horse

There's a deeper idea here that goes beyond organization. The Lunar New Year cleaning tradition isn't really about having a spotless house. It's about intention.

You clean so that when the new year arrives, you're ready to receive it. You've let go of what was weighing you down. You've created space — physical and mental — for whatever comes next.

The Fire Horse year is supposed to bring breakthroughs, bold moves, and creative momentum. Whether or not you put stock in the zodiac, the underlying idea is useful: if you want a year of forward motion, start by clearing the path.

So before February 17th, take a day. Go through your shop the way you'd prep for the most important commission of the year. Because in a way, you are. The commission is your own creative future — and it deserves a clean workspace.

Happy Lunar New Year from the Maker Marketplace team. May the Year of the Fire Horse bring you prosperity, momentum, and the space to do your best work.