Less Is More

When we first moved into our house we did not have many baby toys. My mother was into buying my daughter dresses and my mother-in-law was into spending time with my daughter. Toys, books and other forms of entertainment were my responsibility. I took my task very seriously.

I spent lots of money on toys. I saw my friends' playrooms on facebook and in real life and decided my daughter was missing out if I didn't buy her toys. When my son was born 2.5 years later I decided he needed lots of trucks, trains and other "boy" toys. I did not hold back - toys for my children were extremely necessary.

When my son turned 6 months and started crawling... I realized less was more.

I spent hours every week organizing and cleaning toys. I purged choking hazard toys and found more everywhere I looked. I was going nuts. My house and the toys inside of the house were making my life worse. Sadie's room was an insane cluster of toys and my living rooms was an insane cluster of toys and my family room was an insane cluster of toys.

THERE WERE TOYS EVERYWHERE.

Okay, confession time: I am a pack rat. I hate throwing anything away. I can't do it.

What did I do?

I bought many, many plastic bins and filled them with toys. By the end I had one very large bin sitting in the  middle of the living room for a month waiting for me to fill it with the rest of the random toys I had collected over the years. Finally, realizing there was no way I was going to organize that bin and keep my sanity, I closed the lid shut and had my husband store it outside.

Then I took a look around my house, saw no choking hazards and breathed.