Last week I began Autumn Cleaning Day. Psh. If only it was one day!The major undertaking was the boys' playroom. Things were all jumbled together in the big bins, miscellaneous papers were mixed into the chaos, and a play table that no one used anymore took up a big portion of play area. And so the sorting and cleaning began.
First of all, I banned the children from the room. (Very important step) Then I made a bigger mess by dumping out the bins. (One by one, of course, I'm not crazy!) And I methodically made my way through the mess. Legos here, lightbrite pegs there, K'nex here, Erector there, Mr. Potato Head .... you get the picture. I had to force myself into evaluating the papers and I got rid of most of them, keeping only the most memorable for myself or the respective boy who created it. (That one was a tough one. There is a major guilt trip put on moms to save every piece of "art" created. I don't know who is responsible for the guilt but it's there! Okay? Okay.)
Nona purchased several shoebox size plastic containers for us which worked wonderfully for organizing games, building sets, and more. Thank you, Nona! John built the shelf for us. The plan is to add another shelf soon but the one shelf is doing the job fabulously for now. Thank you to you too, John.
At the end of the day, that's Day FIVE, all was organized and cleaned for the grand reopening. I'm so glad it's done! It's so worth not having to cringe as I walk by the playroom and the boys are loving being able to easily find the toy they want.
Now the rest of the house has been/is being gradually Autumn Cleaned too but that's nothing compared to the playroom. *satisfied smile*
P.S. Did I mention I threw away multiple rocks? Yeah, I don't know who was sneaking those things in there.
2 comments:
Cleaning like that always feels so good! My kids don't collect rocks but rather sticks! I find them everywhere. Even my daughter brings them into the house.
I remember cleaning like that. I still do every Spring and Fall - but the toys get fewer and fewer! We still have Legos going - but they're in the little guys room now - all built up. I have major guilt throwing away Art, too! I have tubs for each of the boys with their names (BIG TUBS) - so I deal with my guilt and throw most of it in their tubs. So glad I saved a lot - a bunch of homeschool girls sent a bunch of homeschool boys (my son being one of them at that time) a bunch of silly letters why they were at camp over the summer (you had to sing for EACH letter - LOL) So the girls were really torturing the boys (all about 10 years old). Lo and Behold, my son grew up, re-met and married one of those little letter writers - and I pulled out those letters! That is a slam-dunk mom-saves-everything moment!
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