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Cathmomof8
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| Posted: July 05 2007 at 1:44pm | IP Logged
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So it's summer and as I'm in the midst of sorting through and filing last years school things, planning for next year and weeding through books and manipulatives, I'm once again overwhelmed. We just have so much stuff. After 13 years of hsing, we have a lot, even though I've sold things many times over the years. I'm also feeling overwhelmed with TOYS and CLOTHES. I'm trying to discern what to keep, what to give away and what to try to sell to help defray the cost of our materials for next year. But, as with many of you, I still have kids of all ages and stages. I don't want to be foolhardy or greedy and lacking in trust for the future.
How are some of you managing to be good stewards of your things and finding balance with all this stuff!!!??? And I won't even go into all the other areas of clutter. sigh.
Theresia mom to Matthew 18yo and off to college, Alex 16yo and unfortunately off to PS in the fall, Johnathon 15 9th gr, Max 12 7th gr, Zelie 9 4th gr, Xavier 7 2nd gr, Scotty 4 and quite a handful ;), Annemarie 15 months and an adorable distraction.
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asplendidtime
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| Posted: July 05 2007 at 2:03pm | IP Logged
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Theresia,
I decided that we can only live with one large tote of toys anymore. So I went through the toys, had 3 boxes left over, then I sent in the big guns (dh) and he managed to get it down to one tote! 
This has proven much more manageable. I am thrilled with the results, one tote in my living room, takes 5 minutes to put away!
Now clothes, another matter entirely... 
__________________
Rebecca~Mama to
Noah 17,
Katie 16,
Mary 14,
Tim 13,
Jonah 12,
Josh 10,
Zoe 9,
Will 7,
Peter 6,
Laura-Mae 4,
Emily-Joy 2,
Genevieve & Gabriella 1
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Bethany
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| Posted: July 05 2007 at 3:29pm | IP Logged
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I'm working on this right now also. With DC #4 coming between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm already in my nesting/decluttering phase. I'm really tired of having to clean or clean around all this clutter. I've started with the toys and I'm about to Freecycle a number of things.
I find the hardest thing is making it clear to family and friends that we really don't want or need anymore toys (especially plastic ones that make noise)  ! Next, is I love to buy books. Most all come from the thrift store for 10 cents or the library book sale for 25 cents each. I have to really be careful about only buying what I know I want us to have or we will use in homeschooling.
I think it's just a constant battle because for each child there's a birthday with a present (or more) and they all add up. I also am having to work on my own guilt, or whatever it is, that seems to make me run out at the last minute every Christmas and buy more because I think there isn't enough. There is always too much ! The new baby should fix that this year .
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Bethany
Wife to Mike, Mommy to Amelia (6/02), Sarah (10/03), Martha Grace (10/05), Rebecca Anne (12/07), Laura Catherine (3/10) and Reed Michael 7/4/14.
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Cathmomof8
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| Posted: July 06 2007 at 9:42am | IP Logged
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We have bins and bins of toys in our basement playroom - huge boxes of Playmobil (no way we could get rid of those), Legos, Fisher Price buildings and 'guys', big box of animals, big box of dinosaurs, big box of mini starwars things, box of star wars action figures, rescue heroes,box of gi joes, etc and then there are a few girls things - the fisher price doll house and accessories, fashion polly, Happy Family Barbie house and accessories and then all the baby and toddler toys. You get the picture. Makes me tired thinking of it all but they really do play with most all of it. we rotate bringing up different type of toy to the living room. But I don't monitor the basement enough and it is always trashed with mostly playmobil all over the floor. And then if 4yo manages to get into something else, well yuck. I guess I should be grateful to have a basement playroom out of sight. But I'd still like to minimize more, especially my school room with all the books and manipulatives.
Speaking of which, off I go...
Theresia
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juststartn
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| Posted: July 07 2007 at 3:51pm | IP Logged
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Theresia, you do realize that there are those of us around here (ahem) who might not mind taking some of those extras off of your hands.
No. Really. Honestly. 
