I'm currently sitting on the floor in my cake room with piles of cake pans around me. The idea was for me to weed through them because these are pans I have never used or maybe have used once.
I'm really trying no to let those maybe one day you'll need it thoughts creep in, but this is hard. How do I know today what can I might want to use next year?
Oh and I'm not talking basic shapes here. These are the shaped character (not copyrighted) can pans. Do I really need a poinsettia cake pan? Or a party hat? Sea shell? Sigh!
So does anyone have some words of wisdom here? Ideas or suggests to make it easier?
Sorry--I'm of no help to you. The day after I throw something out is the day I need that special something!
(Although I recently cleared out my craft closet of unused stuff, which I donated to the local recreation program and a nearby nursing home. Knowing the stuff was going to people who would use it was comforting.)
I'll try to give you some words of wisdom: The storage space that you acquire from ridding your cake room of unused stuff will make room for NEW and BETTER stuff!
Good luck.
I currently have 44 in the to go box with 30 in the keep. Taking a break then going to see if I can get let go of another 5 to 10 of them.
The only problem with thinking about cleaning space for new cake toys is that I really don't need any more. I have too much untouched stuff as is.
My DH and I frequently have discussions about this...he has the "save things" genes, and I don't! I swear he has rubber bands, tube socks, and music cassettes from 30 years ago.
If, at some point in the future, you had an occasion where a party hat cake (or whatever) would be appropriate, wouldn't you find an even better alternative to using that pan?.....you know, like a cake with fondant stars and bling? Good luck with your project!
Last year I decided to clean out my storage unit. I was paying $100.00 per month for 10 years. I sold, gave and threw away things I had been saving without using most of them from another business I had.
It was well worth it. We can always find an excuse to keep it. But the rule of thumb What you don't use in 6 months to a year, you'll probably not use at all.
HTH
Sorry but there is NO WAY I could part with any of my cake stuff. Last count I had 96 cake tins so I just got a storage rack in the garage and put them on there so I have plenty more space in my cake room to put my new ones lol
TexasSugar, watch the tv show on hoarding, then sort, it will help. The reason we always need that "something" right after we've given it to Goodwill is that we knew we had it because we just gave it to Goodwill! If you hadn't touched or looked at these pans while sorting to give away, would you even have known you owned them? Probably not.
How many posts have you read on here about people buying a pan to use because they couldn't find the one they owned in the huge pile of stuff? If you can't find it in 5 minutes, give it away!!!!
Besides, with your talent, do you really need ANY shaped pans? You can create anything out of a round or square pan if you want to.
My Grandpa Sam was the King of Saving Things. He came from Eastern Europe during the time of Czarist rule, from a very poor family who worked the land for the landlord. He would pick up screws or bolts he would find on the street, clean them if needed, and store them in baby food jars. He was very organized about it, with everything having it's own place.
I, on the other hand, have no problem getting rid of things that do not have sentimental value to them. Therefore, my vote is - if it doesn't mean anything personal to you, put it in the Go Box.
Theresa 
I agree with Apti, really you have the talent to make any shape you want. And I am certain you can come up with a poinsettia themed cake without having to resort to using a shaped pan. Not that there is anything wrong with using a shaped pan, but imho shaped cakes are not quite as sophisticated as tiered with the flowers well placed.
Put it in a box and seal the box. Write January 1, 2010 on the box. Stash the box somewhere out of the way where you won't see it. On your calendar, write, "cake pan box" on Dec. 31st.
If you don't need anything in that box by the end of the year, donate it on New Year's Day. Start the year out right.
another way to look at those pans. Is there a basic cake pan (circle or square) that you can carve or modify easily to get your "shape" I finally got rid of ALL of my character pans, except for two. The Egg shape and the 3D ball pan. All of my other ones i figured I could challenge myself by decorating an 8" round or square cake instead of being restricted to the pan. Also, I usually needed more servings than those pans would serve. So i have my round, square, petal, heart, hexagon, egg, and ball pans.
