On New Year’s Day, I embarked on a big declutter project which I am carefully NOT calling a “resolution” lest I jinx it. Dearest spent the first day of 2024 taking everything off the shelves I had decided to start with, pulling them out from the wall, vacuuming and washing everything, then putting them back. It’s like having a brand new canvas to paint on. And such a relief to get rid of all the dust!
My first big goal was to catch up on organizing my scrapbook-y memorabilia. I have been scrapbooking since I was a kid. In 2009, I switched from making actual books (3-ring, zip-up binders, plastic page protectors) to just dumping a year’s worth of stuff into a 3” deep, white, cardboard box. I have covered some these with fabric, which makes them prettier and a lot stronger. This has been good for heavy stuff, like my impressive collection of sewing thread. But it takes time and uses a lot of fabric. So for scrapbooking, I have just been writing the year on each box with a Sharpie. It’s informative, but not pretty. Plus, I have a whole box of old and gloopy acrylic craft paint. So all week, I’ve been organizing and prettying up the 2010 to 2023 memory boxes. Yesterday, I finished! And, yay me, this pile meets all four of my SMS goals!
I still have LOTS to do, but I’m so chuffed, I just had to share. Today, I plan to tackle the two boxes full of “Misc Scrapbook” stuff that accumulated during the years when my binders and boxes were all out of order and in hard to reach places. Periodically, new things would come in, usually when someone else was decluttering and passed on photos they had found of our kids. Most often, the pics have had no dates on them. I just couldn’t deal with all the heavy lifting and dusty mess, especially when I wasn’t even sure what year I needed. Hence, two boxes a Giant SMS No No … anything labeled “Miscellaneous.” Today, I am determined to empty and repurpose those two boxes. Okay, let’s be realistic. I’ll start today and then I’ll continue for however long after I need to figure out what years those photos belong to …
polination.blog 