Anyways, ever since I gloriously got released from being young women president, I feel like my mind has been cleared and I'm able to find direction and focus again. And I have only wanted to focus on what is happening within the walls of my own home. I feel like I've been really sucking at being a mom and that I have so much ground to cover until I get to be a good wife, and right now, that's really all I want. I have this crazy urge to get my house in order. I want things simplified and organized. I want my food storage 100% done and be knowledgable with my emergency preparedness. I want to create the daily family traditions that will strengthen my kids enough that I can send them to school and not be quite so horrendously terrified. At other times in my life I've had other focuses like creating and building friendships, succeeding at my job, or being really involved with community service. Not now. Just my little family of four and what we do within the walls of our home.
I'm systematically going through our entire house and organizing it. Kitchen cupboards, bathroom drawers, every closet in the house, the basement, and anything else I find. It is empowering and refreshing. Tuesday night I read an article (and then lots more from the same blog) that my friend Jamie posted on Facebook. The article was written by a mom that got rid of 75% of her kids toys. Not to be malicious, but to simplify. It struck a chord with me. So guess what I was doing all day on Wednesday...
Into this...
The biggest shocker to me was that I packed up soooooo much stuff (some stuff went to the basement but most stuff is just in that guest room closet) and there is still so so so much stuff left.
My focus was to pack up stuff we didn't intentionally bring into our home. This includes a lot of random hand me down toys, things from pre-marriage (I was shocked at the random pillows and stuffed animals and whatever that are from 10+ years ago), and free things from various events (like chick fil a watches, golf tournament stuff, animal calendars, cards, trinkets, stress balls, etc) that are never really played with, only scattered around when it comes time to clean up. I'm a hoarder at heart (and we have plenty of room to store crap) so I threw very little away... But I can't imagine that a month from now I'm going to be dying for Abigail to play with those cleap plastic toy glasses that break into literally five pieces every time you touch them and constantly need to be snapped back together.
This morning, Abigail went to put something away in the playroom. I worried that she would be upset that I took so many toys away (basically anything with parts... I just left the big stuff, like her doll stuff, and took away things with a million small pieces, like the golf set and necklaces and Minnie hair stuff - although I left her Minnie blow dryer... Because it goes right next to mine in my bathroom drawer so we can do our hair at the same time, how cute is that?!) but instead, she couldn't stop saying "wow" over and over again as she looked around the room. And she told me I did a really great job cleaning up in there. Then she brought me a toy (that had always been in there) and asked if she could please play with it. I think she forgot it existed because there was too much junk cluttering the good quality toys. It really was just like the lady in the article described. Today, Abigail was happier and content for longer periods of time playing with her toys than what she previously had been. Also, we got out previously neglected puzzles. And even though I didn't clean anything up all day long, the mess was so minimal, that it took me literally 60 seconds to pop everything back to their correct places. Her toys are more accessible so she is more inclined to play with them. And they are less overwhelming so I'm not stressing about the mess, and Abigail isn't faced with a cleaning task that is to difficult for her age.
So even though I wasn't as hardcore as the lady in the article (I don't feel like that's really necessary right now), it inspired me enough to take some action. http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2012/09/14/why-i-took-all-my-kids-toys-away-why-they-wont-get-them-back/
And maybe I read a bunch of her other posts and was inspired by those too. Sometimes add comes with hyper focus in some areas, and right now, this is mine.
Anyone have any other [related] inspirational blogs/articles I need to be reading?
Ps- these kids are great.
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