We are planning to list our house to move. This involves a lot of cleaning out on my part. Things we live with just don't look so good around the house when it comes to showing the house.
Soooo... as many of you have done, I'm packing up all the excess clutter and moving it to a storage garage across the street to clear and de-clutter the house.
This is simple when it comes to movies, games, books, clothes..... but there is one little tiny problem..... TOYS.
This is my solution:
First of all - the most favorite of toys are left here in the rooms, but neatly hidden and tucked away.
Second of all, the junk and broken toys are thrown in the trash.
These two steps are going over well with the children.
There is another category of toys that is a little more dicey though. The toys that we will keep, but don't need to be in the rooms right now, and the toys that need to go to thrift stores because they are outgrown, or no longer loved.
The problem is.... the kids think the toy they haven't played with since they were one is now their favorite toy. So as I pack the thrift store box and the 'to the storage garage' box... I tell them they are both going to the same place. The storage garage. But they are not.
We make a run to the storage garage, they see the boxes going in and they are okay.
Meanwhile, I have secretly been dropping the things that they didn't remember they had until I dug them out of the recesses of their closets and under the bed to charity.
What will I do when we eventually unpack, and miracle upon miracle, they actually ask for one of those unused toys??? No problem. I will just tell them it must have been lost in storage or during the move. Am I planning to lie to my kids... I guess so!! :) I'd rather blame it on the storage facility than on me. But, honestly, I don't think I'll ever have to deal with that. I can't even remember what is in the bags and I just packed one yesterday!
Now that you know my secret..... shhhh! ;)
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