Spring Cleaning

Some things this week prompted some cleaning:

This mom, I don't even know which blog it was...I found it randomly, did some major cleaning.  She let her kids pick two toys each to keep, and the rest she put away in the garage.  Her plan was to see how they did and then re-evaluate at the end of the month.

We had a missionary couple visiting our church this week.  As I listened to them talk at various events throughout the week, I once again was reminded of how much (too much) we have. 

I've been noticing a bad attitude in my girls lately.  Spoiled- is the simplest way of putting it.  Alice, my 5 yr. old, comes to me daily asking for extravagant activities to do.  She asks when we're getting new toys (as if she's deprived), and acts dissatisfied with ALL that she has. 

So... I started cleaning.  I didn't go extreme, I just started taking out what they don't play with.  Then I went another round, and took away more.

Here's the results so far:
The most drastic change is in the stuffed animal collection.  When we moved here I had four large tubbies full of animals, and this was after the pre-moving cleaning!!!!  (I'm embarrassed to tell you that... my girls are obsessed with animals, you see.)  When we unpacked I put two tubbies in the garage.  Well after cleaning  yesterday, it's down to maybe one tubbie.  Pretty good for us!!

Next I tackled the plastic animals.  We had two smallish tubbies of them, and I let the girls each keep a lion family and a few other favorite random animals.  ...resulting in half of one of the tubbies.

I put away a large garbage bag of baby dolls and misc. doll clothes.

I put away a med. sized box of books.  I wanted to just keep out the good ones... ones that are worth reading over and over again.

I pretty much completely emptied the "random small toys" basket and left a few bouncy balls and cars for a small drawer.

I cleaned out the toy kitchen... putting away an entire set of dishes.  Instead of having a big tub of dishes and food to dig through, now there's only what will fit in the kitchen itself and what will hang on the wall.

Anyway... I think that's about it... I got rid of some baby toys too.  But I can already tell a difference.  They play with the toys more now.  For one thing, they can actually see/find the toys they like!!  No more digging through junk they don't play with.  Also, especially with the stuffed animals, it creates a sense of attachment to "what they've got."  Alice actually played quietly on her bed with one animal for 20 min. or so... I think she started because she was bored, but ended up having a good time :)

All in all, I hope it will make them less absorbed in quantity, more imaginative, and more content.

I also have a plan for how to keep my artist daughter from using piles of paper continually.... but I'll save that for another time :)


7 comments:

  1. Genius. I've been organizing and weeding out my own things...it's just about time to tackle toys in the funkyhouse.

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  2. amy, i love it! We are trying to do that as well. I especially love your heart behind it, God will bless that.
    Right now Tucker has one tote with toys in it, we decided early on that once the tote is full that is it. no more toys. we have weeded some items out and put new ones in, but it makes cleanup SO much easier! love your play room too!

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  3. I LOVE a good spring cleaning post!!
    I try so hard to have a "less is more" kind of home, but it's not always easy!
    Reading a great book called Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne...awesome!!
    Enjoy the night!
    Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving such a sweet comment...looking forward to following along! :)

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  4. i love pics of kids' rooms! these are so bright and cheery!

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  5. I love your workspace especially with the baby accessory on the left ;)
    I have my little girl sitting on my desk right now and she loves the Bambi poster. Is that an original poster or a copy? Where did you find it? We love it so much ;)

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  6. Good job, Amy!!! I'm proud of you. I have been thinking the same thing with our toys. There are SO MANY of them, and my oldest is 2.5! I was looking at many of them, and it's funny that Jake and I haven't really bought many of them. They are mostly gifts from birthdays and Christmas. Also, some of J's favorite toys are the old (almost broken) toys from Grandma's house that used to be his Daddy's. He's a sentimental one. :)
    Good job! You've inspired me!

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  7. I try to do this regularly, but our toys seem to multiply. And with a birthday party for my little girl this Sunday they're bound to grow even larger in number. I'm hoping to take a page from your book and really work to pare things down!!

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