I have been cleaning out cupbards bit by bit and preparing for our move by eliminating things I haven´t used in a while. I really don´t know what to do with the unwanted things because my expat group connection have told me that the charity they deal with is not accepting any more donations. But I will keep asking around.
My main problem is the overabundance of toys that Little S has in his bedroom and upstairs cluttering up the storage room. I was up there the other day looking for some papers and I stumbled across some of the toys I had taken away from him during his bêtise phase (better lately btw), and I realized that he has so many toys he didn´t even miss these toys! He had completely forgotten about them.
We were lucky and blessed because my friend Bea handed down all of her kids baby toys to us, and since she had two boys and lots of generous friends around her it was a mountain of stuff. We must have at least 30 trucks of varying size and all of the Fisher Price doodads you could ever want. It was a lovely gesture to give us all this and Little S has been happy with it but now I see that it has left us with more of a burden than a blessing. Now when we want to select a toy for a birthday or for Christmas we aren´t getting him something special, we are just adding to the mountain and it all gets lost in the mountain.
The other issue is our growing aversion to plastic. I have been trying to eliminate it from my kitchen and slowly my entire home. I admire this blogger because she has such lovely taste but also because she manages to maintain a plastic free home without being political about it. It's definitely a challenge! Plastic is everywhere and you have to really think of solutions to problems when you are trying to eliminate it from your home. For example the cloth diaper bin is sealed and must stay sealed (eww) so I´m not really sure how to replace it with something more organic that seals shut and is watertight. And it´s hard to think of tossing out things that are convenient like plastic spatulas and plastic kids cups. But I did an experiment and tossed nearly all of my plastic kitchen things into a temporary bag just to see if I could do it, you know live without it, and you know what? Suddenly my kitchen was lighter and airier. It felt better and had a nicer energy to it. My utensils in the wood box by the stove sat elegently with the few metal spoons and wood spatulas. It looked so much nicer and suddenly I was free of a lot of abundance. Why hadn't I done it sooner? Plastic be gone! *waves magic wand*
I'm going to do the same with the toys. I have begun sorting out the cheaper plastic toys first, tossing broken things and boxing up others barely used. It eliminated a lot. My next phase is to temporarily eliminate all the plastic toys that were hand me downs. These are the toys I will donate to charity. Finally I will consider things we bought him and decide which of them we made intelligent choices with and which were just impulse buys that he never plays with. I really regret buying all those ugly plastic bins you see in the photo. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, plastic bins for all the plastic toys. Riiiight...
He will barely notice the missing things because I'll do it right before the move and then his toys will arrive and his French room will be smaller anyway so it will be just as well. And then with his sister he can discover a whole new realm of toys based on simple learning and preserving his imagination. I don´t think it´s too late to start over and admit we made lots of toy buying mistakes.
One thing I will have a hard time with is the grandparents. You can't tell them not to buy plastic because after all it's a gift, right. Every year they give Little S an enormous plastic toy of some genre. Last year was a train set that unfortunately only lasted one week. The year before it was an enormous plastic parking garage that left pieces all over the house and drove me absolutely mad tripping over it! It was also broken in a few short weeks. I know they enjoy giving these gifts and I appreciate their generosity towards their grandson, but I think it´s such a waste of money and materials. The toy breaks quickly and then we are forced to throw it away or we are left with the remains for months until I think Little S has forgotten about it and I can safely throw it out.
I will hang on to a few things like his small collection of Playmobil toys, made well and made with the intellect of the child in mind. And his Legos which I have to admit I enjoy playing with too. And then we´ll have to keep the dreaded L*ght*ing Mc*Q**n cars he´s finaggled out of us since we moved here, and of course the collection of plastic Thomas trains which were a huge mistake on our part because we should have bought them in wood like my sister does whenever she sends him some. The leftovers (and there will be a lot) will probably go to charity. It is my sincere hope that this year Pére Noël will bring a few beautiful things like this:, this and this and not much more than that.
My main problem is the overabundance of toys that Little S has in his bedroom and upstairs cluttering up the storage room. I was up there the other day looking for some papers and I stumbled across some of the toys I had taken away from him during his bêtise phase (better lately btw), and I realized that he has so many toys he didn´t even miss these toys! He had completely forgotten about them.
We were lucky and blessed because my friend Bea handed down all of her kids baby toys to us, and since she had two boys and lots of generous friends around her it was a mountain of stuff. We must have at least 30 trucks of varying size and all of the Fisher Price doodads you could ever want. It was a lovely gesture to give us all this and Little S has been happy with it but now I see that it has left us with more of a burden than a blessing. Now when we want to select a toy for a birthday or for Christmas we aren´t getting him something special, we are just adding to the mountain and it all gets lost in the mountain.
