Our Home: Christmas 2017

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Welcome to the second day of our '12 Days of Christmas - Kiwi Mummy Blogger Blog Collaboration'. (More details are at the bottom of this post).

Yesterday, my blogging gal-pal Claire from My Other Name is Mum, shared how she made her hubby a DIY Beer Advent Calendar. Now that is one Advent Calendar that my partner would be more than happy to partake in. If you haven't seen Claire's post, be sure to pop over, have a read and share the blog love. Tomorrow Caitlyn from Life With Lochlan is chatting to us about co-parenting during the holiday period. Be sure to pop over after midday and have a read.

Today I am excited about sharing 'Our Home - Christmas 2017' and as a bonus, I'm also sharing a few tips of how I keep organised during the festive season. So grab a cup of hot chocolate (or tea/coffee) and I'm going to get let the photos do (most of) the talking. Enjoy!

It's starting to look and feel a lot like Christmas!




OUR CHRISTMAS THEME

One of my favourite family traditions when it comes to Christmas is decorating our Christmas tree and home on the 1st of December. For many years, we had a Silver & Purple theme, then when we moved into our new home, when we chose MERRY & BRIGHT. This year I felt I wanted a more simplified look (especially after completing the KonMari method, and when I saw the 'Icy Blue/Mint' range at KMart, I was sold. That being said, it wasn't until the afternoon, that we actually made the final decision about what colours we were going to use - I was torn, but now I am really glad I chose the Mint, Silver and White combination (with a splash of traditional red). I love it because it matches our home decor, so there were some items that I could still have on display because it matches our Christmas theme perfectly. 

I set up the tree for the kids and then let them 'go for it'. The kids love the freedom of decorating the tree, thankfully there was a bit of guidance from my 12 year old daughter, otherwise we would have had a bottom-heavy tree. While they decorated the tree, I decorated our home, adding little bits of Christmas, mainly in our living area. The last thing that is put on the tree is our star. My kids were very proud of their achievements and I think our tree looks great. Would you agree? 




OUR CHRISTMAS WREATH

We recently moved our tv to the centre of our mantle, this meant that our big family photo frame looked out of place, so I took it down, which left a blank space on our wall.  I changed all of the baubles on our wreath to match our new theme and hung it on the wall. I really like it there, however I still want a wreath on our front door (hmm).





OUR DINING AREA



FAMILY TRADITION: OUR BOOK ADVENT CALENDAR

 I wrap 12 Christmas themed books for the kids to open every day leading up to Christmas Day - on Christmas Eve the kids get a new book.


Have you decorated your Christmas tree? 
What colour theme do you have in your home this year? 

TIPS FOR GETTING ORGANISED THIS CHRISTMAS

1. Print your Advent Calendar Bundle {Free Printable}. Includes: Calendar, 40 Activity Cards (plus 10 blank cards) & Numbers. Two colour options available (Brights & Traditional).
Grab yours today! (it's not too late)






 2. Create and organise a Gift Wrapping Station using an under-the-bed storage container. This year I have chosen to stick with the theme - Mint, Silver and White.
(Guest Post on The Organised Housewife)





3. Create a Christmas Craft Box for your kids - all your craft supplies in one place.




What do you do to keep organised this Christmas? 


From my family to yours, Merry Christmas
& thanks for stopping by, 
Charlene


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 12 Days of Christmas Blog Collaboration 


I am delighted to be joining 11 amazing Kiwi Mummy Bloggers, in the "12 Days of Christmas - A Blog Collaboration". I must say, you are in for a real treat because these ladies (and their blogs) are fantastic. Each day for the next twelve days, each blogger will be sharing a Christmas themed post e.g. Craft, DIY, Inspiration, Recipe or Family tradition, at 12PM (New Zealand Daylight Time). I have included a full list of all the bloggers taking part in the blog collaboration below, so you can see who is blogging on what day. Seriously, you don't want to miss a post! I am really excited about seeing what each blogger is going to share. 

Finally, if you are looking for more Christmas inspiration, don't forget to hop around and visit each of the bloggers in this list (list will be updated daily)  or find us on Facebook and Instagram - simply search #KMB12DaysofChristmas.

Tomorrow we are visiting Caitlyn from Life With Lochlan who is going to be chatting to us about co-parenting during the holiday period. Be sure to pop over after midday and have a read.



