Friday, March 23, 2012

Not Done

Not done, or maybe I should title this post "I've Started", "Working On It" or something along that line.  At the moment, the title is more appropriate to how I feel about the state of Sam's room.




This is pretty much how Sam's room has looked since Christmas.  Sam is the only grandchild on both my and my husband's side and the only child under 18 for the rest of the family, so you can imagine the problem.  To be fair, my husband and I have not been totally faultless. We have reformed our ways though and have found that less is definitely more when it comes to the amount of toys our son should have.  I am still working on how to get the rest of the family to co-operate.
 

One of the first things I tackled was the contents of the art drawers in this cabinet. It had been awhile since I had gone through all of Sam's drawings, so there was quite a bit to sort.  What to keep and what to toss? Generally, I try to be quick and keep those that show progression.


The things I decided to keep went back in the drawer along with the Sam's completed school workbooks (which had been dispersed through out his room).  My thought is for us to review them at the end of the year so Sam can see his progress and then (to secretly) toss them.



The rest went into the recycle bin.


Next up was a purge of the drawer holding all the pencils, markers, scissors etc .


I know that it won't stay like this, but maybe something close.  Besides, it was good to go through it all and throw out the broken rulers, dried markers, and the like.


This picture is all I have to show for the major purge I did of his toys, books, and games.  I had a wonderfully huge (and to me depressing) pile of stuff in the basement all ready to be carted off to our local charity shop.  That pile stood there for a few weeks waiting for me to take a picture of it.  I am pretty sure it yelled, "Cheese!" every time I walked by it, but I never managed to take that wow shot for this post.  Then last week, in a fit, I schlepped it all to the car and brought it to the shop.


I know that there is improvement, but I still suspect that there is probably too much stuff.  If I consider the bags that I carted off, the room should be devoid of toys.  There will probably be another toy purge in my near future, but I first want to see how it goes with what is left. 


“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
- William Morris

Please visit Jules at Pancakes and French Fries for more William Morris inspiration.



8 comments:

  1. Being a grandparent myself, I had to chuckle at your hope of correcting the error of the grandparents ways in their expression of love in the gift giving to the sweet child...We can't help ourselves. xo

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  2. I loved this post I can relate but I'm the other way I'm too quick to throw or giveaway....my kids get so mad....

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  3. Sounds like you need to instigate a giveaway bucket, lol. Though I have to say I love spoiling my nieces, so I'm probably no help whatsoever in this dept!! =D

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  4. Only grandchild on both sides? Yikes! I bet you are swimming in gifts, huh?
    By the way, I love that green stool.

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    1. The gift giving has gotten better, but there are still plenty. o_O The stool is from IKEA (from the MAMMUT series).

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  5. Great job! I'm sure he appreciates all your cleaning. We haven't yet reached that stage where the paper stuff really builds up from school, since my daughter just started...but I'm sure it won't be long!

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    1. Thanks! Sam just started school this past August, but there is a lot of paper already. He, naturally, wants to keep it all.

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  6. Feeling your pain...the paper clutter sure adds a whole other element to the purging! And my son thinks I should save every bit of his school/homework. Good job...looks much better.

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