There is only one other character pan I will keep, and my aunt has it right now. It's the Wilton Bear, i imagine from the 80's. It was the first cake i ever decorated by myself and i did it for my own birthday when I was 7 or 8, but that has sentimental value.
You're probably done by now, but I thought I'd share this anyway....
My attitude about getting rid of stuff changed when I heard someone put it like this: By holding onto things you never use, you are keeping them from people who could really use them. Christmas isn't too far away, and if you donate those pans to Goodwill (or someplace similar), you could really brighten the holiday for someone who can't afford to buy those things new.
Just a different perspective, I guess. I hope you enjoy the space you've opened up!
Thanks everyone! I did put 8 more in the two go pile yesterday. I'm going to try to get rid of
a few more, but I'm still debating.
The ones still in question are the really basic 3d shapes and some holiday related ones.
The Easter Lamb 3d pan isn't up for discussion because it belonged to my grandma and it is traditional for it to be on the table every easter. I'm also keeping the 3d sports ball and the Wonder mold pan. Plus both the mini versions of them, since I have used them for various things.
I did hold on to some Christmas and easter ones, but not for use with cakes. I like to use the pans for bread dippers, plus think they'd be a quick and easy way to dress up cinnamon rolls for those holidays.
I'm stuck on if I should keep the 3d bear and or flat bear pans. I know both can be used for other things. I also have two of the 3d mini bear pans. I haven't had kids yet, so while I might not exactly need it this moment, that may change when I do have a little one. I also have the 3d egg pan.
Other pans in the not sure about pile are the horseshoe (have used it a couple of times), the star pan, and a heart pan (not part of the set, and I like the shape better.) I'm learning more towards keep on them. While they could be carved, it'd be quicker and less waste of cake to use these pans.
These 77 pans don't even include (with the exception of 2 heart pans) the basic flat shapes. I have two sets of round pans ranging from 5in to 14in, two sets squares from 6 to 12/14, two sets of hearts. And a set each of the ovals, hexagons, paisly and diamonds.
I would almost be willing to get rid of the heart sets, as they aren't very hearty to me, but they still make good boob cake pans.
I've already told my past students that if I ever went through my cake pans and decided to sell them, I would give them first crack at them. Guess I should start writing a list and figuring out some prices for them.
TexasSugar, watch the tv show on hoarding, then sort, it will help.
that's what I was going to say!
In our 4BR house, I had one room that was a storage room. Now, it had shelving units and things in bins that were labeled, etc., but it was FULL! When we moved, most of this stuff went in the trash. (What the heck was I saving it for, anyway!?)
but I was watching "hoarders" and thought "Omg, is that what I'm turning into?" 
My redeeming moment was when I realized it was easy to throw things away, so evidently I didn't have the Hoarding Disorder! (whew!!!)
Watch the show. Watch 2 of them in a row. Then watch how fast you clean your stuff out!
Apti, the funny part was when we moved our kitchen dishes.
we had the luxury of moving out the stuff we wanted and THEN sorting thru what remained in the house. We took the dishes we needed/wanted and was I shocked to find my cabinets in the old house were still full of dishes!! Anyone who walked into the old house and looked in my kitchen cabinets wouldnt' have thought I moved anything!
Why did i think I needed 4 FULL sets of dinnerware? 
(Caterers! I guess it's just natural for us to "collect" dinnerware and serving dishes!) 
The only thing with watching Hoarders, is as you can see with some people is that it isn't always as simple as just toss and go. With me, while I don't think I am a Hoarder, there are things I have a hard time parting with. Part of it I think stems from my mom and her mom and how they saved everything for that "one day thing."
When I was going through some boxes that were in my cake room, which got moved into my house 6 years ago and haven't been touched or opened sense, I came across some Southern Living hard back cook books. I was like okay, garage sale. I told my mom about them and she was like but those are nice cookbooks, they cost alot of money. Yeah they did mom, but I haven't picked them up in years. You can find tons of recipes online and print out. Why do I need 20 cookbooks?
