Jan. 3, 2008 - Decluttering is TORTURE!

I've been working in the 5&9 year old girls' room. Their room is large enough and they have a very large closet, but I don't dare walk into their room in the dark.  The floor is usually littered with toys, papers, and books.  That can be dangerous when you have a child who has frequent nosebleeds in the night.

Anyway, Daddy helped them pick up their room Tuesday night, but I decided to dejunk it.  Obviously they have too much stuff if it is on the floor all the time.  Yesterday I got sidetracked with the games.  I took pictures of them, put them all in a word document, and printed it.  We rarely play games because it seems to be "out of sight, out of mind."  Hopefully this will help us actually play some of the fun games we have rather than giving them to Goodwill prematurely.

Today I jumped in again.  It was going okay until I reached "the pile."  Thanksgiving day I picked up their room and put a lot of 9 year old girl's stuff in a copy paper box.  Well, she never did go through it, so there it sat on the floor.  It took us HOURS to go through the box along with all of her trinkets (from her shelf above her bed, the overflowing shoe box in her top drawer, and her tool box.  The tool box is where she supposedly keeps her most treasured keepsakes.  We bought one for each of the older girls when the youngest was getting into their things.  The box has a lock on it. 

By the time she had made a decision about each little toy, piece of paper, or rock she had bought at a tourist shop, we both felt tortured!  She is now down to just the tool box.  Her shoe box in the top drawer has been reassigned for socks.  She also has a folder with so many drawings that I fear it will burst some day.  Since it is too big for the tool box, I did have to find it a temporary home.  

I feel bad in a way.  She seems to have an emotional attachment to every little trinket that has passed through her hands.  I know that made today's task stressful for her.  And, I feel bad that I've reduced her special belongings to the size of a small tool box and the shelf above her bed.   However, I want her to realize that these are just things.  They aren't the special memories that she is attaching to them.  I think starting a journal for her might be a good way for her to deal with this.  Maybe that is why we hang on to things.  We are afraid we'll forget a special event or person if we get rid of the thing associated with that event.  Writing in a journal will help her remember her life without needing to surround herself with things from those events.

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Jan. 4, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Alexa

I could identify with you totally! It sounds like something I need to do for my children. They have so many bits and pieces too.

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