Step 2 - Toy Clean Out

I can finally see the floor!! We've been busier than originally planned this week but I've been working here and there. I've got three garbage bags full of toys in the truck just waiting to be donated or sold! 3 garbage bags!! So why does it feel like there is still so much stuff?!?!

Life still feels crowded in our living room so I need to do some more work.. Here's how it is right now:

The two pink bins are holding Duplos and the Little People dollhouse and park stuff. The piano should probably go in the closet for now with the other instruments, waiting to be rotated in a few weeks. The green thing behind the piano is the doll baby changing area and sink...thinking about also drawing some burners on top, adding some knobs and making it double as a kitchen... And the overflowing toy box full of dolls, blankets, pillows and stuffed animals. We call this little table the 'fun table.' I can't remember why...but a lot fun stuff usually does happen there. The plastic white piece with drawers holds crayons, pencils, stencils, coloring books and paper. I should get rid of the coloring books because they rarely use them. They love blank paper but those drawers are smushed full of paper with one or two lines marked on them. It feels wasteful. There must be a better way to let them have paper and stuff without it being such a mess.

The overflowing bookshelves. I must stop buying cheap Target bookcases. This one was $16 on sale and we've had it for about a year or so and it's falling apart.. granted we do shove it full of books but I wanted it to last longer. I'm imagining creating some kind of reading corner over where the pink bins are and using this shelf for lighter and easier to manage things like puzzles and games, which are currently stacked on top....?

I thought about getting rid of all the Little People but they do like them. I think we just had too many sets out. So I put away several sets in this bin and put all the small pieces to each set in a labeled ziploc bag. I'm going to put this in the closet and swap them out as needed. I put the potato heads in here too. And may add some stuffed animals.

And I put 4 more of those pink bins in the closet. The contain: wooden blocks, kitchen stuff, more games and puzzles and musical instruments.

So that's all I've got so far... I haven't made it into the back room yet...and I still don't feel like I've thinned things out as much as I was imagining... Grant's pushing for just tossing it all out. We will see...

The Beginning

This is what I'm starting with: Total messy diaster. We seriously kick a path through the living room most evenings in case we need to get downstairs in the middle of the night so we don't step on something and get injured. This picture doesn't even do it justice. You can't see the cereal crumbs and handfuls of tiny black rocks thrown out of the fireplace.
The kitchen/art floor... millions of slippy magnets everywhere. A big plastic kitchen that was all the rage for several months last year but lately is just a nuisance when we try to actually shut the door to the bathroom.
And the mess continues into the art/office/spare/storage room. Yep that's a big sand and water table on top of Zola's desk. The table obviously hasn't made it's way outside where it belongs yet. And those shelves are full of art supplies that would be much more useful if we could get to them. And where in the world am I supposed to set up the stuff for homeschooling???

SIMPLE means...

less clutter. less stuff. less dishes to do. less toys to pick up. less laundry. less cleaning. less stuff falling out of the closet when we open it. less commitment. less fighting about it all.

more time to play! more time to rest! more time to relax! more room in my brain! more time to create! deeper relationships! more time for love!

There are posts on this blog that I've been meaning to follow-up on... there is another blog I started writing for then slowed waaaayyy down because of time... I have a long list of craft projects and homeschool projects I'd love to do for myself and with my girls. I would love to open this etsy shop I keep talking about.

This is very scary for me. But it is time. Time to make goals. Time to get rid of stuff. Time to lessen my emotional attachments to objects- just writing that statement makes my eyes tear up..oh my..

But what I love most in life is spending time with my family. And all of this stuff is taking up way too much time.

Deep Breath.

Goal #1
Toy overhaul.
:: To be completed this week.

With or without Zola and Niva's help. I am going to get rid of toys. I will assess what they actually play with and take out the rest.

I feel like right now they have so much stuff in such a small space that they don't play with most of it because they can't get to it.

I keep a lot of things out of emotion. Because someone special bought it or I have a good memory of the object with one of my girls.

But it's too much.

Grant and I almost cry every night when we have to think about picking it all up. It sucks. Even if the girls help clean up earlier in the day it's never totally done.

At least their birthdays aren't until the Fall so we will have time to really think about what they will ask for...maybe bowling or movie gift cards...or camp tuition... or art class tuition... we just have to get a handle on this stuff.

Kids need things to play with. Things that belong to them and they can use at their own will. But I feel that when they have too many choices it becomes overwhelming and they don't choose..or they don't take care of their things because they know there is always something else.

So here's what I'm going to do...

Go through all the toys and put whatever I want to get rid of into plastic bags or boxes and store in Grant's truck (sorry babe..it's a POD again). Leave them there for a couple weeks and see if the girl's ask for any of it. See if they play with what's left any more.

Why does this feel so terrifying!?