I made an extremely modest start to our Fall Cleaning last night. I am a fall cleaner. Cold weather keeps me inside, and November is slowest time of year at work. The cold weather gets me in clean mode, for whatever reason besides the others.

It's the only time I generally do big deep cleaning projects. We've decluttered pretty well over the years, so it's also that time to just to make sure things are in check. I find every year we have less and less to de-clutter. (Don't get me wrong - there is always SOMETHING).

So though my start was small and wimpy, I hit an area of the kitchen I probably haven't gone through thoroughly in years.

Besides some glasses I have to figure out how I can recycle (my first pair of glasses ever? Almost 20 years old?), and some old cell phone accessories (will e-waste recycle) there wasn't much I couldn't finish last night with my efforts. I have a very teeny offering for the charities - mostly restaurant crayons. Pushing it - but I don't like throwing things away.

That said - I found a project. The kids' baby books.

Oh, BM's book looks pretty thorough.

& LM's book? I think he's lucky I put anything in there. I wrote that his "first vacation" was to Hawaii. Like we would forget that??? I managed to write down the time he was born and the name of his Doctor. Interestingly, I also found a 2006 calendar (kept because it was a photo calendar of the cousins). I had jotted several milestones in the calendar. Which is fine and all - but maybe I should have put the calendar with the baby book. On the plus side, I did throw in all the Doctor appointment info (growth charts) and other useful momentos in with the baby book. There is hope. (& luck in that I found the calendar and bothered to skim through it to see the treasure trove of baby book information).

Plan of action? Finish baby book this week. Best I can.

Pictures? This baby book has an awful lot of spots for pictures. What I will do is pick out the pictures and make notes of which ones I need, but I will wait for another photo deal to actually print them out. I just got over 50 free prints the last couple of months - a couple of different deals. As long as the heavy lifting is done, the final touches can wait for a good sale.

I tend to keep on top of things, am organized, and I don't procrastinate. So this is a little embarassing. (He is about 6.5 years of age). But, what's the best way to solve the problem? Get 'er done! So that is what I will do.

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I also bought a photo album while I was picking up my free prints at Walgreens, over the weekend. I put all the free prints I have amassed, into the photo album, in chronological order.

We have been so stuck in the digital age (& have all of our pictures well organized on the computer). But, I've never really bothered to print many out. We've got the color printer, and my dad gives me ton of photo paper (of the variety he no longer wants/needs). BUT, it's always such a pain. & the ink is always so expensive. My new startegy is just to wait for the very best photo deals. Though this may just seem cheap, the strategy is twofold. I don't want to clutter up my house with endless prints of great pictures. I have TONS of great pictures. Sticking with the great deals forces you to narrow it down. So it is almost even more of a low-clutter strategy than anything, for me.