Our first task, as we see it, is to purge. And when I say purge, I'm not talking of a light "sorting through our stuff". I'm talking about going through every room, closet, and box (yes, even the boxes we haven't opened since the last move...!), and aiming to rid ourselves of HALF of that mass. Then, take the remaining half and do it AGAIN, being left with 1/4 of our original belongings.
Okay, so that sounds really technical. We don't actually have a goal of a certain amount that we want to get rid of, but what we found as we started this purge a few years ago is that it happens in stages. The first purge felt great...so many little pieces of junk (McDonald's happy meal toys, sets that were scattered in all corners of the house, clothes that had been living in the corners of drawers and closets for years, unworn...). We felt refreshed after it was done. We had no idea it was only the beginning.
There was one day when I set down with the two older girls to conquer the "stuffie" problem. As any parent knows, stuffed animals/friends/dolls enter the house at an alarming pace. Even without purchasing them, they come in the form of gifts, prizes, goodie-bag items, and hand-me-downs. So, with the girls, I searched the house and made a mound, nay a MOUNTAIN, of stuffies in the middle of their room. There must have been 150. I used the method described above and with the girls, made two piles: the "treasured stuffie pile" (TSP), and the "not treasured stuffie pile" (NTSP). I was really impressed with how the girls, then 6 and 4, handled this exercise, since it required them to release some dear friends. Once the piles were made, we shoved the NTSP into some large garbage bags. Then, we looked at the TSP and we went through it, creating a new TSP and NTSP. Once that was done, we put the new NTSP into the bags. At last, we were left with about 30 stuffies. I had them each pick out their absolute favourite stuffies to keep, and they each chose about 7. We kept one or two for the baby as well, since she didn't have a voice and there were a few sweet ones that she had been given at birth. And that was it! We bagged the rest and took them to a thrift store!!
This is an example of the level of purge we're getting ourselves into. We have cleared out about 70% of our closets and dresser drawers and 75% of the kids' toys (with surprisingly minimal complaint....goes to show how much they used them!). Just yesterday, we spent a good portion of the day clearing out some of our bigger rooms - our bedroom (what was left of it!!), two of the three hall closets (linen and coats/instruments/travel bags), and both the kitchen and living room.
It's amazing what one holds onto...
The thing that really started us purging, apart from Ryan's inate desire to live in a clean, shiny environment (with nothing on the walls, surfaces, and floor....according to his slightly more artistic-minded wife) was reading the book, "Simplicity Parenting", by Kim John Payne.
(website: http://www.simplicityparenting.com/)
This book is meant to be a parenting book, but requires the reader to adopt the principals of simplicity themselves before implementing the simple philosophy on his or her children (this is kind of obvious...no?). The main idea of the book is that children (ahem, and adults) have way too much stimulation. They have screens, toys, books, clothes, and activities coming out of their ears. It suggests simplifying not only possessions, but schedules, rhythms of life, and home environments into calmer places, to help kids "settle down" and not be so overwhelmed (which theoretically causes them to act out). By reducing children's level of stimulation, as well as offer them time to be quiet and alone, they relax and are able to enjoy life more, have space to become more creative, and learn to be more independent little creatures. I could talk and talk about how effective making these changes has been on our little family, how the insistence of an afternoon "quiet hour" has led to such good things, how less options for what to wear in the morning leaves them less overwhelmed and more able to handle getting dressed on their own, but I would be writing for hours if I did. So let me direct you the blog of a dear friend of mine who is a "Simplicity Parenting Group Leader", and see what she has to say about it. Who knows....maybe I'll even ask her to come and do a guest post here!
Introducing, Kirsten.
http://www.seatoskysimplicityparenting.com/index.html
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