New Leaf, day 6

Can I just say that ya'll are awesome? Your sweet comments have helped me SO MUCH!!! This morning I woke up feeling very unmotivated and "tired" and my first thought was, "Today's going to be a computer/blah day."

But then I remembered this New Leaf giveaway and my goal to finish conquering the Paper by Friday and I knew that I needed to get my toosh in gear. I couldn't stand the thought of having to report a wasted day.

So I spent AN HOUR AND A HALF today (to make up for Friday), and made it through this. . . . .

(Lest you think we live in complete squalor, that is NOT the floor in my house. We keep the file cabinet in the garage. I know it's a bit unorthodox, but it's better than having it in the living room, where it was before! :)

Now instead of being crammed so tight nothing else will fit, it is only about 2/5ths full!! YIPPEE!!! Now there will be room for what is currently stacked in the dining room and in the downstairs hall closet.

Only 4 days to go. . . .Thank you so much for every single little word of encouragement!

 

Bonus: A collection of paper-organizing tips :)

Here are some of the great tips that were left in the comments last week. I love these!!!

Amanda T - You do this! Have you heard of flylady? I have incorporated some of her ideas into our home with success.

I LOVE FlyLady! I use a lot of her ideas, including the morning and after-dinner routines and the zones. I think she is brilliant and such a generous person.

Mary D - I am very proud of you! Take it 15 minutes at a time and you will be amazed at your progress. For 15 minutes you work hard and then take a break, it really does help keep you motivated.

Becky Rose - Have you heard of Houseoforder.com She's LDS and has great systems and books on how to get organized. She'll even send you weekly news letters via Email. You Can do it!

I had never heard of this! Sounds great!

Stephanie Johnson - One thing I've done is create a notebook for each kid for each grade. I have tabs like: Report Cards, Artwork, Class Info, About Me, etc. Whatever artwork doesn't have a foot or handprint or something sentimental, then I take a digital picture of it, file it on the computer under their school year, and then throw the artwork away. Hopefully that's a way you can "declutter". Good luck! :)

This is nifty! I will probably use this later this week, when I attempt to condense papers from all the boys into their individual totes. It is torture for me to throw away paper that is in the least bit sentimental, so I love the idea of digitizing some of it!

Amy Kay - . . . . And yes piles of paper...hate them, and need to get them organized too. I am going to strive to work with you on this. And YES MUSIC is wonderful. Good luck! Love and Hugs, Amy.

Chris (he has to be blue :) - Hey, maybe we could go through papers for a date some time. We could have a big bon-fire with the trash and roast marshmallows for a treat!

awesome :)

llamitanan - I like Stephanie's idea of having a folder on the computer for your children's papers. It would be fun to put the best ones in one folder and have that as your digital scrapbook for your children to watch. They would LOVE seeing their favorites going across the screen. Just take a picture of them with your camera.

Amanda T - I don't know if the idea works for you or not, but I once read a suggestion to take good photos of the artwork your children create and then only save a FEW pieces. You have the photos to preserve the memory, but make room for new pieces and more prominent displays.

llamitanan - Good job, Michelle! I remember Daryl Hoole suggesting filing ten papers a night back before computer days. A few bites a day consumes the huge elephant. :)

Malauna - I do hope that your fair city has a paper recycling program and instead of putting the paper in the garbage it is going in the recycle bin ;) However, if it doesn't, throwing away is better than piling up!

It doesn't--can you believe it? We have had the biggest hassles when we've tried to find ways to recycle our phone books! Hopefully it decomposes quickly. . . .

Andre - I like cleaning the girls room and going through their papers when they are at school. It's easier when they have no idea that I threw anything away. I just went through Savannah's papers from last school year, too. They had been residing in her closet. Most went in the garbage, the ones I kept I put in a tupperware box that is just for her special school papers. I have one just for Dakotah, too.

Mary D - You are doing a super job, keep it up! I got a tote for each one of the kids and have stuff in there from birth all the way through graduation and now am putting college things in it. They love to go in there and see what they did when they were younger. As Bailey makes her own milestones Jeremy asks - when did I start doing that? And then I go into his box and find out and tell him. It is special. When it started getting full I would go through it and have to throw away things that were similar but that I only needed one of, not one each year. That way I keep it to one tote each.

I'm so glad to see how many people use the tote idea with success. That is what I'm switching to this week--although unfortunately the only ones Walmart had at the time were HOT PINK. So my boys will have their treasures forevermore in HOT PINK file totes! ha

llamitanan - Good for you--you took time out for the Temple! Now you will definitely meet your goal. I find I accomplish a lot more in my week if going to the Temple is one of the activities.

Becky - Just kick your trash! Hee hee. I mean, don't be afraid to throw things away. The trash can is YOUR friend!