tonight's project, part 2

Well, I cleaned up. That's really all I can say. I managed to get one garbage bag of junk out of that big old room, but there is still SO much in there! I'm really kind of overwhelmed and depressed about it now. I really don't know how to make it more organized.

I will definitely have to choose a few things from the pile to bring to our parents' houses. That will help. I just don't know what to pick. I need Steven to do it with me, he may feel slightly less guilt.

Guilt, you ask? About what?

Lots of guilt. I feel guilty that I'm deciding the fate of toys that aren't mine. There I said it. I know that Jordan and Tennyson probably won't notice that I scurry some of it away.

Then there's the fact that most of these toys were gifts from people who are not us. Aunties, Grandmas and Grandpas gave these things to our kids. I know that making boxes of stuff to leave elsewhere is not the same as taking it to a thrift store or tossing it out, but I feel bad about removing it from our home!!

What's your opinion on that? Please be honest. I know that there's at least one of our parents who reads this blog, what do you think about it?

The deal really, is that a lot of these toys are sets of stuff with many parts and pieces. When there are so many toys, they all kind of get mixed together. Tonight I basically organized sets and threw out a few broken things (not many), but by the time the kids have spent an hour down here it'll all be mixed up again. When everything is mixed in a heap or scattered about on the floor, then nothing gets played with properly anyway!

Okay, be totally and completely honest. Is it hurtful if I take toys that were given to me by someone else and put them in a box labeled "for grandma's house"? What if Grandma gave the toy?

Comments

Sonya said…
I have a hard time parting with toys that Dillon received as a gift. But toys that I've found at a garage sale or thrift store get returned or tossed quite easily. A friend of mine assured me that I would eventually "get over" this problem about keeping everything that he's received as gifts - I hope she's right. What about packing a few things away and thing bringing them out in rotation? It makes it easier to choose what to put in the box. Then when they outgrow their more baby toys, they can make the decision to sell them at a garage sale and keep the coin. Might be an incentive for them. Or I might be crazy.
January 8, 2009 at 11:47 PM
Ange said…
I packed up a box and sent it to Grandma's house. Probably most of them were gifts from other people too. At first, I felt bad too, but when the boys go to grandma's they have all these toys to play with, and they pay more attention to them there than they did at home. We can't possibly hang on to everything they ever get. We would need to buy another house to store it all. Sonya had a good idea too, you could rotate the toys.

On Clean Sweep they always made the parents pick out the kids favorite toys and get rid of the rest. If it's making you unhappy, I say it's time to go.

I hope you feel good about whatever you decide.
January 9, 2009 at 9:13 AM
Tiffany said…
Okay, so what I finally decided to do was this - I put their bucket rack in the basement, filled it with toys, and all the other odds and ends and toys with 8 different pieces went into a tote and into the closet. I'll switch some stuff up later! When it comes right down to it I guess I'm not totally eager to bring stuff to other places. I may bring a toy or two at some point just so they have something to play with when they go to their grandparents houses, but I don't think I'll make up any boxes.

Thanks Sonya!
January 9, 2009 at 10:09 AM
Sonya said…
Now the pressure is on for me to do the same. It looks like a freakin' Toys R Us in here. ;)
January 9, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Anonymous said…
Send them out! I say this for a multitude of reasons - all of which may have no grounding considering I do not have children nor relatives who gave them toys. But hey, you asked!
January 9, 2009 at 12:06 PM
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