Striving for Simplicity: Getting Rid of the Toys

I have always been a minimalist. People comment on how clean my house is and while I do keep it tidy, I think the majority of that cleanliness comes from not having a bunch of stuff everywhere. Now don't get me wrong, there are certain things I can never have enough of and always love buying, but overall, I just don't want stuff everywhere. I'm not very sentimental either and can dump pile after pile off at Goodwill without looking back. I think some of that is my personality and some of that is because of the way I grew up. Moving and traveling frequently taught me what I can live without, and mission trips to Central America solidified that as well as helped control my desire to always have more or have the best and taught me to be truly thankful.

As we prepare to move, I am in full on simplify mode. Moving is like a fresh start. I want to start over with LESS. I'd also like a smaller (cheaper!) moving truck! In this process, I have noticed that my children have accumulated a large amount of, for lack of a better phrase, crap that they don't need. It has always been my desire to raise children who value simplicity and are thankful for what they have, but it kinda gets lost in the shuffle of busyness, Christmas, birthdays, etc. I had already purged their rooms a few times when I stumbled upon this blog post about a woman who got rid of the majority of her children's toys and the benefits that had come from it. I was so inspired that I shared it with my husband and we decided to do another major purge, this time simplifying their toys down to these categories: educational/developmental/imagination (puzzles, games, blocks, play food), a gender neutral toy that they could play with when they needed a break from each other (hot wheels and princess castle), and something special (stuffed animal/baby doll). When I read all that I still feel like we have too much, and honestly I think we do, at least for our family. But we got rid of SO MUCH! And it felt so good! The kids actively participated and made comments like "I bet another kid will like this better than me.". I love seeing them think of others in that way! There were some items we had to discuss and compromise on, but I think we made a lot of progress. Since we did this I have noticed that they are playing together and using their imaginations more, as well as enjoying and being creative with the toys they do have. I hope as they get older and we get busier with homeschooling and activities outside the house we can continue to minimize the toys. We live in a society that says we need this and we need that and we must be entertained by something at all times. I think that if I want children who desire the Lord above all else and find their joy in him, it's probably best to remove distractions and teach them that they don't need material things to be entertained or find happiness.

I remember when I was younger reading the Little House on the Prairie books thinking how nice it sounded to just get one little toy and maybe some candy on Christmas. It might seem silly but even then I just knew the value in that one little toy was so much greater than the value in a whole mountain of presents. I saw this quote recently and loved it, so when I saw who it was from I thought it was definitely confirmation that I'm onto something good :)

Products We Love: Erasable Gel Pens

It has been a while since I posted last! We have been very busy because something very wonderful happened: we accepted an offer on our house! So if all goes through we will be closing June 20th and getting moved to NC sometime shortly thereafter. I am so very excited but also a little nervous! When you want something so bad it is hard not to be a little scared. So far everything has gone well, just need to get through the appraisal which is taking forever but should hopefully be done in the next week or so. Once we make it through that I am packing!

So anyway, for my post today I wanted to talk about one of my absolute favorite products I have found for homeschooling and just everyday use. Enter: erasable gel pens! I heard about these guys on a blog somewhere and just had to find them. I found a little pack at Office Depot and put them to use right away. You may be wondering how an erasable pen is possible, I did too. But seriously...these work. They leave far less marks and residue than any pencil I have ever used. Like nothing. And they are such pretty colors! Perfect for scheduling, homeschool planners (you can use a different color for each child!), anytime you want a pretty color and brightness of a pen but with the ability to erase. Apparently they make erasable markers and highlighters too! (Maybe y'all already know this and I'm just behind. Either way, I'm still pumped about these.)

 

 

 

Oh boy and now I just saw the Amazon has even more colors. Might be doing some shopping soon! If y'all didn't know already...I'm a bit of a color addict :) This meme might have been made for me. It really is an issue sometimes. Sometimes I'll be looking at curriculum and think "That one doesn't have any color, forget that.". And then I have to remind myself that it isn't about color, it's about content. Hopefully I'll get better about that. 

 

 

Anyway, if you don't have them yet, treat yo'self to these awesome pens. (Yes that was a Parks & Recreation reference. Love that show.)