 Day 1 (1st December) 
 My Other Name is Mum - Beer Advent Calendar
<---- YOU ARE HERE ----> 
Day 2 (2nd December) 
Teacher by trade, Mother by nature  - Our Home: Christmas 2017
Day 3 (3rd December) 
Life With Lochlan 
Day 4 (4th December) 
Misses Mac
Day 5 (5th December)
Eva - The Living One / Eva - The Living One (FB)
Day 6 (6th December) 
Caroline Larnach
Day 7 (7th December) 
Day 8 (8th December) 
Day 9 (9th December) 
Day 10 (10th December) Hey Little Sweet Thing
Day 11 (11th December)
Day 12 (12th December) 



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KONMARI WITH KIDS: PAPER-Part 1 Kids Artwork

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Welcome to my new series: 'KonMari With Kids'. 

If you have just joined me - WELCOME - I recently completed the KonMari method with my OWN belongings, read 'My KonMari Journey' to see how I did. Now, it's time to get stuck into my kid's stuff - I have two children: Miss B, 12 years old and Master M, 3 years old.

Previously on the blog,  I shared how I KonMari'd my kids clothes (Baby, Toddler and Tween) and their books. Now I am ready to tackle the PAPER. If you have been following my blog for a while, then you will know PAPER was a HUGE category for me, and going through the kids paper is going to be a bit of a mission - there is a lot of paper to get through. So for the benefit of this series and the category of PAPER - I will be breaking it into two parts: KIDS ARTWORK and SCHOOL MEMORABILIA. Some of you will probably be thinking that they should really be in the Sentimental category, and I do agree - Kids Artwork and School Memorabilia are very sentimental, however - it's paper and it needs to be dealt with, sooner rather than later - otherwise it will forever be in the 'too hard' basket. Am I right? So are you with me? Let's Do This!

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- KONMARI WITH KIDS -

Marie suggests children as young as three years old can decide what gives them joy and the key principle is that each person should be making the decisions for themselves. Before you tackle your kids items, she does recommend you KonMari your own belongings first.

In a nutshell, Marie Kondo has four rules she recommends people follow when doing the KonMari Method:

1. Tidy in one shot, as quickly and completely as possible
2. Sort by category, not by location
3. Selection Criterion: Does it 'spark joy?'
4. Order of tidying: Clothes, Books, Documents (Paper), Miscellaneous items (Komono), and Mementos (Sentimental)

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Today I am sharing: PAPER: KIDS ARTWORK


Over the years I have been swimming in what feels like a pool of artwork. My kids love doing art - painting, collage, cut and paste, colouring...plus much more. For many years,  I have held onto almost every piece of artwork my daughter (now 12) has done. I had them stored in boxes and DIY art folders, and now, FINALLY, I am going to go through the lot and sort them into piles of KEEP & DISCARD. 

My son is 3 and already has a collection, so I really need to get it sorted once and for all, only keeping the pieces that spark joy to me and my kids (most importantly, my kids) - because one day, everything we decide to keep, will eventually be returned to them. 

In Marie Kondo's second book, Spark Joy,  she briefly talks about the various ways of approaching your children's creations. For example: "taking a photo of your children's art before throwing it away" or "deciding how many [pieces] you will keep and sticking to that number". 

She goes on to say "if there are items you cannot bring yourself to part with now, there is no need to force yourself to discard them". Simply take care of them. Dedicate a spot in your home to display the art so everyone can enjoy them. "Once you have enjoyed the works to the full, you can thank them for helping your child grow and discard them guilt-free". 

Reading this definitely helped take the pressure off and it inspired me to start the process. 

BEFORE 

Before I started, I gathered up all of the kids artwork and put them in the living room where I was going to sort them. I spent a little while just staring at the volume of the artwork I had collected and kept over the years - carting it all from house to house. (My daughter and I moved a couple of times in her first 7 years). 

It was daunting but alas I started...
My plan was to sort everything into sub-categories first - KIDS + YEARS and then get stuck into the purging.


I started with the most recent items, which were stored in a 'My Art Portfolio', that I purchased from KMart earlier last year. One portfolio contained a few items from my daughters last year of primary and the other was full of artwork from my son - a combination of Playcentre art and art he did at home-based care.

I pulled everything out, and made a pile for my son and a pile for my daughter. I continued working through the boxes and started adding items to the two piles. They got bigger and bigger and I wasn't sure if I could actually go through with this.



DURING

Once I had all of the kids artwork out of the boxes and portfolios, I began putting them into piles according to the year they were completed. I blitzed through my son's as it was only 2 years worth of art - there was quite a lot, nonetheless. I discarded any artwork that wasn't named or dated, especially if it only had a few strokes of paint on - I had several of these that were named and dated, so the excess was definitely not going to be missed. 

