Did I ever tell you how much I loathe clutter? It seems no matter how much I dislike clutter with a husband, four kids (all 5 and under), a dog and now three kittens (not to mention all the home improvement projects going on!), clutter seems to tag along where ever I go. Recently I have carried on a few conversations with friends leading to me explaining that while I may list a million things I am able to accomplish on CERTAIN days...these days are rare. Most days I feel so behind in my cleaning and household management because I'm sitting down every hour or two to nurse Joey. While I TRULY treasure this time, I'm sure any nursing mom can relate, that the downside is not being able to do anything else during this time. I'm sure God designed it that way though to allow us multi-tasking mothers to sit down, take a breath and enjoy our babies for the short time they are small. :-) So when I do have a day where I am able to cross off everything on my "to-do" list I'm usually super excited and want to share!
The closet door in my kids room which had ALL their toys neatly organized in bins mysteriously unlocked itself (cough cough, anyone want to confess?). And my children started sneaking bins full of toys downstairs to the living room; while I was in the kitchen unaware. They continued doing this until I walked into my living room and could barely see the carpeting.
I decided I was NOT going to clean up this mess all by myself. I was going to make the kids help. I filled up bins with toys and had my boys carry them upstairs and dump them in their room in a big pile. We continued this process until all the toys were back in their room.
Once we were in their room I started three piles. The boys toys, Trinity's toys, and baby toys (for Joey....they got into his toybox too). The kids helped me put the toys in their proper pile. Once the main piles were established I went through each of them and made a Keep Pile, Give Away Pile, and Trash Pile.
When it was all said and done we had a bag full of garbage and THREE garbage bags full of toys to give away/sell.
Clutter....ugh!!
Yep, this is with the three garbage bags full of toys gone! They have a ton of toys. BUT I was also able to bring all the downstairs toys up to their closet too. (All of their clothes are in our new closet room...I'll be sure to share pictures when that MAJOR project is complete).
We wanted their room upstairs to be free of furniture to avoid accidents while playing and give Mommy & Daddy peace of mind (more Mommy) about them playing upstairs in their room.
