Part 3: Purging Artwork by My Mini Artists

Every week my kids make approximately 1.5 pieces of artwork a day so in an average month they create 45 works of art.  I love to see what they create but I don't have the storage or fridge space to save all that precious work.  

Solution 1:  When it first started coming home I'd put the work on the counter and then a few days later sneak it into the recycling bin but I always felt that a little piece of who they were was being picked up by the garbage truck.  

Solution 2: I saved it in bins for a while but that wasn't working because I don't have space to store what would be 5 or 6 bins by the end of the year.

Solution 3:  I start by taking pictures of it.  Not every single piece because Thursday's Preschool paint smear looks a lot like the Monday's Preschool paint smear.  But if they take the time to draw more than a scribble or glue together a collage, then I feel that it deserves to be shared and remembered.  

Then, I create a digital layout of it:

Layout Credits:  Paper & Embellishments Ellie Lash Sugar Bug

I keep some really special pieces in a bin but the pile went from this:

 

To this: 

  

Well, there's one less pile of paper on the shelf of my den.  I feel so good when I get rid of something that was taking up precious space in our small house!

Tackling the Paper Piles...Part 2

Part 1 happened about 3 weeks ago when I shredded 3 large recycling bags worth of old papers and bills.  That felt good, I got rid of a bin from under my desk!

Part 2 is reorganizing the filing drawer and a second bin full of papers waiting to be filed.

Emptying bins, boxes and baskets...that's the ultimate goal of my decluttering.  For years I've tried to organize our clutter by buying more bins, boxes and baskets.  I've realized in the last couple years that this doesn't work.  The clutter is still all there!

 

This picture brings me emmense amounts of joy.  Empty bins, boxes and baskets ready to be sold or tossed.  But this picture of 7 doesn't include the higher quality ones that I've repurposed or the shoe box types that I've recycled!

Part 3 = Artwork purging of 2 very enthusiastic artists!

Decluttering Mania!!

Thousands of items have been flying out of our house.  We've been having an Online Garage Sale since mid-December and the amount of stuff that we've managed to sell has been amazing! 

Selling all that stuff got us out of a couple really tight situations! 

Tight situation #1:  Our garage was so overloaded with items that I couldn't park my van in there.  From the last 6 years as the kids out grew things, it got put in the garage. 

Tight situation #2 was our finances.  My work hours were cut back during November, December and January and the money for our renovations was due. 

So I started working a couple hours a day; taking pictures, listing things on Craigslist and Facebook and it paid off!  It has become my third job!  I wish that I had taken a picture of the garage when we started but it was too cold outside so I sent my husband out there to get what I needed :)  Everyday, I find something more to include in the sale, I add it to the pile of things to be photographed and when I get a significant pile, I clean off the kitchen table, take a bunch of pictures and hope that someone out there needs something that was once necessary in our house but no longer has a use!

My Favorite Digital Scrapbooking Blogs!

Katie the Scrapbook Lady has great insite and give me a laugh or two!  I really enjoy her daily posts!  She's got great tips on organizing your digi supplies!!

The Daily Digi has daily posts on everything digital and beyond.  Techniques, tutorials, and more (and Katie writes for them - bonus!)

Simple Scrapper - her motto is "no-fuss digital scrapbooking for busy memory keepers".  I love her approach because it helps to reaffirm my approach!

Little Dreamer Designs - great articles, great challenges, great products, great inspiration, it's all just great! :)

I have no affiliation with any of the above blogs.  I just enjoy what they have to offer and in case another digi scrapper out there hasnt' stumbled upon them - now you have!

Hope you enjoyed my random wanderings today!
Carla

Trying To Have Less Hassle In Our Lives - a Bit of a Ramble...

I am greatly affected by stress, lack of sleep and being deprived of "down time".  I think that most of us are but we're too busy and don't have time to make changes that would help us slow down, enjoy life and sleep more!  I came across "Zen Family Habits" and there have been some articles that have really made me think of what our family needs and what we could do to make our children's lives more enjoyable. 

I loved Sherri Kruger's post from today:  Top 10 Tips For Hassle Free Serenity

FYI: the title of this post didn't sound interesting to me in the least!  I almost didn't read it!  But I'm glad that I did.  It helped reaffirm my commitment to do better by my kids!  A big one is for me is # 6: Become low-maintenance.  I've never been the type to wear makeup everyday or need the latest clothing or accessories but I always did worry about the fact that I didn't have the latest clothing or accessories and that I wasn't wearing makeup :)  But lately, I've decided on a set of clothing that is my "uniform": on work days it's black pants, cotton shirt in blue, brown or burgundy and a black cardigan with black shoes.  on every other day of the week it's dark denim, a t-shirt and a sweater.  I still own more clothes then I need but I've reduced my closest to half of what it was.  I got rid of all the clothes that I was hoping to fit into one day, all the clothes that just depressed me because I kicked myself everytime I looked at them because they were really nice, hardly worn and too small or I am too big but I choose to pass them on and I've already started a new pile because having less clutter makes me feel lighter!

A Few Blog Posts That "Spoke" To Me...

Simple Scrapper: 5 steps to stress-free scrapping

I keep glancing at my scrap table and there's been a partially done layout on there for two weeks but I haven't even felt like working on it or even just putting it away.  It's not that I haven't had time, I've done pleanty of other things that I didn't "need" to do.  I'd look at it, feel overwhelmed by it and walk away.  And it's a fairly simple layout!  Then I read this post:  A Guide To Creating a Minimalist Home.  And it got me to thinking about the spaces in our house and the surfaces that we use.  And it struck me that my scrap table is cluttered, almost every inch.  So I'm going to spend some time on decluttering and I'm hopeful that my layout will get finished!

One of my philosophies in the last 6 months has been to give myself permission to enjoy sitting and watching my kids play and doing a little playing myself.  Whether it is reading, playing a game or watching some TV, it's ok to still to do it even if the dishes aren't clean or the laundrys not done (no matter what my Mom would say:).  I came across this post:  How To Be More Childlike and it reaffirmed my philosophy!!

Trying not to be so "busy"!

This has been a thought on my mind for quite some time.  I've been trying to say "No" to extracurricular activities more often and trying to make the most of time spent in the afternoons with my kids and in the evenings with my husband.  I've never been one to enjoy being busy but it just seems to happen and before you know it there is something scheduled for every evening and weekend.

I was reading this blog post today and was curious to check out mnmlist.com.  While I do find some of the things more extreme than interests me right now there's definitely some things that "spoke" to me.  While exploring the site I liked this post about 5 Simple Steps to Declutter Your Closet.  And this one about How to be less busy in a busy busy world.  I'd like to explore this a little more, especially the eBook and "finding simplicity with kids".

Edited to add:  There seems to be a trend in clearing closet clutter!  I love this humourous recap of her closet clearing!

Spring Cleaning

I've been cleanin' up. Purging things that I don't or won't use and displaying the things that I do. My good friend, Amy, gave me this really great idea to use a peg board and I just love it. I got the board at Rona and the pegs from the dollar store. Now that everything is out in the open, I am much less tempted to buy new because I can see that I already have pretty much anything I'd need! My ribbon scraps (1 yard or less) are on my new "Ribbon Ring" and I've hung the spools on thick ribbon like I saw in the latest issue of Creating Keepsakes. Once again, I can now see all the colours that I already have. A little organization makes me feel so much more creative!