....I told the kids it was coming.
We were long overdue....
SCHOOL STARTS IN 2 DAYS...
TIME FOR...
THE BIG PURGE!
We have lived in our house for over 8 years
~ the longest, by the way that I have ever lived in one house!~...
....and the kids have been here from ages 3, 5 and 7
to
ALMOST 12, 14 and 16
Big difference.
Our lives have changed...they have changed
SEEMS LATELY, THAT WE
have been constantly losing things
have been constantly losing things
around the house....
WAY more than normal.
System Failure.
Crap overload!!!
Time for the
BIG PURGE.
BIG PURGE.
The kids struggled at first with WHAT to get rid of....and so
I came up with
5 RULES of the BIG PURGE
1. If you have not worn it in a year...chuck it, unless it is a specialty item,
like a FAVORITE Team jersey, fancy dress or tuxedo. With kids stuff, if they have not worn it in a year, chances are it does not fit!!!
In fact, in Tate's case, he can't wear clothes that fit him 6 months ago, he is growing so fast!
2. Keep NO MORE toiletries than what you need to get you through two weeks... the problem with all the BIG BOX stores is that you end up buying things in bulk and then forgetting you bought them and buy more and pretty soon you have multiples upon multiples of things you will not use up in a year. They take up space and go past date.
3. Regarding BEDDING - Two sheet sets per bed MAX. Anything else is just silly. Having a linen closet stuffed with odds and ends and mismatched bedding is just messy and a waste of space. (keep a few sets for sleepovers if you must)
4. TOYS - One in / One out. You know how it goes...they don't play with something for months...SOMETIMES years....then you take it out, to get rid of it....and all of a sudden it is their favorite toy!!! So you keep it. NEVER fails. SO, FINALLY we made a rule..ONE TOY IN ONE TOY OUT. And that includes Birthdays...
This RECENT TOY PURGE was not as hard as I had anticipated. I guess this means they are really getting older...(sad face) They have begin to outgrow most of their toys altogether. This PURGE we got rid of toys we have held onto for years. But they each saved some favorites...American Girl Dolls, Phoebe's Dollhouse and the boys saved their wooden Castle Blocks and some Lego's AND HOT WHEELS. All the other miscellaneous stuff they elected to let go of. I often wonder if I had only EVER just bought these "favorite" things would they have even cared about the other disposable JUNK...oh well, live and learn.
But with the toys, go my babies and for the first time....I think this TOY purge was harder for me than for them. sigh.
HERE IS A UNIQUE WAY TO RECYCLE COLLECTIONS
5. DONATE - We filled 15 bags for Goodwill with this purge. Clothes, coats, shoes, games and toys. But there we just some thing that were too special. Like the set of blocks my Mom gave Tate for his first Christmas and all the kids used them. So we gave those to our neighbor across the street, little Oliver who is 3 and his sister Aurelia, 1. They will enjoy these for years and we can still visit them if we need to.
SO THERE YOU HAVE MY
RULES
HERE IS THE GOOD THING...once you get in there, and get past the emotional COMPONENT that comes with the BIG PURGE.....it gets.....WELL.... FUN. I have a blast just chucking and getting rid of stuff that I have shifted and moved...pile to pile for years...It is like the removal of a HUGE ball and chain . It is liberating!!
LIBERATION FROM JUNK!!!!
enjoy your purge!
Yes to all of this! I regularly go through and round up items I never use or wear to donate and sell. Sometimes it can be hard to part with items, but it's useful to do. Hope your clean-out goes well!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I owe you an email very soon!
what great advice! every single one! i recenty did a toy purge too and felt guilty about tossing the buzz lightyear. I justified it b/c he was broken and no longer spoke...until i tossed more garbage on top and heard "to infinity and beyond."
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