Gutting the toy mess

It is snowing today, with wicked winds from the north.  We were gone this past weekend in the Twin Cities and Wisconsin, visiting our SIL & kids and Blaine's grandparents.  It felt good to be together, away from the feelings of pressure to "get something done" at home.  We laughed, nuzzled, talked, connected, cried a bit (just me), and enjoyed everyone's company.

Things on the home front are feeling more ordered.  The boyz and I are thriving under the newly implemented structure of Morning Chores and Morning Lessons; this combined with my cut-throat attack on the play table and the space afforded by our new bookshelf, things are feeling mighty fine.  Instead of feeling whipped around in the swirling eddies of chaos, I feel strong, like I have a handle on our time and space.

It is so interesting to me, how narrow my focus in life has become.  As a homeschooling mother, my world is confined within these four walls.  All of my mental, physical, and emotional energy is used to maintain our household, keep us clean and fed, and cultivate our children.  I am fascinated by the fact that while what I am doing is not at all what I would have ever expected to "be" "when I grew up", I am completely satisfied and extremely engaged by it.  Expectations formed by cultural undercurrents are not at all what I have found life to be; or at least, not what I have found satisfying in my own life.

In regards to the TOY MESS.  I'm fairly certain I have removed 75-80% of the glut.  I have gone through everything 4-5 times now, sifting and gathering, sorting and shifting.  I was completely heartless and got rid of more than just mismatched riffraff and plastic toy bits.  I gathered many different sets that don't get played with or fall into the "too much of a good thing" category.  Do we honestly need so many toy instruments?  Or two sets of Melissa and Doug toy food?  18 billion plastic farm animals?  Three zillion toy trucks?  No.

 What we've been living with for the last two years

All the sifted toys are sitting in boxes in the basement, mostly sorted.  The next step is to go through everything and finish bagging up the various sets.  I keep finding more pockets of hidden toys throughout the house and I refuse to laden our small-town thrift store with a mismatched blow-out.  We have all the pieces (or most of them) and I want to keep them together for the next person.

But the most amazing thing by far is that NOBODY MISSES THE TOYS.  Diego has commented on how nice it is to have less to clean up.  Jamie and Eliah, who have never had the chance to play at the play table in their entire little lives, are making full-use of the space.  It's like an entirely new world opened up for them.  Even Diego and Truen have been playing on or around the table.

I've kept select vehicles (trucks, tanks, tractors, boats, airplanes), all the action figures, the best of the musical instruments, the wooden food set, the Imaginext dinosaur set, select stuffed animals, a few inside balls, the two little "car" riders, the doll house, hospital and parking garage.  Everything else is getting the boot.

[This is such a laugh, because we still have our wooden block set, the Duplo blocks, Magnetix, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, all the costumes, and the multitude of Legos (sets and miscellany).  These toys are all stored on various shelves and qualify in the "use, then put away" category.  We still have SO many toys.]

 In process

It looks cleaner, there is less to clean up, toys are actually getting use played with, with more space to play in, etc., etc., etc.  I could gush for hours.  Less is really more.  And I am going to be vigilant about it from now on.  I refuse to be swallowed by a toy mess that has taken a life of its own, ever again.  Less is more.  Less is more!

It has also taken me down the path of reexamining all areas of our household.  Our book collection, the holiday closet, other areas of storage.  I am done with sentimental ties holding me down to stuff.  Some of it I will keep, but the days of accumulation are done.