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maddiemom6

By the dark of night....

maddiemom6
18 years ago

Well I did the first level sorting of the kid's toys last night. This has to be done under the cover of darness and put in a double thick black trash bag so no evidense shows!

Mc Donalds toys, broken stuff, odd pieces that have shown up from long gone toys..it's never pretty. This is all in preperation of our day after tradition of packing up old toys to make room for the new.

Those who have been around for a while will remember that we do our best to limit toys to 6 sweater box sized bins. So this means new toys in, means old toys have to go out, or into long term family storage.

My little ones are not so little any more so it has come time to pack some toys away for good. Most got donated but I did pack up all the brio wooden track, it's cars, little wooden people and villages. These are worth it to me to keep and store for the years till I become a grandmother ( next 10 years or so I would think)..

In the end I want my children to be able to sort, but I don't want it to be torture for them... so I pave...errrrr clear the way for them, to make it something they can see value in...so far so good.

Comments (12)

  • sheriz6
    18 years ago

    maddiemom, you are good! My kids are at the age where gift items seem to be getting smaller and smaller (earrings, DVDs, books or gameboy games vs. giant ride-on toys or stuffed animals), which helps with storage. I've also boxed up and saved the Brio trains, though I'll have a long wait for grandmotherhood as my oldest is 10.

    My crew is getting better at keeping their rooms picked up, but every three or four months or so it gets to the point where I can't stand the mess anymore and I do a Picky-Mom cleaning. At that time I'll toss broken things, odd pieces, dog-hair-encrusted clay, dried out magic markers, etc. They've never even noticed that anything is missing, and I always feel much better. But those double garbage bags do have to make it out of the house under cover!

  • quiltglo
    18 years ago

    I must have a mean streak in me. I pitch it right in front of them. We have to have the same old discussion of how it is broken and our home is not a graveyard for broken junk.

    Save up the McDonald toys and donate those. Lots of places like our shelter will take them because they can hand them out and let the kids keep them.

    Now, if we could just hand onto the chess pieces. I would really like to find the bottomless hole those keep disappearing into.

    Gloria

  • stephanie_in_ga
    18 years ago

    It's that time here, too. I have the paint for DD's room, but I'm not painting a trashy room. It has to be cleaned and organized first, "picky mom" fashion.

    For me, that is more productive in the dark of night, too. When I'm not interupted. I'm sure she'll ask to spend the night with the neighbor one day this week, that's when I'll make my move!

  • intherain
    18 years ago

    My teenage boys are getting better about tossing what they don't want. My 10 year old DD still wants to hang onto EVERYTHING. I'm still working on it...

    Maddiemom, you are so wise to limit the toys. I was pretty good about that when my children were younger, also. (Honestly, our very small house forced me to be this way!) My sister has 2 small children and she doesn't get rid of anything, so toys have literally taken over their entire house! It's overwhelming. She keeps saying they need a bigger house and I keep suggesting maybe she box up some toys instead. I hate to see what it looks like since yesterday, with a whole new load of toys from Santa.

    Sheryl

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    18 years ago

    I totally undersand the "dark of night" concept! LOL I could never deal with the tears from our youngest son, who was sentimental about everything when he was small. I would (secretly) go in first, and do a major purge, leaving some items for him to learn to let-go on his own.

    BTW, our oldest son was the opposite... he could fill a garbage bag in no time... but I would have to make him empty it afterwards and pull out things like clothing that he was too lazy to put where it goes!

  • teacats
    18 years ago

    Hey I do the same thing when the DH is asleep!!!! LOL!!!

    Or out of town -- or simply out-and-about on errands ............ married nearly 25 years to a Pack Rat......... LOL!!!

    and yes! I do use dark garbage bags for the same reason too!!!

  • intherain
    18 years ago

    Okay, I think I'm going to have to do the same thing with DD's stuff. As I mentioned in an earlier post, she is a packrat at the age of 10 and won't part with anything. I tried to get her to declutter some stuff in her room today and her response was, "But I like EVERYTHING." So what should I say to that?????

    Sheryl

  • rjvt
    18 years ago

    Sheryl, my youngest DD (now 14) was the messiest kid when she was younger - and proud of it. Her cousin was messy too, and they'd kind of have a competition! She used to say she liked to be able to see all her stuff. And forget about ever getting rid of anything! Then, the summer before she was to go into 6th grade (middle school), DD1 wanted to paint her room. DD2 decided she wanted to paint her room, too. So we took EVERYTHING out of the room to paint. When it was done, she didn't want any of it to come back in. She is now a real minimalist in her room, while her sister (used to be the neater one) has piles everywhere. Over Christmas, they were discussing this with their aunts. And DD2 was saying how she just didn't like having too much clutter around! It was all I could do not to laugh out loud!

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    18 years ago

    You know... we've never tried moving EVERYTHING out of my youngest son's room. That's an idea worth trying this summer.

  • maddiemom6
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Mine just HAS to be by the dark of night... my 5 year old LOVES everything... Last week I threw away 3 acorns I found on the kitchen counter.... later that night little guy wakes up crying that he does not know where he put his "acorn family".....ugh *head slap to self*... he starts to cry ..and then REALLY cry... oh my lord!!.. so guess who was out by moonlight crawling through the yard to *find* his little seed family?????????

    the things we do!

    Maddiemom

  • emmhip
    18 years ago

    Maddiemom- the acorn family! LOL! My DD can be the same way with shells or pinecones. It's always the silliest stuff that means so much to them. I too, must pack up or toss the clutter while DD is at school or sleeping. Was just thinking about doing a de-clutter now that Santa has brought new stuff! Sometimes even when I pack up stuff and put it in the basement, she will find it and say,"I've been looking for this, I need it!"

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    18 years ago

    Maddiemom,

    Thanks for the laugh and the reminder of what 5-year olds are like...

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