Master M saw his 'plate art' and picked it up. His face lit up, so I immediately took a photo. He was very proud of his 'plate art', so I knew it was a keeper and even though I took this photo, I have actually kept the plate in his keepsakes box too.  


Moving along...I had the same process for my daughters artwork - 11 years worth. It was like taking a trip down memory lane, looking back at art she did when she first started school. During the initial purge, we (my daughter and I), discarded anything that was not dated, unless it was something she created at school and wanted to keep, if this happened we would think about who her teacher was at the time and pin point the year that way. (Alternatively, you could look back at their Year books). I put the year on the back of each piece of artwork, just in case they got muddled up. 

At this moment in time, you could not see my living room floor - there was art EVERYWHERE, however it was organised chaos - and the piles were starting to grow. 


  
Once I had the art in piles, according to year (from 2006-2017) we started from the oldest pile (2006) and picked out the favourites, the items that sparked joy for me and my daughter. As we were going through each year, the piles got smaller and smaller. Miss B loved looking back at her art, some sparked joy, some made her laugh out loud because she couldn't believe she created it and others were a definite NO. There were a few pieces we had to negotiate over, but that's okay - it's all apart of the process. 



SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE PIECES

DISCARD PILE

The process from start to finish probably took less than two hours to complete.  The great thing about the KonMari method, is that you only have to do it once! Now I can put my new systems in place and keep on top of the art clutter. 

I am pretty proud of what we discarded, we thanked the art for helping the kids grow and put it in the rubbish/recycling.  After 11 years of holding on to it, I was glad to see it go, no longer taking up space in my home. 


AFTER

And THIS is what we are left with! This is our current system. 

Each child has: 1 x A3 clear file folder (for larger pieces of artwork); 1 x A4 clear file folder  (for up to A4 sized artwork) and 'My Art Portfolio' (which holds the current artwork from care and playcentre).





WHERE TO FROM HERE...

Before the art goes into the clear file folders, it is put on display in the playroom (pegged up on a string), for a couple of weeks. When new art comes in, the older pieces are placed into the 'My Art Portfolio', and at the end of the term, we select our favourite pieces and add these to the clear file folders, and discard the others. 

For my son, some of his art is pasted into his Playcentre portfolio or slipped in the back of his home-based child care portfolio. I also add a few items from my daughter's art collection into her school memorabilia folders (more on that another day). 

Speaking of my daughter's art folders - they are nearly full, well it does have 10-11 years worth of artwork in them. I am currently looking at my options of what to do next. I recently heard about Jimmy Halfpenny, an Australian company who collects your kids artwork and turns it into a photobook, similar to ArtKive (USA). Leanne from Organising The Four of Us shared a timeline video about her experience with Jimmy Halfpenny and it got me really excited. I will keep you posted if I do choose this option. (Check out their Facebook page)

I have also looked at Project Life (using the Project Life App) & ChatBooks (using Instagram or Facebook) - which are both great ideas. Oh the decisions!

If you ARE wanting to take photos of your kids artwork, be sure to check out Becky Higgin's Tips for Photographing Children's Artwork.

There are so many ways we can store and organise our kids artwork - do what works for YOUR family. However, the first thing I recommend you do is cull and choose your favourites.

Thanks for reading,
Charlene

Are you feeling overwhelmed by your Kids Artwork? 
How do you currently store/organise your kids artwork? 


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Coming Up Next: KonMari With Kids: PAPER - School Memorabilia

Sorting through all of the school memorabilia sounds like a big task, and it probably will be - however I know it's going to be worth it. Watch this space.


I am super excited about this new series 'KonMari With Kids' and would love for you to follow along in this process, better yet, join me - Subscribe to my Blog, so you don't miss a post and together we CAN 'KonMari With Kids'. I will also be sharing my journey on my Facebook page, and Instagram, so be sure to follow me there too.


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KONMARI WITH KIDS: BOOKS

, , ,

Welcome to my new series: 'KonMari With Kids'. 

Last week I shared how I KonMari'd my kids clothes - Baby, Toddler and Tween. You can read all about it HERE.

If you have just joined me - WELCOME - I recently completed the KonMari method with my OWN belongings, read 'My KonMari Journey' to see how I did.  Now, it's time to get stuck into my kid's stuff - I have two children: Miss B, soon to be 12 years old and Master M, soon to be 3 years old. 

Marie suggests children as young as three years old can decide what gives them joy and the key principle is that each person should be making the decisions for themselves. Before you tackle your kids items, she does recommend you KonMari your own belongings first. 

