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I have a confession to make, I am a Pack-rat. Yes, that’s me over there in the corner that just dashed under the wall of stuffed animals. But out of all honesty I came out today to ask you for advice.
First, I have four children, the ages range from going on 12 to turning 2 today. For the most part I’m an Okay mom, no I’m not perfect. Even though I’d love to be that Beverly Cleaver mom, I already know I’m not her. I’m also a sentimental mom, every piece of clothing and toy has a speacial memory that goes along with it. Yes, even that little onesie that Aunt J got for SoccerBoy before he was born. You know the one that was a baseball uniform. No, he can’t wear it anymore but I still have it. I also have the tattered stuffed bunny that has a rattle in his tail that Aunt S. got him. I just never could part with such items.
With each child they were played with, but we also added more toys to the collection. Not all of them were played with as much, some still look brand new. My kids have never been rough with their toys so when one does get broke I’ve always tossed it. I always thought I was doing “Spring Cleaning” and taking out items that weren’t needed. You know illiminating my pack-rat status.
But it seems I haven’t. I do have a downstairs playroom, however the light has been out and it is a REALLY high ceiling. Basically this means we don’t go down there unless it is sunny out, during the winter it became a room of passing through to do the laundry. However, I suspect with the warmth coming we’ll be down there more. This will be a whole new land for them, kind of like a toyland or Christmas Time. Old toys, will now be new.
Okay the question is….What is a pack-rat to do with all these toys? I can’t seem to just toss them all. I no longer think I’m being thrifty by passing them down, just prolonging the inevitable that my little ones are growing up. But I do know that they will be played with. Solutions?
I think for the quilts, they just cut a square from the outfits, making all the squares the same size. Whew! That’s a lot of work!
At one point I imagined making quilts out of the old clothing. Only problem is I still have no clue how others do it. I mean do they sew the entire outfit on it? Or just a patch of the clothing?
I wish I could help.I just CAN’T let go.I have all of my son’s clothes and toys and everything since birth and he is now 3.I’m not saving them for my next child because we are pretty sure the next will be a girl since we are adopting.
I think my problem stems from longing for a child for so long(over 10 years)that I refuse to acknowledge my baby is growing up,lol.
No help but I will admit I deffinately am a pack rat.
I think it might be a good idea to set some limits on how many toys they can have. If they have too many toys, then they won’t get played with. In my opinion, it’s good to teach them some balance. I grew up around the pack rat issue and it was a tough one to break. I’ve gotten a lot better though.
My issues weren’t to this extent, but I did have issues with holding on to some things because I knew the next child could play with them. Once we got past the whole baby phase though, it was REALLY easy to get rid of stuff. Before every birthday and every Christmas, we go through the toys and I tell the kids we need to make room for the new things they’ll be getting. You could have a rule of one thing in and one thing out. You might even try asking your kids which toys they would like to get rid of. My daughter can sometimes be good at that. As far as baby items, I kept a few sentimental items. I kept their coming home outfit, their dedication outfit, their first walking shoes, and their favorite baby toy. I’ve also saved a few special pieces of artwork. That’s about it.