Scrapbooking

With not being full time this year I get one in every six days off, and because it’s a random day off during the week I have been trying really hard to use my day off for working on my Project 52 list, whether it be by using the day to scrapbook, quilt, cook, or bake. I usually spend the night before my day off trying to take care of all those annoying little things that would be heavy on my conscience during my day off – things like vacuuming, laundry, etc.

Last week I used my day off to scrapbook. My intention was to work on the PEI album for my Mom, but when I sat down I was more concerned with working on a few pages for myself. I had a total scrapbook drought last year – I maybe finished 50 pages, and I’d say 25 of them at least were for my cousin’s graduation scrapbook. 2011 has gotten off to a highly creative start though, thanks to how I spent New Year’s eve. I heard once that how you spend your NYE is a good indication of how you’ll spend the rest of your year and I rang in 2011 with glue and paper.

January isn’t even over yet and I’m already at 14 pages! I keep looking at that mountain of pictures and mountain of scrapbook materials and think why have I bought all this stuff if I’m never going to use it? One of my 2011 goals was to have more of a “use more, waste less” mentality where I use what I already have and waste less money buying things I don’t need. It’s actually really effective because everytime I pick something up to buy the thought comes into my head, “Do I already have something similar to this that I’m not using?” I don’t need to keep buying more of the same if it’s not going to get used anyway!

This mentality is being applied to all facets of my life, not just towards this particular hobby. After Christmas I did some purging and organizing and found myself with 13 bottles of body/hand lotion. THIRTEEN! How often do I actually use body lotion? Once a week maybe. Some were gifts from students, which I do appreciate, but others were ones that I had bought myself. Why am I buying myself things I clearly don’t need? This is where the “use more” part comes in as I’m reminding myself constantly that just like I need a drink of water to stay hydrated, so too does my skin. I’m also finding it useful to remind myself that just because it’s on sale, doesn’t mean I need it. (I’m talking to you Bath & Body Works and your sneaky little buy 3, get 1 free deals. I don’t need 4 bottles of anything at the same time!)

Anyway this “use more, waste less” mentality has been highly successful in the creative facets of my life as I find myself pulling out supplies I’ve had for ever, and pictures that I’ve had for even longer. Is this the end of my paper hoarding ways? Only time will tell.