encouragement needed...
29 June 2008
I'm in the midst of a huge purging of scrap stuff, it's 11:30 pm, and I have approximately 14 hours left before the guys come home from the camping trip. ( which, by the way, has been kind of a bust b/c of all the rain we've had this weekend). There's piles of stuff in my dining room and living room, semi -organized into 'give away,' throw away', and 'keep & sort' piles. I kind of feel like I'm losing my mind, b/c I honestly don't know if I can do it. I'm totally overwhelmed. It makes me dizzy, like I have adult ADD or something akin to it. Have I mentioned that I'm just not the organize-y type? AT ALL. But I need to get this done for my own sanity. Not just throwing out the odd thing here and there, but really cleaning out at least half ( if not more) of what I own. It's hard when you're not organized. Scrapping becomes tedious, b/c you can't find anything, and nothing is in it's place. It's very frustrating, spending the greater portion of your precious scrap time looking for stuff. The final straw was last week when I had to do something for AC, and I ended up scrapping on the floor, b/c my table was piled too high with papers and accumulation of stuff from months past. I've never had to do that.
The scary part in all this is that I was totally blind about how much crap I really do have. It's embarrassing, and depressing, realizing I've blown all this money, and haven't used even a 1/3 of it all. I mean, you guys have seen my pages, and it's not like I use alot of stuff, kwim?
So, my goal is to get back to basics, and keeping only what I love, which would be my beloved AC & KI stuff, and not much else. Ok, maybe a bit more than that, but I'll try to be reasonable, ha!
Wish me luck, and send me some type A brain cell waves to keep me on track, will you?
I'll let you know how it turns out, if I ever finish....
11 comments:
Oh Mel, I just purged a HUGE pile of my stuff... and I was pretty much feeling the same way as you do.I still haven't put it all back into its storage space neatly... there was about 10% left to do, and then I started scrapping again. And then all my nsbr stuff piled up on my desk. :S
But alas, my life is about to slow down to a reasonable pace. Summer's here... most of my volunteering has been put on hold until September, so now I just have to work, grocery shop, cook and scrap. Hopefully my dh will take care of the rest. lol
Good luck with The Big Clean! I hope you manage to do it... and find a good home for your unused stuff to help ease the guilt. Check out the children's hospital in the city... I know the one in Ottawa has a scrapping program as part of the therapy for girls with eating disorders.
oh Melanie, if you're asking for help, you've come to the right place ... I'm the opposite. Keep it minimal ! Like you said too much stuff and you can't focus - it all become too overwhelming.
So, here's what I do ... 3 pizza boxes !!! That's it.
Box no.1 - bazzill (assorted colours but not more than 20 sheets total) and some pp (only enough for the photos I'm about to scrap)
Box no.2 - only pp (that I've used and aren't classified as little bitty scraps) - useful for cards and grouped according to co-ordinating colours
Box no.3 - full on scraps of pp for the boys to play with and do collage
All my cardstock scraps live in A4 plastic sleeves according to colour - black, white, red, yellow, green
And stickers/rubons - I only keep what I can fit in an A4 sized gift bag.
Brads and little bits fit in a small storage scrap box.
That's it !!!
And everything lives in 2 shallow kitchen drawers so I can whip out and put together when I have a minute here and there. The computer table is downstairs away from all that.
Hope that helps and in case you need to send some of your chaos my way, I'm always happy to change my ways for some of that awesome American Crafts - wink wink.
I've tried doing the purging thing, but I'm not very good at the whole "letting go" thing!
Good luck to you!
You can do it, Mel!!!! Keep going! It will be totally worth it in the end!
Sometimes it's really good to go through stuff because it helps you put into perspective what you are buying and not using so that you can change those habits now and start fresh.
I always donate my stuff and it makes me feel better because at least some one is going to use and love it, right?
I hope you got it all finished!
You can do it. You'll feel so much better once it's done. Everything in its place, every place has its thing. Hope you find a system that works for you.
Tu es super bien partie, Mel : continue !!! Like I said last weekend, it gets worse before it gets way better ! Purging always feel good, especially living with less afterwards. You'll be able to breathe so much better afterwards, with more live-able space in your home. Anyhow, that's how it always feel to me ! :)
Like Julie above said, everything in its place and a place for everything !
Danielle
xoxo
Hugs....I'm feeling the same way and I don't think I've got nearly what you have. I just have such a hard time purging it.
When are you heading to ME?
you can do it, mel!!!
i can't.
but YOU CAN DO IT!
i know you can.
just like dory says in Nemo"
just keep purging
purging
purging...
It's always depressing when you're in the midst of it. I just keep working on it and working on it and someday I know my pile will be manageable. Till then...just know I feel your pain! :P
Hand it over!
ooooh, i am totally feeling your pain. After moving ALLLL my stuff, I started unpacking my AC stuff, and I don't have enough room again. And then when it gets overwhelming, I just start stashing things in the nearest empty spot. Bye bye organization. It seriously makes me panic just thinking about it. I think it would be so helpful to have someone go through it with me because I do this, "Well, I might use it on a page about this if this happens and this person happens to be wearing a green shirt." Yah, it doesn't make ANY sense but that's my thought process. And I agree, if your stuff isn't organized, it totally makes scrapbooking frustrating. So, if I had any A brain cells to spare, I would send them along, but sadly, I need all the ones that I have ;)
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