And I would pay you for them, if there was something I wanted/needed amongst your bounty.....
And if they are in really good condition you may want to investigate selling things on ebay, or some similar place. Hsing stuff goes fairly well on there--I've bought plenty enough to know.
Of course, if you are looking to get rid of the old Landmark books, or old Vision books....or any other old books...or alot of the hsing books (not sure what you are using, obviously)...you would not really have to go that far...just pm me and I'll MORE than happily take them off of your hands...  Shipping extra, of course.
Btw, good luck with the decluttering. I've got too much of DHs stuff, and not enough space. No, really. The children's things are pretty contained (given that there are 5 of them, and they do require a good bit of stuff), but there aren't a HUGE amount of toys, even given the age "spread", its books (which DH will NOT hear of me parting with 75% of them, and the rest he would not want to have me get rid of, really), and DHs things (he has space taking hobbies, and there is NOWHERE else to move the stuff (ham radio, and computer programming/board building---and no shop).
Add small house, to expansive (and expensive) hobby, to seven people, and subtract the 1100 sq ft we call home...well, you get the idea. But books are an investment, and I am more than willing to add (selectively).
Anyway, I DO declutter...it seems like its' constant. But I cannot get rid of the real space takers...and so the clutter that goes, is mostly smaller stuff, and all mine or the dc's (and they don't have much to lose).
Anybody got some good organizational ideas? I'm using the underbed areas, the closets as completely as I can, etc. Even the space under DHs and my dressers is used. Books are double-stacked where they can be...ykwim.
But I can use any and all tips...
Rachel
__________________
Married DH 4/1/95
Lily 3/11/00
Helena(Layna) 5/23/02
Sophia 4/19/04
John 5/7/07
David 5/7/07
Ava Maria, in the arms of Jesus, 9/5/08
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juststartn
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| Posted: July 07 2007 at 3:51pm | IP Logged
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Theresia, you do realize that there are those of us around here (ahem) who might not mind taking some of those extras off of your hands.
No. Really. Honestly.
And I would pay you for them, if there was something I wanted/needed amongst your bounty.....
And if they are in really good condition you may want to investigate selling things on ebay, or some similar place. Hsing stuff goes fairly well on there--I've bought plenty enough to know.
Of course, if you are looking to get rid of the old Landmark books, or old Vision books....or any other old books...or alot of the hsing books (not sure what you are using, obviously)...you would not really have to go that far...just pm me and I'll MORE than happily take them off of your hands... Shipping extra, of course.
Btw, good luck with the decluttering. I've got too much of DHs stuff, and not enough space. No, really. The children's things are pretty contained (given that there are 5 of them, and they do require a good bit of stuff), but there aren't a HUGE amount of toys, even given the age "spread", its books (which DH will NOT hear of me parting with 75% of them, and the rest he would not want to have me get rid of, really), and DHs things (he has space taking hobbies, and there is NOWHERE else to move the stuff (ham radio, and computer programming/board building---and no shop).
Add small house, to expansive (and expensive) hobby, to seven people, and subtract the 1100 sq ft we call home...well, you get the idea. But books are an investment, and I am more than willing to add (selectively).
Anyway, I DO declutter...it seems like its' constant. But I cannot get rid of the real space takers...and so the clutter that goes, is mostly smaller stuff, and all mine or the dc's (and they don't have much to lose).
Anybody got some good organizational ideas? I'm using the underbed areas, the closets as completely as I can, etc. Even the space under DHs and my dressers is used. Books are double-stacked where they can be...ykwim.
But I can use any and all tips...