In a nutshell, Marie Kondo has four rules she recommends people follow when doing the KonMari Method:

1. Tidy in one shot, as quickly and completely as possible
2. Sort by category, not by location
3. Selection Criterion: Does it 'spark joy?'
4. Order of tidying: Clothes, Books, Documents (Paper), Miscellaneous items (Komono), and Mementos (Sentimental)

*******
Today I am sharing: KIDS BOOKS 


BABY & TODDLER

As a Mum and Teacher, I know how important it is to read to and with your children. When my daughter was younger, we had A LOT of books, probably 3 times more than the photo above, many of which were not read because she had her favourites, as they do. So when we moved out of our home (she was 7), we culled her books, only keeping the ones she absolutely loved and donated the rest. Fast forward a few years and those books are now in her little brother's collection. 

When we moved into our new home, the previous owners left a buffet table unit with shelves and slider cupboard doors - which has become a fantastic storage unit for kids toys and books. I put baby toys, books and puzzles in one side of the unit. 

I organise the books by colour, as this makes it a lot easier when it is time to tidy up and after a while our toddler was able to return books on his own - and plus, who doesn't love looking at a rainbow of books. 

Our son is turning 3 in March, so I figured it was time to make changes to this cupboard. As you can see in the picture below, it's overflowing with items that are no longer suitable for our son. It's also a good time to go through the books and remove any 'baby' books. 

BEFORE:


We also have a front facing library shelf in the playroom, where I rotate a collection of his books.


Following Kondo's rules, I took all of the books out of the cupboard and put them on the lounge floor. I also grabbed a small collection of Little Golden Books that were in his room, and added them to the pile. 


I had my little helper, helping me decide which books 'spark joy' and which books don't. I didn't think he would say no to any, but he did. He found a few new favourites too.


DONATE PILE

As you can see our donate pile is fairly small, that being said - it is made up of baby books, duplicates and books we don't read, so we are passing them on. I think we had two books that needed to be discarded because they were badly ripped. 


AFTER:

I decided to organise the books by colour again because it is a system that works for our family and it is helping our son with colour recognition, so it's a win win. I have also taken away a lot of the 'baby' toys and puzzles and replaced them with puzzles and activities that are age appropriate. I donated the puzzles and discovery bottles to his home-based carer who has two under 2's. 



TWEEN

As I mentioned above, when my daughter was younger, she had A LOT of books. By the time we moved in with my partner, Miss B was 7 and she was starting to read chapter books more. So we donated majority of her picture books to a local op-shop - only keeping her/our favourites.

Fast forward a few years, her book collection has grown - not by much though because she got into the habit of loaning her books from the school library or public library (which is a great idea), and all of her picture books were passed on to Master M.

We corralled her books together and she started to pick out her favourites and donated the ones she no longer wanted. I forgot to take a photo, but there were about 5 or 6 that went into the donate bin.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Miss B has her books stored on an 8-shelf unit in her wardrobe. She still loans books from the library, and asks for a book every Christmas and Birthday (which is just around the corner), so for now her collection is small, however she loves each of these books and will happily read them over and over again. 




KonMari With Kids: BOOKS - COMPLETED

To be honest with you, I thought this category was going to be hard, but it actually wasn't. Yes it can be very overwhelming and a tad daunting when you put ALL of the books in one place, however it's a good opportunity to see what you have, corral like books together and organise them in a way that is going to benefit the whole family and make it easier to maintain.

TIP: If you have hundreds of books (and I know of some families who do), simply categorise them into groups - picture books, baby/board books, chapter books, topic/theme books, non-fiction/fiction etc and tackle each category one by one. 

Once you have sorted the books, one idea is to start a library system where each child or member of your home can 'issue' 4-5 books a week, to keep in a little basket in their room. 

Ideally, you want ALL of your books in one place, but that doesn't work for us. We have, what I think, is a manageable amount of books in our home and our collection will grow over the years, the great thing is, we have systems in place that work (for us), to help us not become overwhelmed. If a book no longer sparks joy, we donate it.

 You might also like: My KonMari Journey: BOOKS - my own journey of using the method with my book collection.

Coming Up Next: KonMari With Kids: PAPER (Art Work)
My kids don't have A LOT of paper (definitely not as much as I did), however they do bring home A LOT of Art Work, so that is what I plan to tackle next. Watch this space. 

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I am super excited about this new series 'KonMari With Kids' and would love for you to follow along in this process, better yet, join me - Subscribe to my Blog, so you don't miss a post and together we CAN KonMari With Kids. I will also be sharing my journey on my Facebook page, and Instagram, so be sure to follow me there too.


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