Friday, December 30, 2016

Clutter Busting Challenge December 2016 Part 2

This makes 51 items for the months total items purged.

My purge pile:
































Thursday, December 29, 2016

KonMari Week 26: Finalize and Celebrate

















I have come to the end of my 6 months of the Konmari method. I am happy that I stuck with it and finished. I really enjoyed having a final go around using KonMari to finalize my 6 year decluttering minimalist journey. I didn't finish the sentimental subcategory of photos but hope to have that done by June 2017 to celebrate our Silver Anniversary.  I have a few projects that didn't get done. I didn't have a high volume of stuff to discard since I'm just tweaking and finalizing areas. I did purge an averaged of 150 items per month this year which is low considering previous years purge totals. Yet, for the end of my decluttering journey it's a good amount of stuff and I'm proud of what I've accomplished. I did make a trip to drop off the last of my donations for the year.

I deep cleaned the house the week before Christmas. It took a good amount of time and I was ache each evening. I'm glad I got it looking fresh and clean. I'm thankful that we pick up after ourselves and put things away after use or it would have been more of a chore. I got Christmas cleaned up by the next day. I wasn't too hard since the kids are grown and we don't have as many gifts. I've spent this week prepping for the New Year and setting goals for myself. Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you come back in the New Year.


Wednesday, December 28, 2016

December 2016 Reading List

















Mistletoe Memories Collection
Tis the Season by Carla Olson Gade
Mercy Mild by Gina Welborn
Midnight Clear by Lisa Karon Richardson
Comfort and Joy by Jennifer AlLee

Love Finds You in North Pole Alaska by Loree Lough

The Christmas Angel by Thomas Kinkade

A Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber

When Christmas Comes by Debbie Macomber

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

KonMari Week 25: Sentimental Part 2

This week I should be working on the sentimental category of photos and albums. I haven't had the time to work on them so I'm sharing what I did in October.

I worked on our Family Photo Boxes over a couple days. I used sticker labels and rubber number stamps to create the Year labels on the paperboard dividers. I used a scrapbook matstack and vellum stickers for the Event/Celebration dividers. I'll need to buy another matstack to create enough dividers. Once the last box of photos is sorted I can add the dividers between the photos. I used what I had to create both sets of dividers so far. The total spend on the Family Photo Boxes has been $26 which was the paperboard and the 6 boxes. I used half the paperboard that I bought so that will be used for future projects.

I'm hoping to fit 27 years into the 6 boxes. I currently have 12 years worth of pictures in 2 1/2 boxes. That's without the dividers added yet. I have 15 years of digital pictures that aren't printed yet. Those will be a lot harder to fit due to volume so I'll be selective and not print them all. I’ll buy more boxes if needed but I’m hoping to not have to do that. I'm praying that I can get this project finished before June 2017 to Celebrate our 25th Silver Anniversary.

















 Before: The Year paperboard dividers.

















After: the Year labels on the paperboard dividers.

 















 















The Event/Celebration matstack dividers.

 















One of the boxes of sorted photos. 

















An empty box.

















This is big pictures in the white envelope, loose scrapbook pages with pictures, our wedding album, notebooks with  scrapbook pages in sleeves, my husband's childhood album, our children's baby books, and my childhood album. I'll eventually not have the loose scrapbook pages or the 2 notebooks, once I add those pictures to the boxes.




Tuesday, December 20, 2016

KonMari Week 25: Sentimental Part 1

This week I should be working on the sentimental category of photos and albums. I haven't had the time to work on them so I'm sharing what I did in October.

I spent a good bit of time working on my gallery wall. I had spray painted the frames in February but didn’t get anything on the wall. I laid all the frames out on the floor to decide on the placement, I used a large piece of art paper to make the marks for nails, my husband and I hung up the paper, he screwed in the nails, he added the hangers to the back of a couple frames, and we hung all the frames. I still have to pick out pictures and have them printed to fill the frames. I’m happy we have made progress on this long overdue project. I'll be getting my grandson's hand print plate soon to go next to my granddaughter’s. I spend time organizing and collect the pictures I want to go on the wall. I still need to get them printed.


Before: In January when I added the end photo collage frames. This is before I painted the frames in February and bought a few more at the thrift store.

















I used a large piece of art paper to make the marks for nails, my husband and I hung up the paper, and he screwed in the nails for the frames.

















I laid all the frames out on the floor to decide on the placement.

















After: He added the hangers to the back of a couple frames, and we hung all the frames.




Wednesday, December 14, 2016

KonMari Week 24: Sentimental Part 2

I finished the sentimental category of Letters, Cards, School Mementos, and other Memories items besides photos. This area was in pretty good shape. I straighten things up and took pictures but didn't have anything to discard. Everything from this category is stored in the basement.

I have a bigger tote for bulky keepsakes, a smaller tote for each of my husband and I, and our 4 young adult children, and a crate of school/homeschool memories for the kids. They each have an accordion folder and a notebook in the crate.
















Our bulky keepsake tote.
















My memory stuff from my childhood.
















My husband's memory stuff from his childhood.
















My 27 yrs. daughter Brittany's baby stuff. My daughter was given her baby blanket when she had her first baby 4 1/2 yrs. ago.
















My 25 yrs. daughter Nastasja's baby stuff.
















 My 24 yrs. son Shawn Jr. baby stuff.
















My 20 yrs. son Brandon's baby stuff.















  
Our families tooth fairy pillow.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

KonMari Week 24: Sentimental Part 1

I'm working on the sentimental category of Letters, Cards, School Mementos, and other Memories items besides photos. This area was in pretty good shape. I straighten things up and took pictures but didn't have anything to discard. Everything from this category is stored in the basement.
















Our 4 young adult children smaller memory totes. The crate of school/homeschool memories for the kids. They each have am accordion folder and a notebook in the crate.
















My husband and I, smaller memory totes.

















My small memory box. I'll probably need a new box this coming year. I don't think one small box is too bad for being 44 yrs. It has my childhood paper stuff in it too.
















I keep this box for my memory keeping in my closet. I thin it out when it gets full and move stuff into the plastic tote in the basement. My husband has one too. The kids had shoe boxes in their bedrooms while growing up to collect their things.


Wednesday, December 7, 2016

KonMari Week 23: Basement

I have finished the basement with the Holiday category over and moving into sentimental next week. I have spent the last 2 weeks in the basement moving things around and tidying up. The basement stores the overflow to other categories plus Holiday. I’ve already shared all the completed categories during the challenge. I’ve dealt with a good portion of sentimental under categories like paper and homeschool. I do have sentimental left to finish but that won’t change the basement. I am so happy to have the basement finished. The basement was the main reason that I had started my declutter journey 6 years ago.

To the right of the steps.
















To the right of the steps.
















Right coming down the stairs.
















Kitchen/food, Sentimental, and Holiday.
















Straight ahead to the right after coming down the stairs.
Food.
















 Baking supplies, donation hamper, high chair. To the right after coming down the stairs.
















We have shelves with food, my husband stuff, and home repair supplies. To the right after coming down the stairs.
















The home repair supplies will eventually go to the shed once we finish painting and redoing woodwork. We're using the shed this winter to store camper renovation supplies.
















To the left after coming down the stairs.
















To the left of the stairs.
















Kitchen and weights (hobbies).




































Utilities, bathroom, kitchen, medicine, pets, and gift supplies.
















  
To the left of the steps.