Minimizing Monday: Coloring Books and Crayons
August 31st, 2008 | By Kendra
Okay, I realize that this isn’t exactly a “priority” area of the home to be decluttering, nevertheless, if you have kids, then you probably have the same problem as I do of stacks of used up coloring books and buckets of broken crayons. In my home, cleaning them out was long overdue! And since I just cleared out my daughter’s collection of useless coloring paraphernalia, I figured I’d pass along some helpful little tips.
My first clue that her coloring books needed to be tossed, was when she would sit down to color and would flip through the whole book, then complain that there were no clean pages to draw on. Why in the world did I keep putting it back into the overstuffed coloring box? I finally got the hint, and went through all of her coloring books. The books that were mostly colored, I pulled out the pages that were still good. And the books that only had a few pages that had been colored on, I pulled out the used up pages. Here is my before and after:
These are the ones that I tossed, and the pages that I pulled from them that were still useful. Now I can actually close the plastic container that holds all of the coloring supplies! And Jada doesn’t have to flip through twenty books to find one clean page to color.
Next I took a look at all of her crayons filling their box. Just about all of them were broken, mostly into tiny little pieces that I know she wouldn’t pick up and color with. I decided they had to go. I set aside two sets of big, full sized crayons (two of each color), then I took the rest out. Now her little box is nice and tidy, and she doesn’t have to swim through waves of broken crayons just to find one big enough to color with. Here’s my before:
I did not get rid of the broken crayons though. No, I have another purpose in mind for them. I filled up three large yogurt containers with these crayons, and put them in the craft drawer. For Jada’s next birthday, I plan on her helping me make Crayon Muffins with these, to give to her guests as party favors. I think she will really enjoy making them, and I think it will make her feel good to give her guests something from herself.
Glad that little project is over! And now Jada can actually sit down and color without having to sort through a bunch of trash.
Maybe you’ve been inspired in some way to clean out the junk from your home as well. If so, I’d love to hear from you. Just write a post on your blog, and then link back here to tell us about it! Hope to have you join in! Minimizing our homes, one section at a time.
Says:
Another option for all those broken & perhaps chewed crayons… mabye recycling them at crazycrayons.com. They will make our old crayons into beautiful shapes!
September 1st, 2008 at 12:06 am(I am not affilated) Just a thought instead of throwing them away.
Says:
I love the focus of this week’s assignment, and will use it as motivation to dive into organizing all my art & craft supplies in my pantry. Thank you for a motivational start to my week!
September 1st, 2008 at 8:38 amSays:
Decluttering is a perpetual task on my roster, too!
I recently wrote about getting rid of a bunch of wedding items and reclaiming our closet. (Decluttering and frugality go hand in hand and thus end up being great exercise.)
I’m a packrat by nature, so always am reluctant to part with things. So every couple months, I get sick of clutter and mess and start a “to thrift store” pile. Living in a one bedroom makes this an easier overall effort.
My most recent area of focus: bathroom. So many well-meaning gifts are bath items. My solution? I gathered a bunch of these and a few frugal buys together and am doing weekly giveaways on my site to encourage readership. I get rid of clutter and my readers get a reward! Win-win.
September 1st, 2008 at 3:13 pmSays:
Decluttering is becoming a way of life here! I guess this is both good and bad…bad, because I wish it wasn’t necessary, but good, because I am doing it! I love the “crayon mufin” idea!
September 1st, 2008 at 11:45 pmSays:
Save money and print the coloring pages off the internet on the back of junk paper. Something new each time!
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:59 amSays:
This project was such a good idea!
Our big girl turned 4 this week, which meant an influx in birthday presents. Fortunately, I’ve convinced much of the family that she doesn’t need more toys, so she mostly got art supplies and a few clothes. But, of course that meant that our arts and crafts cabinet was too full to put stuff in. After going through the coloring books, I probably reduced them by 90%…I even found a couple that have never been used (too long on the bottom of the pile!)
I still am working on rearranging the cabinet, but getting rid of all those coloring books (and broken crayons…I had several unopened boxes of crayons, but kept giving the kids a box of broken ones…) made a HUGE difference!
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:01 amSays:
I missed Min Mon yesterday, but it is too funny that you picked this area because I cleaned that up yesterday morning! I have 2 giant bins of craft stuff that were overflowing, as well as 2 tins of coloring supplies.
Great minds think alike!
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:36 am