The up-side to that is elbow room. I cannot stress how important this feature is in living with 5 teens and 1 preteen.
The downside is the sheer volume of stuff that a big house can accomodate.
If you have even one child, I want you to imagine for a minute how much stuff that child brings into your house in a year's time.
Think birthday party goodie bags. Think stocking stuffers. Think Christmas gifts and birthday gifts and little trinkets from classmates at Valentine's Day and little pressies from their Easter baskets and stuff they've bought with their allowance money like vacation souvenirs and stuff from the school book fairs and holiday shops and trips to the drug store and toy store and grocery store and little prizes from the teacher and the soccer coach and the gymnastics winter show participation medal or the mediocre attendance certificate and the little pretties he or she finds when out on a walk like that really cool rock or that stick shaped like the letter Y or that pretty flower or huge pinecone or tiny acorn and let's not forget about all the beautiful pictures that were drawn or painted or printed off the computer or ripped out of a coloring book or the creative PlayDoh creations or Lego constructs or .....
Yeah. All that.
For ONE child.
I get to multiply that by six.
I know. Whine whine whine. I'm the one who decided to have all these kids, so I need to just hush up.
Anyway, all that stuff mentioned above? It finds its way into every crack and crevice of our home. Till finally the day comes when I shout
ENOUGH!
and it's time to SORT.
So I have everyone fill a box (or ten) with stuff from their rooms and bring it down to the dining room where it sits and ferments for a couple weeks till I can muster the courage to go through it all.
So now I have bins and boxes scattered about the room with labels for Goodwill and the mission, and Planet Aid, and the attic, and huge lawn and leaf trash bags that are getting filled to bursting.
Think I'll finish before company comes for Easter next weekend?
Or should I just take the quicker route and throw a match in the room?
She's no help. No help at all.
Give me strength for this task. Just a click of this button helps me more than you can know. Thanks!
I also had 6 kids. I think you left out 4H Hats and medals, Gymkhana ribbons, trophies, Camp Fire vests, etc, etc, etc. Looks like your dining room has a lot of etc. LOL. Have fun.
ReplyDeleteHaha! You are so right. And let's not forget scout manuals and pins, martial arts sashes, cards, jewelry, make-up, brushes, socks, shoes, boots, and on and on and on......
ReplyDeleteDo you still have kids at home?
Oh my gosh...we have just started the spring "purge" of the house...I was able to fill up five trashbags of donations without even trying. I have a lot of work ahead! My oldest is notorious for bringing in "nature" that she thinks is cool...clovers that are now shriveled up beyond recognition, rocks that MIGHT just be hiding diamonds, sticks to be used for slingshots...Sigh...
ReplyDeleteI can sympathize with everything you wrote...haha. I have 4 grown children and 4 grown foster children that I raised. That now gives me 14 granchildren (I think) and 4 great-grandchildren. Wait till you have 4 of them driving at the same time...all with their own cars...you need a really, really long driveway, which we did. And only one bathroom, which we did. So much fun and so many memories to carry with me.
ReplyDelete@Meg, I think I've lost count at this point of how many bags/boxes/bins I've filled! At least now it's all been sorted and ready to go. Now I've just got to clear it all outa there and then I can clean.
ReplyDelete@Karen, first of all, thanks for adding yourself as a follower! Secondly, you sound like a woman after my own heart! I hope to be able to foster at some point soon, too. You can't put a price on memories, right?
And we're still making memories. Just today my daughter's boyfriend asked me if he could marry my daughter! Can you imagine! And in 2012 yet. And their both in their 40's. I was honored and we both got teary-eyed. Another memory.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to all!
ReplyDeleteMan, I don't know how you do it! I have two babes (19 months and 3.5), and I can barely handle all the stuff they have! We have been decluttering like mad people (or maybe it is mad person since I have been the one doing the decluttering), and I am liking less stuff. I would imagine it would be more difficult with older kids since they have their "stuff" and would have to be willing to part with it. But, for us now, we are doing a pretty good job at keeping kid stuff at a minimum. You can look at my Thursday posts in March for my project simplify :-) And might I suggest Tsh Oxenreider's book Organized Simplicity. It has worked miracles in my life! Thanks for visiting my blog, can't wait to look around yours!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Heather. I will check out your Project Simplify on your blog, as well as the recommended book. Lord knows I need all the help I can get!
ReplyDeleteWell when you put it like that! GoodNESS. As you know I just have one. If all three of us sit down to eat dinner in the kitchen we have to move the clutter to the fourth spot. That's the landing place for clutter. Lol to the dog.
ReplyDeletehahahaha - love the last photo of the dog. It looks like she is thinking, This is going to be a boring day.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about clutter. I usually wait until mine are in school and then start tossing out all the paper crap.
Very inspiring. I have a basement and several closets that look just like that and it's just my husband and me. I think I need to get busy too! Thanks for sharing your life. God bless you! TALU ;-)
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain Anne. I only have four kids, but I know what you mean. (And you can complain to me any day- these parents with one or two kids just don't understand...;). Well, now that it's a year later, have you gotten the stuff cleaned out. Or, wait, do you have NEW piles in that dining room? Good luck!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the time friends of mine-and their six kids-went on vacation and I went on a cleaning spree of their condo while they were gone. I threw out SEVERAL bags of old/broken toys and things I had NEVER seen them use before. When they got home, the kids went nuts, accusing me of throwing away all their stuff. When I said that all I did was pull out all the clothes, trash, dishes, tupperware, books, etc., that's what was left, that was the end of it. They never missed a thing!!
ReplyDeleteMatches do wonders, lol!! Seriously, I have two kids and cannot believe the amount of stuff these two little people have and it truly spills to all over my house. We have donated plenty of times now and still somehow more stuff comes in then goes out. Crazy!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe just let the dog eat some of it so you have an excuse to put it straight to recycling. I feel for you. I only have one kid and the amount of stuff he has is overwhelming. Also the amount I still have IN MY HOUSE that is no longer used is nuts.
ReplyDeleteGood luck. Deep breaths. And it will feel SO good when you're done!
Linking up from TALU today :)
Glad to hear that even those of you with fewer kids "get it"! Thanks for the support, my friends!
ReplyDelete