Cleaning OUT....

I may not be the best at always keeping my house picked up... but something I really DO excel at... is cleaning things OUT.  I love to get rid of things.  Love, love, love it.  I know others are strongly against this and think I am crazy, but to me, it is cleansing. Feels like I am losing weight!  I even get giddy on garbage or recycling day. The feeling of a bag or bins of things LEAVING my house... it's like lightening my load.  Easing my burden. I know to some this sounds crazy.... but it's how I feel!

I have passed this trait on to Ally for certain.  She too isn't the best at everyday picking up, but loves to do a deep clean out.  Over the weekend, she decided she wanted to clean out the play room. She said she wanted to make things more user friendly for them to play school since this is what she and Luke do together more than anything else.  So, she grabbed some garbage bags and set to work.

She was down there for a very short amount of time before she started to feel overwhelmed.   She and I had to have a talk (and she had to have a small fit) about how we need to take things in stages... and tackle this project a little at a time.  There was no way we were going to accomplish it all in one day. So, we needed to make small goals for each day this week, until it is all done by Friday!  (Friday, we have weekend guests coming and a babysitter for the kids for one of the nights and Ally wants the basement to look nice for this new babysitter who also happens to be one of her gymnastics coaches...)

So, because Ally is Ally... she fought the system for a while.... and then, eventually accepted this plan of action.  We didn't get much done at all Sunday...  because we were learning life lessons and then, playing Monopoly because Ally needed some time... but we did get to work yesterday after we came home from work and school and after all our homework was done and dinner was in the oven.

We took the bags down and the first thing Ally wanted to tackle were the books.  Now, I have no problem keeping lots and lots of books, but in the interest of this being HER project... I allowed her to fill no less than two bags with books to donate.

Side note - super duper proud that Ally always thinks about what and how to donate things that she no longer wants.  I donate most of what I get rid of.  I am proud that I am passing this on to my girl.  She will look at a book or toy and think of who would actually like to receive it. Not a person specifically, but the type of child who would get joy from it. And that makes her feel good. I can tell.  :-)

Then, we started in on toys and stuffed animals.  Stuffed animals are the hardest for my kids. They look at one and cannot seem to really let it go.  But, they did choose a handful and into the donation bag they went!

What I cannot stand are all the little pieces of things.... we have things in bins all over... but those things always end up all over and you lose a piece here and there.  The toys never stay confined the toy room and things end up under foot everywhere downstairs.  I know we are blessed to have that area downstairs!  I can spend days without looking at toys and I'm not gonna lie... for that I am thankful. I am not a big toy lover... I don't think kids need a zillion toys to be entertained and happy and I don't think they need to keep anything for that long.  Really, we should just rent toys. Seriously.

I am pretty happy we are starting to grow out of the toy phase entirely.  Ally is really done.  She likes some stuffed animals, her American Girl dolls, and play school supplies/craft supplies.  Luke goes along with whatever his sister wants to play with when it's just the two of them.... and when he has a friend or cousin here, they play with things such as Littlest Pet Shop, dolls, kitchen type toys, or cars/trains and things that go.

I don't get emotionally tied to toys really. I don't know why I'm like this...  is what it is.  I can easily get rid of things that they loved.  I know they will love something else. I know they are over it.  It's a toy. An object.  My kids are the only things I really need to look at around here.  They are the most important. Not any of the stuff.....

So.... Luke and I are heading back down today to clean out some more. Into the car these bags will go.  Books will go to school.... and toys to a donation drop off such as St. Vincent's or Goodwill.  Out of my house!  And, bonus... it's garbage day too!  ;-)