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 :)