For The Love Of Toys!

Toys.

I have a love/hate relationship with them, as I am sure lots of parents do. There are just too many toys! I have found that my kids actually play less when there is an over abundance of toys. Not to mention that they don't seem to appreciate their toys, or other things for that matter. Armed with this information, I began searching and praying for what to do.

Then I read this article titled "Why I took all my kids toys away {and why they won't get them back}" It was EXACTLY what I needed! Everything she said made me say, "oh my goodness, EXACTLY!". It was a breath of fresh air and I knew it was what I wanted to do something like this as well.

As soon as I knew I wanted to work up a plan of attack, I started preparing the kids. We have been talking about how we are very blessed and how we are called to help those around us through the blessings God gives us. And so my first step was to ask the kids which toys they wanted to donate. Luckily that step went very smoothy. We donate toys often, but the attitude my children have about it is less than willing and shows just how selfish they can be. When I saw this progress I knew it meant we had to keep up the momentum and go deeper.

Now we are preparing them for the next step, the bigger step. The step that a tiny piece of me is like "Am I crazy? Are the kids going to drive me nuts when I do this? Will it be worth it at all?".

The day after Thanksgiving we are going to bring ALL THE TOYS IN THE HOUSE into the living room. Together we are going to sort every single toy into piles. A donate pile, a pile of "always" toys, and then bin toys.

Always toys are going to be the toys they can have in their toy boxes in their rooms. Lula Mae will get to have her baby doll and accessories. Jayce will get his cars and trucks. They will each get to keep a few more "always" toys, but I will be sure that they are toys that spark imagination and creative play. These piles will be very MINIMAL and will be monitored frequently.

The bin toys will be sorted into 3 plastic bins. We will no longer say "this is his toy" or "this is her toy". The bins are OUR toys, They belong to everyone. I am going to try my hardest to make the bins make since. For example on bin will have the cash register, the play food, the chefs costume, the tea set, etc. so that when a bin is picked they can really play together. 

Each week the kids will pick out a bin TOGETHER that will stay in the playroom. For that week they can play with that bin, along with their "always" toys. They toys from the bins will not be allowed to come to their bedrooms, they must stay in the neutral area of the playroom. I am hopeful that that will help them to realize it isn't "his" or "hers", and instead theirs. 

This is just my overall vision. I realize there are still many details that need to be sorted out. I am confident, however, that this new system will really help my kids. We live in a "stuff" driven world and I am desperate to help them see that "stuff" is not important. I want them to appreciate things and really thank God for everything He has blessed them with.

I won't lie, this will be very hard for me. One of my love languages for my kids is "giving gifts". Part of the reason I want to do this is to help me realize that my kids don't need  all these things I am buying. I think this is really going to challenge me in a big way, and I am very excited about that. 

My kids will have some adjusting to do as well, I am sure of that. I can't wait to see what this does for our family!

Budget Revamp

In May I realized our budget was in trouble. In our family I handle the finances, with support from my husband. I am the more organized one which helps me handle the budget. However, in May, I realized I needed help. I needed my husband to step in and be a second brain. So we looked, and crunched and looked some more. At the end I felt much better about everything and we had a new plan. The new plan has been working so well!

Let me tell you about our old budget first. I had tons of categories and I would have a piece of paper in a binder for each one. Then, I would take every receipt and calculate how much money of each category had been spent. Then I would write that amount on each corresponding page. Confused? Yeah I know. It was incredibly time consuming and very hard to keep up with spending. I found myself over spending in almost every category on a monthly basis. I was so disappointed in myself an overly frustrated that I was not being a good steward. I even felt belittled by my husband a few times when he would make comments about the bank account (he did not realize that it was bothering me, so don't worry. He was only making general comments but since I was already insecure about the budget it made me feel attacked.

So the budget now? Simplified by a million! I combined most of the categories and narrowed them down to the basic. The kicker? We are on the cash system now! Oh my goodness, if you have never done it.... you should! It has been the best budget system for us yet! Each week I get out our set amount of cash, then once it is gone.... we are done spending! This system does require more planing with my shopping but that has been helpful to me. It has shown me how careless I was before. It has also shown me how little we really need to be happy. I am enjoying this new system for lots of reasons!

So what do you and your family do to help with your budget? 

My Crafting Nook

Every time I needed to sew or work on another project I had to lug out my machine and all my supplies. Then everything had to just sit there until I finished the project. It was getting old. I started looking around the house for a corner or wall where I could make myself a crafting area. Charlie and I have a walk in closet and we both don't have huge wardrobes. There was so much wasted space in our closet so I decided to rearrange our clothes and see if I could come up with something. My sister had an old entertainment table she was getting rid of so I snatched it up, then I spray painted it blue. It looked good!
  

Here is one side of our closet before I started moving things around.

Here is the other side.

Basically I knocked out everything on the left side of the closet. Then I added a level of storage on the right side to put my clothes on. After ripping out all the shelving I patched up all the holes and painted that side yellow. Since it is a closet with no windows I thought yellow would be nice and bright.

Here is the shelf and area after they were both painted. Now my sewing machine is always up and ready whenever I want to work on a project. I use it a good bit more now!

See how I store my fabric scraps? I took a small strip of wood, wood glued clothes pins on it and spray painted them. Then I just attached them to the wall. Boom! The other storage for my odds and ends is also a strip of wood spray painted, but I put in hooks to hang different things on.

It does not take a lot of space to create a great crafting nook! I really enjoy my little spot :-)

Happy New Year!

Okay, not quite yet... but we are creeping closer and closer to another years end. That means a new beginning. A fresh start. Each year we all make that famous list of resolutions that will ultimately be forgotten by Feburary. What a waste of time. Why create resolutions if you don't intend to even give them a second thought? Here is a tip, when 2011 rolls in try writing your resolutions on a brightly colored piece of paper. I even write mine in a colored sharpie and decorate the paper with stickers. The point is, make it appealing to your eye. Perhaps cut up some pictures and paste them on the paper. Put things that you love on it, things that give you motivation. After your art work is complete, hang it up. I would suggest the refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, above your desk in your office... just somewhere you will see it at least once a day. Read through them each day. Ask yourself how you think you are doing. Should you make changes in your routine to better meet your resolutions? Did you think of another one you would like to add? That's just fine. I have a feeling if you try this your resolutions will be fulfilled. It can be very discouraging and disappointing to look back at your list, a year later, and realize you accomplished nothing. I urge you to try this for 2011! Go ahead and think about what your 2011 resolutions may be! It also isn't too late to revisit your 2010 resolutions and get to work on them. There are still 4 more months left! Give it your all!

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"
Colossians 3:23

My 2010 resolutions


Happy Monday everyone! Good news.... no one seems to have caught Charlies cold! Hopefully we won't! Plus, we did our weigh in for P90x on Friday... I lost 4.5 pounds!!!!! WOO HOO!!! I guess I can't give up on it yet. I only have about 5 more pounds to go! I feel like I am starting a good week! God's grace and mercy abound! I am beyond blessed!