Rachel
__________________
Married DH 4/1/95
Lily 3/11/00
Helena(Layna) 5/23/02
Sophia 4/19/04
John 5/7/07
David 5/7/07
Ava Maria, in the arms of Jesus, 9/5/08
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Cathmomof8
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| Posted: July 08 2007 at 11:40am | IP Logged
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Rachel, I'll keep that in mind. ;) I was blessed to get many Vision books for free when our Catholic school removed them ALL from their library. sigh. And I love Landmarks too and often pick one up from the used book store. I need to blance out all the 'boy' stories with somethings that my 9yo and eventually 1yo dds would enjoy. I love old books too. Now, my dh wouldn't mind if I got rid of most all of it. He says to use the library. ( He needs to try taking all the kids to the library at a moments notice to get that one book we need for this or that, or try to find some of these books at the library ha ha)
Frankly, it is a lot easier to collect things than get rid of them (well, I'm sure I could just take it all to a thrift store BUUUUUT, it would be hard to justify not trying to get $$$$ when dh hard earned money paid for it all).
I've started to pull some things to try to sell like all my cuisenaire manipulatives and books since I bought MUS last year and a duplicate set of pattern blocks, etc. It is hard though to know what to hang onto for the youngers. I'll probably list on Cathswap or MODG for sale list. Was I seeing things or was there a swap page here somewhere. hmmmm. Will look for it.
It's Sunday and should be a day of rest but when we found ants in the cereal this morning (yuck) dh took everything out of the kitchen cupboards and sprayed and then had to leave to go water the greens at the golf course. So, I need to find some energy to put it all back and sort through the mess. It's on its way into the 90s today and the kids finally convinced us to get down the little wading pool. So they are busy. Time for Baby girl to maybe go to bed though. She's hanging on me and fussing....
Theresia
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amyable
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| Posted: July 08 2007 at 12:50pm | IP Logged
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Here's a link to The Trading Post , the swap board here at 4Real.
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of 
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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helene
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| Posted: July 08 2007 at 8:28pm | IP Logged
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We also have only one bin of toys (larger toys, that is. We also have a Lego bin upstairs under the boys bed) and the toy bin gets weeded when no one is looking so that we never have need for another bin. Even at that most of them don't get played with- there are only those few favorites that get used daily. Maybe I should weed again....
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Happy Mom to five girls (20,17,13,11and 4) and five boys (19, 15, 10, 8 and 6)
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Sharon B.
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| Posted: July 09 2007 at 5:15pm | IP Logged
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I recently went through a similar experience. One day as I sat down to read a magazine in some free time, I said to myself, "you know, I want to accomplish something." Before I knew it, I was purging the toy closet, the miscellaneous bins, and the art cupboard. I plan to declutter my closet too with anything immodest or I just simply haven't worn within the last year. And my family room is more appealing for the kids with more organization and reduced toys. They actually know what they have! 
Whoo hoo!
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Sharon, Wife and mom to ds, 16; ds, 15; dd, 8; and dd 6
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juststartn
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| Posted: July 09 2007 at 10:36pm | IP Logged
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I LOVED tossing those bags of clothes and the dc's excess toys into the bins at Goodwill!!! Its just that that doesn't seem to get me any better off than I was before....I mean, if I get rid of DHs stuff, I'd have a dining room. But he's deployed, we have NO friends hereabouts with good backs....all of my family is at least one state away...I've cleaned it up as best I can, and that helps...but I want to be able to eat in the dining area, not in the kitchen. I want to have a kitchen...with space in it to move around more...I want a dining room where we can all sit around the table, not only on one side and each end is smashed up against something, making family meals a challenge...I want to have some SPACE....
SIGH. Sorry. Been venting about a lack of space all last week.
LOL
Rachel
__________________
Married DH 4/1/95
Lily 3/11/00
Helena(Layna) 5/23/02
Sophia 4/19/04
John 5/7/07
David 5/7/07
Ava Maria, in the arms of Jesus, 9/5/08
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5athome
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| Posted: July 10 2007 at 6:49am | IP Logged
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The best thing I ever did was get on the call list for a charity that picks up from your house. They faithfully call once a month and I almost always say yes. Even if I have nothing in mind, it is scary how easy it is to walk through the house and find things that need to go. SOmetimes it just motivates me to clean out a dreaded closet or something if I know they pick up the next day.
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Margaret
ds '93, dd '96, ds '99,
ds '01, dd '04, ds '06,
ds '08
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: decluttering
