Cruise Photobook...

If you have been following my blog or my instagram you will know that I have been de-cluttering the heck out of my house.  I still have lots more to do but the progress so far as been wonderful.  While going through some stuff I came across two old photo albums of a cruise I did way back in 1985.  It was my first overseas holiday without my parents and my first big holiday on my own.  I have so many wonderful memories of this holiday, and, it's still by far my most favourite one.

I had so much fun going through the photos and thinking back to a time that was different from now.  As I looked at each photo the smiles on my face got bigger and bigger.  But, as with all things old they start to deteriorate especially when they were stored in those old sticky type albums.  My intention was always to scrapbook them but obviously I haven't, and, lets me real here, I'm probably not going to right.

But then I had this thought, thanks to The Minimalists, why don't I scan the photos and that way they will be with me forever.  So I did just that.  It only took about an hour which surprised me.  While I was scanning I got a notification that I had received an email.  It was from a company called Snapfish letting me know about a sale they were having on photobooks.  At that very moment I decided to make a photobook using the Snapshops No 3 12x12 album templates from Paislee Press.  These templates were perfect for old photos and in just under two hours I had created my pages (in photoshop) and uploaded them to Snapfish and ordered my photobook.  

Note:  when creating a photobook with snapfish you do not need to create the pages first in photoshop.  They have templates that are super easy.  But I just like to create my pages in photoshop first.  I just like the freedom of using what templates I like.  It's just a personal thing.

Here are just some of the pages from photobook -  

I even scanned in parts of the cruise newspaper outlining the tours that did.  I was so happy how they turned out.

I know what you are wondering...

What did I do with the albums and photos? Right?

I threw them out.  It felt a little weird at first but then I realised that the photos had been scanned so now I have them forever and I had them printed into a photobook which was way better than the album.  Plus the photobook takes up way less space.

This project was so much fun, so much fun.

xox Tracey

30 Day Minimalism Game - Part 3...

Let me start out by saying I am totally exhausted.  This de-cluttering thing is bloody hard work!

On the upside though, I also feel amazing and light and free and amazed.  I would never have thought that de-cluttering would have so many different feelings attached to it.  I have been ruthless, very ruthless but this time around it seems to get easier each day.  I have found things that I totally forgot I had, some things that I couldn't believe it still had and why did I still have it and things that have made me ask myself some big questions.

I have also found a huge shift in the feeling within our house.  It's starting to look lighter now, not as much stuff around but it also has a different feeling. Since I was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly 2 years ago we have done almost nothing to the house and it is looking run down.  But since I have started de-cluttering and cleaning it has had a flow on effect.  We have started working on the front yard (which is very long overdue), cutting down trees, getting ready to do some paving to make our driveway bigger and jut generally tidying up.

But... the biggest change has been to our luck.  I don't really like the word luck but I can't find a better word at the moment.  I had a little extra unexpected cash come my way, my son got a part time job and my daughter was offered extra work.  Some other big things have happened to us, personal things that I don't wish to share here but things that are making us very happy.  I can feel a shift in the air, I just get the feeling that this year is going to be ok.

Is it because we are de-cluttering?  I don't know but since starting this there has definitely been a change, a change for the better so I'm off to see where to clean next.

Week 1     28 items

Week 2     82 items

Week 3   156 items

A total of  266 items gone

only 199 more items to go...

xox Tracey

30 Day Minimalism Game - Part 2...

Let me just say up front that I am so proud of myself for still sticking with this challenge.  If you follow me you will know that I am great at starting things but not so great at finishing them.  But, here we are at week two and I am still going strong.

I thought I would be starting to struggle by now but I feel like I am just getting started. Nothing is safe, and I mean nothing.  As each day goes by I get more and more excited.  I may not be able to see a huge difference yet but I can tell you that I am certainly starting to feel the difference.  Its even started a conversation with my husband about clutter, stuff and how we can better our choices.  Its also started to flow over to our garden.  We are not gardeners (by any stretch of the imagination) and since I was sick its probably the one thing that has just been "let go", but over the weekend we started making plans about extending the driveway (second child will have his licence soon).   We also organised a time to start pruning, weeding etc and organised a skip bin to get rid of it all.

The main thing that I have learnt so far is that you need to take your time.  Sure I would love to just click my fingers and have it all done but then I guess I would miss the "lesson".  The other thing is that we just don't need stuff, especially this much stuff.  I'm also listening to podcasts, reading blogs and talking to people.

So to sum it up...  it's going great and I just love the direction that it is sending me on.

Week 1      28 items 

Week 2      82 items

A total of 110 items gone

Only 355 items to go

Feeling lighter
xox Tracey

30 Day Minimalism Game...

I've read about this challenge many times, even thought about doing it many times but always chickened out at the last minute.  This year, however, is different.  I want to make many changes in my life and most of them to keep stress far away so that I continue to stay healthy and live a long life. 

I hate clutter, always have but for some reason I have managed to live in clutter, quite well for a very long time.  Oh sure, it's bothered me from time to time, even down right annoyed me but there was always something else more important to do.  I have been doing a lot of reading and searching blogs and they all seem to agree, to get your life organised you need to declutter your life, both physically and mentally.  So with that in mind I have decided to do the 30 day minimalism game, created by The Minimalists.  Basically on the first day you get rid of one item, the second day, two items and you keep going until the end of the month.

I will admit that on day one I thought this was going to be easy, but as the week went on I realised that it's going to get tougher each day.  However, finding things each day has become quite a fun (yes challenging at times) thing to do.  I am finally starting to get rid of the billion coffee cups that we have (okay maybe not a billion, but definitely a million LOL!).  I am already starting to feel lighter and starting to see space in the cupboard that hoards the coffee cups.  It's also making me think more about what I buy (which if I was being totally honest here, we don't need anything), it's stopped me several times from purchasing things that we don't really need.  Although I do need to tell my husband to stop buying stuff.  On day 5 I got rid of 5 things and my husband bought in 3 things, 3 things that we already had 😕.  Tiny steps right!

So this week I got rid of 28 items (I'm not completely ignoring the three items bought in by my husband) and I already feel lighter.  Only 437 items to go 😲

I'm off now to check my husbands pockets!

xox Tracey