Life By Kristen

Pinterest Posting

I have a strange relationship with Pinterest ( is it weird to even call it a relationship?) I’ve been on the site since 2010 and honestly use it so much that I forget what I used to do to organize random stuff on the internet ( and what I used to do when procrastinating haha).

For me, Pinterest is a place to organize recipes, ideas for the house, inspiration for clothes, etc. I have boards for gift ideas, things to look at when I need a pick me up, and so on. I love that there is one spot on the internet where I can go for meal ideas and Christmas gifts. Before Pinterest, I would save links, email recipes, print them out for a kitchen binder– and almost never make/use any of it.  I love that I find random things that I would not otherwise, especially new blogs. I frequently use it for work research too because there are a lot of really great vintage clothing boards and a bunch of museums use it too to showcase their collections, exhibits, and programs.

The complicated/strange aspect of the relationship comes with the amount of pinning versus the amount of DOING/GOING/SEEING from pins. Last year I tried to do/make/see something from Pinterest on a weekly basis and I was somewhat successful with that, in particular with meals ( it’s been hugely helpful in my successful meal planning). I have also made or purchased items from my Christmas gifts idea board two years in a row now.

But that’s pretty much been it. I have so much stuff on my boards that I will never buy or use, but I persist in my pinning pretty pictures and ideas. There has been a bunch written on the internets about how Pinterest is just feeding the consumer culture and has people making boards for the life they wish they had, instead of living the life they want and currently have. I definitely see aspects of that- I have an entire board of just gorgeous shoes, another for handbags, another for jewelry- many of these are WAY out of my price range, but I still pin them. Why? I think it mainly is about having an appreciation of these things/images/ideas, but also because I think collecting and organizing pins is an interesting way to think about life and what we want. Even though I’ll probably never own a pair of amazing shoes that cost $500 ( and really, why would I!?), I appreciate the beauty of them and want to see that frequently.

With this all in mind, I spend a good portion of time in the past few weeks ( I’ve been procrastinating about a lot lately haha), reorganizing my Pinterest boards to work for the life I have now. I went through all the food related pins and organized them by how I cook and plan for meals ( looking by ingredient or course), took out duplicates and things I would never make, and really tried to create the boards that I will use in life. Of course I’ll continue to pin cute photos of animals and gorgeous earrings, but I’m definitely trying to use it as a tool for life instead of just being the place where I lust after all the things I don’t — and won’t ever have. And anyway, I love my Sunday morning with coffee and looking at pretty pictures and ideas too much to give it up!

Do you use Pinterest? Do you find it helpful? Are you over it and onto something new?