One of my earliest memories is standing in my childhood playroom full of broken toys and being frustrated that I couldn’t find the one thing I wanted to play with. I was tiny for my age, which probably didn’t help the chaos feel any more manageable. I was searching for a palm-sized power rangers coin thing. I’m 90% sure it came from a Happy Meal my grandpa bought me, a rare treat back then.
I don’t remember if I found it or not that day, I just vividly remember the frustration, and I think that memory has a lot to do with my tendency to keep things minimal.
It occurred to me this weekend that in the name of keeping it simple, I was holding back a few things we already own and could be using. Our garage had a tote full of magnetic car tracks and a huge bag of beanie babies, mainly because the thought of cleaning them up overwhelmed me. For complete transparency, my gut reaction was to get rid of them. However, they weren’t broken, I knew the kids would love them, and we already owned them. I decided to give them a shot. After a bit of rearranging, the other ottoman was converted to toy storage, and the kids have been having a blast.
On the flip side, I can’t stand sidewalk chalk. We had a half used box, and I dreaded using it every time it came out. Instead of holding onto it, I decided to put it in the little free library and let someone else enjoy it. Who knows, maybe their kids don’t just grind it up to make chalky messes to track throughout the house. Are there actually kids out there drawing with it? What a dream.
I don’t want to look back and wish I had used the things we have, nor do I want to hold onto a bunch of stuff we won’t enjoy. With that in mind, I’ll be walking around the house gearing up for the next Pahrump Mother’s Corner Swap reminding myself to “use it or lose it”. Hopefully loosing some of the joy sucking things in our home will allow me to feel more comfortable with joy bringing messes.
Disclaimer/Reality Check: I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re just starting to downsize, this is more for people who have already cleared a lot of the clutter. This column will be about motherhood, parenting, and homemaking for the most part. It might be cool magnate builds or fun, low mess summer crafts (a.k.a. not chalk). Most importantly, I don’t ever want this column to make another mama think she’s not doing enough. If you’re reading this, I want you to know that you are, you’re doing great, keep it up. Sing it with me: no-one is doing it allllll!
