Week One 29 Day Organizational Challenge

I am very excited about the Org Junkie 29 Day Organizational Challenge where I am organizing my craft room. Technically this started out as an office, but we don't really need an office and I do need a craft room!

So it will still have to hold those things that would have gone into an office - which is not all that much but includes printer, office supplies, lots of books, and my husband's law diploma.

The printer and office supplies are not a big deal and work with a craft room. The books we will talk about later! The law school diploma works great in an office but maybe not so much in a craft room, but we really don't have any other place for it... unless we put it up in the basement family room part.... We could put it some place were everyone coming into our house would see, because I am so proud of my husband for going back to law school after being away from school so long! But he would never go for that! And it might seem a bit bragy to have it in your living room! So for now it will have to go in the craft room...

I started asking myself a few questions about how to organize the room. The first one was should I take things I don't know what to do with and move them to another spot, or should I really figure out what to do with them... meaning all of those photo albums including the wedding photos. What do I do with them?

I already bought the negatives from the photographer for our professional pictures, paid to have them scanned and made my own 12x12 photobook which I love. But I still have the large proof book and the 8x10 formal picture book in this room, and a photo album from our honeymoon, our shower, my bachlorette party, my graduation, and a few more...

I am thinking I will make photobooks for our honeymoon and maybe our rehearsal dinner / showers.... but we will see. I have already started a honeymoon photobook. (YEAH ME!!!) Photobooks take up a lot less space than big photo albums - as you can see in this picture!!

Question: Can I throw away the original proof book from my photographer, even though I have the negatives in a fire proof safe, I have the digital files backed up and I have the nice 12x12 photobook I created?? Opinions, pretty PLEASE!

My progress so far

I started a garage sale box...So far it mostly includes books. I cleared 2 book shelves of books we have not touched in 4 years... Ok we touched then.. They were packed and unpacked at least 2 times in those 4 years! I did keep some books I do eventually want to read and moved those into our guest bedroom, but I still need to figure out what I will do with the books I want to keep that don't work in the guest bedroom. But I did put more than half of my books in my garage sale pile (and I know books never sell at garages sales, so maybe I should just donate them now!!!)

I started a plastic tote for "Memories" that I will store in the basement. So far this includes scrapbooks I made in my teens.It also includes planners from the year I was married and the year I had my son. I can't get rid of these 2 planners. Sometimes I think I hold on to too many things, other times I don't think I keep enough things. I am not sure if keeping planners makes me a hoarder or a normal person :)


I have made progress on clearing the floor of clutter by moving some of it out of the room... so you can see the floor again!!! I moved a pile of photobooks I already made (AND LOVE) to our living room so we can ENJOY them and anyone coming over can look at them! (Isn't my little man so cute!! He was only 4 months old!!)




I threw away most of my Honeymoon pictures. I did keep a stack that went into the Memories tote in a picture box. Pulling pictures from photo albums is a lot of work... but worth it to remove the clutter!!!

Now just to decide what to do with those wedding pictures... and the broken album!!!


I am excited with my progress!! Can't wait to see the rest and be organized!!!