KonMari with Kids!

Do you long to declutter? Does it seem impossible with kids? There’s a Facebook group called KonMari with kids that I’ve found to be super helpful – check it out!

Marie Kondo has been popular for a while but recently her popularity has soared with her new Netflix series! Before having baby girl #3, I Kon-Maried my house from top to bottom – mostly between the hours of 2-4am when I couldn’t sleep (all my kids were real active in the womb)! Also – just like Marie Kondo, I’m super into going paperless (I have another webpage devoted to that and my e-pamphlet ). I have a lifestyle of promptly throwing out, shredding or scanning papers – I HARDLY HAVE ANY PAPER IN THE HOUSE. It’s wonderful! I feel like it’s a huge stress reliever.

Anyway yet again we decided to KonMari our kids toys this past weekend. Here’s how we are organizing them:

You can see how each bin is labeled (LOL dolls, Hatchimals, Shopkins, Barbies, etc.). Very few toys live outside these bins and it’s been very helpful to teach the girls to clean up. Still, usually every Christmas or early winter we KonMari our house once again. Maybe we need to take a year off from getting Christmas presents (or something)! Still getting new gifts gives us a chance to share our used ones with someone in need.

Let me know your thoughts on kids and clutter in the comments below!

Kristen

Free ePamphlet to Go Paperless!

Hello! A little over a year ago I did my first presentation on going paperless, and I got such a good response that I put together some YouTube videos and have done other presentations since then.

Finally I found some time to put together a FREE ePamphlet with a CHECKLIST on how to GO PAPERLESS! Yeah! Hope this helps you!

At some point in the future I hope to be able to offer webinars on how to go paperless, declutter, etc., so stay tuned! In the meantime, please feel free to contact me if you would like individual consultation!

Individual consultation to go paperless is currently available at an introductory rate, with various packages available. You can email me at: sharingtheworldllc@gmail.com for more info!

asana…an app to replace your paper lists!

Are you looking for a new, paperless way to keep lists? I used to keep lists in an organized way, like in a planner, but it was always a mess tracking the progress of these “to-dos”, and in the end I had lots of crossed-out words.

I’ve been using asana.com and the asana app to keep track of things for years now. I use it to keep lists and plan projects. I use it for both work and personal use, and really recommend it.

Asana was created by a co-founder of Facebook and other individuals to help improve productivity at Facebook. It’s a great tool because it allows one to create a project, and then tasks under that project, or just create tasks independently from a project. You can set due dates, make them recurring if necessary, assign tasks to individuals, allow individuals to follow tasks, add attachments, etc.

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Asana has an add-on in Gmail which is great when you want to clear out your inbox and make the email content become a task instead.

There are other productivity tools like asana out there, like Trello, and so this blog post is for you if you needed the nudge to go and try one!

Why some photos need to be printed

My mom kindly makes a Shutterfly photo album each year for each of my three daughters. My daughters take these albums in their hands and talk about them. I don’t want them looking at a phone or computer screen every time they want to see a photo.

I had loose photos (from decades) in sleeves up until a couple months ago when I scanned the ones I wanted to save, and threw the hard copies out (save a couple I kept). It didn’t do any good to have them in a big bin, neglected.

Our families make a calendar for my parents and my in-laws (and our extended families) with photos from the past year. It’s a nice way to memorialize things. LESS paper and MORE thoughtful than sticking tons of photos in an album, if you ask me.

Do what works for you, but I encourage you to explore photo book/project options rather than printing loose photos if they are just accumulating and not being enjoyed.

Leave a comment below to let me know how you organize your photos! I’m sure there are ways out there I’ve never explored before.

Why I want junk mail…

…to never come to my house! Gotcha to keep reading here. I just want to briefly share about two things that I do to cut down on junk mail (I would like to put a sign on my mailbox that says NO JUNK MAIL, but I kind of think that won’t do the trick).

no junk mail, 3D rendering, triple flags

First thing I’ve done and recommend: use the app Paper Karma and scan addresses of unwanted junk mail, and then Paper Karma contacts these companies to unsubscribe you from their mailing list. I definitely see that my junk mail has decreased, to the point that I don’t even get mail everyday. See also this video on Paper Karma – this individual presenting has also been featured on the Today Show:

Second thing I do is automatically put any junk mail items that I receive in the garbage, bag to recycle, or in a pile to shred. I sort mail the day it comes to my house. I don’t let it overwhelm me – I get it out the door. Occasionally my kids use ‘junk mail’ magazines for art projects, but they aren’t a must-have.

