Day 4/31: Honesty, Authenticity and Trust
Day 1, Day2, Day3 (a series to write for 31 days–my topic is honesty)
Day 4: Let’s be honest–kids toys!
I had 4 kids in 5 years. My once tidy house exploded and turned into a mini Toys R Us almost overnight. I’m a thrift store shopper so I bought clothes and toys and even the most beautiful crib . . . all at thrift stores–since I was getting such a great deal on stuff I bought more than what I needed AND THAT WAS BEFORE THE BABY WAS BORN.
Then I wanted my kid to be a genius so I bought every baby Einstien toy, CD, DVD, flash card . . . out there. Then came Tonka trucks and Bob the Builder–we have almost every Bob toy (and bedding/plates/cups . . . )–still!
Then my next child was a baby girl–the house exploded in pink and dolls! I am forever grateful for each and every toy and piece of clothing that my kids have been given but it became more than too much. Did I mention Care Bears–I’m pretty sure we had every single one . . .
where is that lego Mom?–you know the grey one that had a thingy off the side–I NEED it so the winds will move on my speeder.
My #3 and #4 have not had the volume of toys and clothes–they just don’t need it. But we have managed to add Pet Shop and millions of more legos and duplos.
lego table–some days I really want this space! but for now they spend hours creating . . .
But still we have a playroom full of toys and closets that were overflowing–I purged the kids closets first and now they have 7 outfits winter, 7 outfits summer and a couple of swim suits. That is all.
Duplos and Star Wars guys–you can’t buy this anywhere–only a little boy could make this.
So now that I have admitted that we have too much stuff and I want to make a change–how do I do that?
I need to say no. I need to say no to cloths for me, food for me and toys for the kids. It is so hard!
Christmas is coming and I do not want to get the kids plastic toys–last year I did a great job of getting them what they need–a new backpack, a electric toothbrush, I made knitted gloves and headbands. This year I want to keep Christmas simple. I have been “shopping” in the basement for things that we already have.
Duplos will always be everyones favorite! They can turn into anything.
It must start with me–I need to be able to say no to myself–and mean it and hold myself responsible then I can say no to them. Because it really isn’t about the toys is it? It is about setting boundaries and limitations.
I have identified the problem but I do not yet have a workable solution. I welcome your loving recommendations. I feel like if I had a scripture verse as a mantra for saying no that might help. I think of St. Augustine “our hearts are restless until they rest in you” but that doesn’t quite work. . . I do feel restless.
I just want to say thank you for all of you who are following my 31 days of honesty and supporting not only me but all who read your comments. I embrace the encouragement and my heart sings to have so many women (and men) being so positive in helping each other.
Thank you.
Thought Provoking Thursday
Thoughtful Thursday
Thankful Thursday
Life in Bloom
Thrive at Home Thursday, Thriving Thursday at Serving Joyfully
It is so true! Stuff just seems to appear out of nowhere! I recently took all my daughters toys away as she was not taking care of them as she should. She has found plenty of ways to play without them. It makes me think what do they really need for Christmas like you mentioned. Thank you for sharing and for linking up at SHH! Blessings!
This Tuesday my topic is going to be top ten Christmas presents–I’m giving my list from last year and how I paid for everything and then this years list. Not sure how honesty will figure into that but . . . I have a couple days to think about it!
Be Blessed.
Oh toys! We have had a hard time figuring out how to manage toys. Bins have helped, but I would love to have a lego space because you are so right about them creating and this is priceless. I would like to say that toys would be one area where I wouldn’t feel as guilty…kids definitely don’t need tons of clothes, shoes, bedding, etc. , but they are are only kids once and they only get to make a huge mess like that once. I am a thrift store fan as well which helps with the cost of other kid thingys. I just love your honesty here and how you are realizing excess is so unnecessary…Have you read 7 by Jen Hatmaker?
Ohh I like this!
My best help for this battle is in the form of flylady.net
She encourages us to ask, “do you LOVE it?” if not, “let it bless someone else.” I like that better than “pitch it.” She encourages me not to hold onto things out of guilt, bcause it was a gift from so-n-so, but to realize that less stuff is actually more of a blessing to my family, and getting rid of stuff blesses others too!
Thanks for coming over to weakandloved.com today! Please come back for the rest of my clutter story, and also, I’ll be hosting a clutter-managing link up early next week- would love if you would share that post there!
I would love too! I wrote about my closet, the kids room, my basement in general . . . most of my 31 days of honesty was about facing the fact that I kept “stuff”. I’m still not done with my projects but I’m taking a couple of weeks off to get things to the Goodwill and spend some time on smaller projects.
Be Blessed.
We recently emptied our other house so that we could list it for sale. We now have two 10×10 storage units filled to the brim and ceiling, plus more stuff in our apartment that we have no place for. No basements in FL, so we have to pay to store our stuff. That cost alone is a good reason to purge…if the sheer volume and effort to more said volume wasn’t enough incentive.