A fresh start!

It's been a calm week. We've come off the holiday high and have gotten back into our routine.

With all the joys and wonders of the Christmas season, there's a reason why it happens only once a year.  We wouldn't be able to keep up with it all. No matter how hard we try to plan things, the holidays wear on us.

I welcome January. I welcome the newest of it. A fresh start!

The weather has been so wonderful here that it feels like Spring. We've been playing outside as much as possible to soak it all in.  But this "Spring-like" weather is gearing me up for Spring cleaning.

Well, it's that or the abundance of toys we have in our house now...

With Charlotte's birthday just 2 weeks before Christmas, there's an overhaul of toys in December.
I reorganized her closet at the 1st of December in anticipation, but we just have too many toys. She has a large closet that has built-in shelving and fantastic Elfa drawers that pull out, but they are filled. There is also a "treasure chest" (wicker trunk) in our living room that's currently won't shut properly because it's filled over capacity. And also...a rather large drawer in my kitchen that is used as a 3rd storage place for toys. (I am not going to embarrass myself and post pictures of the proof - hopefully there will be pretty "after" pics!)


All of this extra clutter after December's passing has lead me pondering... how do we not let the extra  things clutter our lives? What should I keep, what should I store, and what should I give away.

Typically I'm not a real sentimental person when relating to things but when it comes to Charlotte's stuff, I am. I fall into the category of wanting to save it "just in case we have another child" or especially with her clothes, remembering when and where and what she did when she was wearing them - particularly in the infant and baby stages.

But that brings me back to: what to keep, what to store and what to give away.

Lately, I've been reading an inspiring blog by Rachel Meeks,  www.smallnotebook.org. I love how simple and real she talks about living.  And I love what she posted last year about this topic.

I like her questions that she asks when deciding what to store:

How much was it loved?
How big is it?
How well will it keep?

That sounds simple and would truly be easy for me if I knew we weren't having another child. But there's only so much I can keep and store before my garage starts looking like her "treasure chest".
A friend joked with me recently saying that the moment we give it all away is the moment we'd get pregnant and have another baby. And she's probably right. haha.

At the end of Rachel's post, on the Small Notebook, she concludes with her "Golden Rule of Keeping Sentimental Things":

The fewer things you keep, the more special they are.

LOVE that! I think her "golden rule" would work for most aspects of our lives so I've decided to adopt it as my motto for 2012.

I vow to clear the clutter (not specific to toys) and keep the treasures that mean the most to us.
So, I will save and store the special things of Charlotte's, but only a few for keepsakes and a few for "just in case". But sorry McDonald's toys, you're out of here!

Well, I have my work cut out for me. I can never do this while Charlotte is around. It's one of those things, "out of sight, out of mind" but the moment she sees it, it's over and back into the toy abyss. So, my job will be waiting for me until she is back at school on Monday.

Until then.