I left her house feeling bad for wanting to get rid of them. I did leave them in the garage sale pile when I got home though. Because I do know that I don't need them.
I've decided that no matter how many of the cake pans I end up keeping (only 22 are currently in the keep/maybe pile) if I can go from two 48 gal bins down to something like a 10 gal bin then I made progress, and cleared out alot of room. And if down the line I decide I don't need some of the ones I kept I can always get rid of them later.
Yes ma'am!
My new floor came in today, so I guess I better get on the ball finishing cleaning up my cake room and cleaning the rest of my house up. We are replacing the floor through out the whole house.
Yes ma'am!
My new floor came in today, so I guess I better get on the ball finishing cleaning up my cake room and cleaning the rest of my house up. We are replacing the floor through out the whole house.
What kind of flooring? I've got saltillo tiles on the kitchen/dining/living room area and LOVE them! (You'd be amazed at how far pieces of a dropped pyrex measuring cup can fly when dropped on that stuff.)
My personal favorite is Pergo/laminate. I've been wanting to replace the ratty carpet in both bedrooms with laminate but can't afford it. Hmmmm, funny thing, I can spend $4000 on a cake convention and cake stuff, but can't replace ratty carpet? Are my priorities skewed? What do you think, texas sugar? BTW, I 'met' you briefly at ICES at the Terrace Deli. You were ahead of me a ways in line and I called out a cake central howdy.
I'm getting some kinda of laminate wood look alike stuff. I actually live in a rent house owned by my dad's company so when they were at a hardware show this last month and came across a good deal they got it. I haven't seen it yet, so I don't even know what color it is. But that is fine. Anything to get rid of the peal and stick tile in the kitchen/bathroom and the carpet in the rest of the house.
I can understand about the cake purchases over other items. The next two buys I will make will be on a mattress and couch, but I hate to think of spending that much at one time. And yet I know I spent a fair amount of money at the convention!
Does anyone have a idea of fair pricing for cake pans? I'm thinking alot of the ones I have, are no longer sold at the craft stores and I'll have to look and see if Wilton still makes them. I also have many pans I ebayed, that I know you can't get any more. Of the ones I bought new many of them have never been used.
TexasSugar, you will LOVE the laminate. It looks gorgeous, wears like iron, and cleans up beautifully. The only caution is not to let any water pool or it will seep and warp the boards. Even then, all you have to do is rip up a couple of boards and replace.
As far as cake pan prices, when you do eBay research, don't look at the ones for sale, look only at the completed sales, including the shipping--that will give a true value.
Every time you list something for sale, think of your mattress and couch and how much you will actually use and love having them! (as opposed to a bunch of cake pans that you've never used).
I am excited about the new floor. Just not about the whole process of having to move everything in the house to put it down. 
I flipped through the 2011 yearbook last night, and there are many of the pans that I have that are no longer listed in there. And their flat character pans are listed as $13.99 now. I'm thinking of atleast $7 for those. The 3D ones will be over $10 and I have some of those that haven't been around for a while.
And yeah, all the money I make on these will go into my savings account.
I am excited about the new floor. Just not about the whole process of having to move everything in the house to put it down.
That is precisely the reason I don't have laminate in both bedrooms right now. I got a quote for the materials and labor, THEN I found out what it would cost to take my 4 poster bed apart, move it, and do it again once the floor is in. Sheez! It was almost as much as the flooring.
Thankfully we are putting down the floor ourselves. His plan is to start in the living room then work his way through the dining room and kitchen. The bedrooms and cake rooms will be last.
I'm kinda debating getting rid of a few pieces of furniture. The desk I have only collects things and there for is not functional. I have a chest of drawers in the other bedroom I keep telling myself I'm going to paint and move into my room. I've managed with out it in my room for 6 years, and it has stood in the other room not being used either. So maybe it is time to condense down a little.
Thankfully we are putting down the floor ourselves.
I've managed with out it in my room for 6 years, and it has stood in the other room not being used either. So maybe it is time to condense down a little.
YA THINK???
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