I've touched on this before ;-) Part of decluttering with my kids is accepting when they don't want to let something go. Ok, that's the easy part.
What's harder is when they want to give away something that *I* have a hard time letting go.
Like the Playmobil Pirate Treasure Chest set my son gave away last weekend (center front on the table). He loved it when he got it for his birthday last year but yeah, I have to admit he hasn't played with it much lately. It was a fun toy for about a month maybe. I think playmobil is cool and I know a lot of kids like them but they just don't have much staying power in this house for whatever reason.
Still, he said it should go and I found myself questioning him over and over "Are you sure? You really want to get rid of this?".
So it's gone. Along with everything else on this train table, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle figures he loved so much two years ago and the Power Ranger figures that were a hit last birthday. Also, not quite in this picture was the hobby horse my daughter loved two Christmases ago. She loved it and played with it tons at first but eventually the fun wore off and it was left unplayed with often enough that she decided it was ready to go. Also, all the way on the left hand side of the picture is a box set that my Dad gave dd when she was a toddler. That was hard for me to let go of too, but the kids? They were done with it.
And as soon as we can manage it, the train table is going too. Again, a good idea for some, but for us it just turned into a surface to pile clutter on. I can probably count on one hand the number of times it was actually clean enough to play on. I also culled about half the wooden train set, keeping only what actually gets played with (usually on the floor).
Part of what motivates my kids is money. I think I mentioned before that they get the proceeds from everything that goes to the consignment store. Still, they are careful to not give away things until they are ready. It's working well so far.
So some more great progress but that's because we're under the gun here. Today marks one month to go to my son's 6th birthday party! My power ranger/transformer/spiderman/plastic toy loving son. Send a professional organizer, stat!
2 comments:
hello-just found your blog tonight as a link on clutter-cubed. i read your most recent posts, in april(it is june, are you taking a break?), and skimmed through some of your other posts(intend to read more as i have time). very encouraging to see your progress in the before and after photos. you and your family are creating a beautiful space. i also love the way you keep track and count of the items you are getting rid of through photos and noting what you are getting rid of and where or who it is going to. i just recently started blogging of my efforts to declutter and i am inspired to start keeping track of my get rid of items as an addition to my blog writings. Thanks for sharing your journey, hooray for you, Stephanie
Thanks! The problem is I've run out of steam. Or raw material. I'm pretty happy with how my house looks now. Ok, it still needs work, but generally, I feel very cozy here :) So not much incentive to de-clutter.
We're planning another garage sale though, and my aunt is having another church sale this fall so those will be opporunties to cull more clutter ;-)
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