Remember – it’s not fan mail! 🙂

Reasons to Send a Card

I’m not good at sending paper cards. My grandma was always good at that and it impressed me – she sent cards to all of her grandkids, and also wrote us letters for different occasions. It made a real impact on me, but for most occasions I can’t get around to writing cards. I’m not so paperless that I don’t see the value of sending a personal card – I actually think they are really important.

My friend started a company, Rifle Paper Company, that is internationally recognized now. In a world gone paperless, it has flourished. It has branched out from just paper, but still sells very popular paper products. They are art. Let me share with you Rifle Paper Company’s 5 Reasons to Send a Card – I’m hoping they will get me to send more, because they are good reasons:

(1) Send an out-of-the-blue note for something small and surprising. (I will start with just trying to send cards to my immediate family members)

(2) Write a line of a poem or the beginning of a drawing with a request to sent it back and forth. (I interpret this to mean that I should share my daughter’s art more)

(3) Write a note to your favorite artist or author – they’ll love hearing how they inspire you.

(4) Share a delicious (cocktail) recipe and an invitation to eat/drink it together.

(5) Drop a line – and an apology! – to someone whose email you forgot to reply to (ha ha!)

Grocery lists figured out!

For years, my husband and I have shared a dynamic grocery list via the app Cozi. A calendar and other lists can be shared on it as well. It’s great for busy families.

Recently, though, I’ve also started using eMeals – a Dave Ramsey-endorsed meal planning and grocery list creating system. The app is easy to use. I love that I don’t need to figure out what size items I need (and can even add items not on the meal plan), and go searching all around the store for them. For me, my grocery list gets sent to Walmart and I just pick up my groceries at a designated pick up spot outside Walmart.

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I was using Hello Fresh for about a year – we’d do it one week a month. It was nice for a while, but eventually I felt like the meats weren’t the best quality, and a lot of the same ingredients were being used over and over. I tried Blue Apron before that – off and on. In the end, eMeals is a better price point – one year costs the same as one week of Hello Fresh meals. Granted, you don’t get the actual food with eMeals, but the recipes are definitely budget friendly and have introduced me to Walmart Grocery – so I’m definitely not complaining, but rather, here I am, singing its praises! Check it out – you can even do a two week trial. I have a friend who used it and raved about it on Facebook, and here I am doing the same.

Crayons (and paper)

Crayons are very popular with kids – they always have been. We get them at restaurants, parties, randomly at Target. Needless to say, they’ve accumulated at our house. Recently I chucked a lot of broken crayons – it felt good. Still it felt a bit wasteful.

I grew up in New Jersey. My sister-in-law who lives there told me about a place in Hoboken where they are begging for used/broken crayons – theturquoisecup. I’ve heard tell that crayons are really easy to repurpose – maybe I should think about doing that next time instead of throwing them out.

Crayons

So then there’s the paper that accompanies the crayons. Every so often I purge the drawings and coloring books in our play room. I put some on display on a couple clipboards that I hang on the wall as decoration. I recycle them or sometimes just throw them out. I scan the pictures that are good and my mom puts together a Shutterfly book each year for each of my girls, which contain their drawings and photos.

What thoughts do you have regarding crayons and the art they create?

The Mail

The best way to go paperless is to start now and go forward with the philosophy, then go back and deal with accumulated papers including sentimental items. The mail keeps coming – every day for most of us. Paper, paper, paper. First step to going paperless is:

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Immediately sort the mail into (1) keep (to scan), (2) recycle, and (3) shred/throw out. Think to yourself: “do I need this?” I’m certain that the majority of what comes to my mailbox is junk mail – how about you? I have tried out the app Paper Karma, and I believe that it has dramatically reduced the junk mail that I receive. You take a picture of the address the junk mail was sent from, and it notifies the sender that you wish to be unsubscribed.

Reduce mail by going paperless with bank and credit card statements. Recycle in bins where it benefits a non-profit – you’re doing MORE good by having LESS paper in your house!

Remember that most mail is not official business – you’re not a celebrity getting fan mail, this is JUNK MAIL! The IRS is even urging taxpayers to “kick the paper habit“, so say to yourself again “do I need this [paper]?”