The other issue is our growing aversion to plastic. I have been trying to eliminate it from my kitchen and slowly my entire home. I admire this blogger because she has such lovely taste but also because she manages to maintain a plastic free home without being political about it. It's definitely a challenge! Plastic is everywhere and you have to really think of solutions to problems when you are trying to eliminate it from your home. For example the cloth diaper bin is sealed and must stay sealed (eww) so I´m not really sure how to replace it with something more organic that seals shut and is watertight. And it´s hard to think of tossing out things that are convenient like plastic spatulas and plastic kids cups. But I did an experiment and tossed nearly all of my plastic kitchen things into a temporary bag just to see if I could do it, you know live without it, and you know what? Suddenly my kitchen was lighter and airier. It felt better and had a nicer energy to it. My utensils in the wood box by the stove sat elegently with the few metal spoons and wood spatulas. It looked so much nicer and suddenly I was free of a lot of abundance. Why hadn't I done it sooner? Plastic be gone! *waves magic wand*
I'm going to do the same with the toys. I have begun sorting out the cheaper plastic toys first, tossing broken things and boxing up others barely used. It eliminated a lot. My next phase is to temporarily eliminate all the plastic toys that were hand me downs. These are the toys I will donate to charity. Finally I will consider things we bought him and decide which of them we made intelligent choices with and which were just impulse buys that he never plays with. I really regret buying all those ugly plastic bins you see in the photo. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, plastic bins for all the plastic toys. Riiiight...
He will barely notice the missing things because I'll do it right before the move and then his toys will arrive and his French room will be smaller anyway so it will be just as well. And then with his sister he can discover a whole new realm of toys based on simple learning and preserving his imagination. I don´t think it´s too late to start over and admit we made lots of toy buying mistakes.
One thing I will have a hard time with is the grandparents. You can't tell them not to buy plastic because after all it's a gift, right. Every year they give Little S an enormous plastic toy of some genre. Last year was a train set that unfortunately only lasted one week. The year before it was an enormous plastic parking garage that left pieces all over the house and drove me absolutely mad tripping over it! It was also broken in a few short weeks. I know they enjoy giving these gifts and I appreciate their generosity towards their grandson, but I think it´s such a waste of money and materials. The toy breaks quickly and then we are forced to throw it away or we are left with the remains for months until I think Little S has forgotten about it and I can safely throw it out.
I will hang on to a few things like his small collection of Playmobil toys, made well and made with the intellect of the child in mind. And his Legos which I have to admit I enjoy playing with too. And then we´ll have to keep the dreaded L*ght*ing Mc*Q**n cars he´s finaggled out of us since we moved here, and of course the collection of plastic Thomas trains which were a huge mistake on our part because we should have bought them in wood like my sister does whenever she sends him some. The leftovers (and there will be a lot) will probably go to charity. It is my sincere hope that this year Pére Noël will bring a few beautiful things like this:, this and this and not much more than that.
6 comments:
Love the new blog look, Chris. Most excellent.
I don't know how you are managing so well with Seb gone. I get stressed after a weekend alone with the girls. I am in awe of how you manage it for so long.
We are also trying to get rid of plastic toys. I'm keeping favorites, but I have a big box to donate to the daycare center or Goodwill if daycare doesn't want them.
The blog does look fab! I recently transferred our plastic containers for leftovers to hold craft supplies, and now we don't use any plastic at all in the kitchen except the brita. We'll probably be phasing that out soon. Doesn't it feel nice to be free? I totally identified with how you felt after removing the plastic from your kitchen.
I am all for minimizing the amount of stupid plastic toys in the house. For Ella's birthday this year I told the other mom's that I absolutely did not want anyone to bring presents- knowing full well that most of them would be cheap plastic crap that just gathered dust in the corner of her bedroom. They were horrified- the idea being that I was cruelly depriving Ella of the best part of the day. I had to really insist that what I wanted to show Ella is that you celebrate by spending time with your favorite people, not by buying more stuff. Besides the fact that Christmas was barely past and we had a mountain of toys that she had barely touched yet and I refused to add to the mess with more "stuff" that she wouldn't even notice once the wrapping paper had been opened. She didn't notice that there weren't presents and instead of buying her presents, I ended up spending all the money on a really great party that all the kids enjoyed. Her grandparents also have the tendancy to surprise us with crappy plastic presents, but I let it pass. I generally try to leave the toy at their house so that there is something for Ella to play with when she is visiting and tell them that the thing we are always needing is art supplies. I might be strict about containing our toybox but our craft cupboard is bursting at the seems!
I had no idea you were back in France -- I'm afraid I stopped reading your blog, figuring I couldn't keep up with expats everywhere!
I have a daughter named Charlotte too!
I'll put you back on my sidebar - -welcome back among French expats!
em - Yes I'm lagging today. Seb comes back on Sunday so I´ll get a little break.
lucy - Yes I have wanted to do this for a long time. Its going to take time to do it all over the house. Craft bins is a very good idea.
nicole - Good idea with leaving toys at the in-laws. I´m not sure if S will cooperate though because he loves these toys and I guess that´s what bugs me about it. It´s just an instant gratification toy that clutters our life. What can you say because it´s the grandparents though.
Betty - We´re not back yet but we will be in July.
That's very soon!
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