My War Against the Toys

Instead of New Year’s resolutions, I set out to eliminate “Eleven Things” my life doesn’t need in 2011. I once read that if you set a goal and work at it every single day,  it only takes 21 days (3 weeks) to make it a habit.  So this is my public “check-in” to hold myself accountable.

I know what you’re thinking. “But, Grace, it’s the 31st day of the month, not the 21st!”  To which I respond, “Yes it is.”

Moving on. This post began as a laundry list of what I’ve been working on and what I haven’t. I wrote it, read it, and was bored to tears. I scrapped it and started over. Instead of a boring list, I want to share with you my biggest challenge of the year- the never-ending clutter. Or as I call it, my war against the toys.

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As you’ve probably guessed, my children want for nothing…

Not food. That they petulantly toss on the floor as if we lived in Medieval Times (the restaurant, not the Dark Ages). Not for clothing nor shelter. Not for love nor doting parents. And most definitely NOT for toys!

Moving three times in eighteen months, I thought we had done enough to significantly pare down our “stuff”. Then, as my baby grew into a toddler and my toddler grew into a boy, the toys didn’t necessarily multiply. They just got smaller and more difficult to track…

There’s the yellow game piece in my bathroom and cards on the kitchen counter that never seemed to make it back to the board game in the office. I constantly trip over cars and bath toys as I run around the kitchen making dinner. I’ve been awoken in the dead of night by a “Speak n’ Say” left in my bed.

Yet, it wasn’t until a few weekends ago that I finally DID something about it. I was feeling super guilty about not spending enough time with my kids because I was on my computer working. But the truth is, I probably only spent a total of three hours writing and it was while Mike was with the kids at the park anyway.

The rest of the weekend was spent tracking down the pieces from one puzzle that was mixed in with the Little People and putting the wand back with the magic set and finding a place for it in the hall closet… et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

That night, I declared my bedroom, the bathrooms, the hallways, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, and the laundry room NO TOY ZONES!

This is how it works…

Any toy my foot touches in the “no toy zone” goes in a bag. The bag goes in a box in the garage. That box goes to Goodwill.

Hey, don’t call me Cruella just yet. My children each have their own rooms, a play room, and commandeered three-fourths of our home office where they can build, trash, and destroy to their little heart’s content. So long as they get picked up at bedtime…

Also, they can have toys in the “no toy zone”, they just can’t keep them there. And they definitely can’t be on the floor. (I enacted this caveat to prevent my rulesy four-year-old from yanking toys from my unsteady and non-verbal eighteen-month-old.)

The kids get puh-lenty of warnings and reminders. We set aside time before dinner for them to put stuff away, but Mike and I help… a lot actually.

Mostly, I want to them to learn 1. how to be responsible for their things and 2. that keeping the house clean is a TEAM effort.

How is it working?

It’s only been a little over a week, and already my kids scramble whenever they hear the “pop” of a garbage bag. Both of them.

Truthfully, the only toys that have made it to the donation pile are the baby baby toys that no one plays with yet always seem to be everywhere.

Also, I’m too cheap to actually toss part of board games or Lego sets, so that stuff would eventually make it back to their boxes undetected after the kids are in bed. (shhh…)

But don’t think for a second that this isn’t just some elaborate rouse to rid my house of the four thousand and thirteen rubber bouncy balls, whistles, and spider rings that come in every party favor bag. It is.

Oh, and all the “chatty” toys that come alive at night. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Speak n’ Say.

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