Goals: Less Toys = More Joy

I've said it before on this blog, but I don't make New Years Resolution. I just make goals and changes when I feel the desire and need for them. One thing this past year that I have felt a strong need for is to simplify our toys.

When we were in school for missionary training, we accumulated a bunch of random toys, from family, from the missionary barrel, and from neighbors moving overseas. I wasn't too concerned about it because I knew once we moved overseas, we would have to get rid of most of them. When our plans changed to staying, however, and we had finally unpacked every, last box into our new house, I realized we had way too many toys. In fact, I didn't even unpack some of the toys. I just quickly and quietly sold and donated them. And since then, I've been on a journey to have a toy room that is enjoyable and that doesn't overwhelm me.

I read a book a couple of months ago that really helped me in thinking through these matters, called The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. After planning for so many years to do tribal missions, it was hard for me to grasp how to create a home. How much was it okay for me to spend time and money making a beautiful home? I will always be seeking the Lord in this area, but this book helped me consider the importance of making a beautiful home. Edith writes about how God could have made a boring world... a world in only black and white or with just one color, with simple shapes and landscapes. But he didn't. He chose to clothe the fields with beautiful flowers of many colors, forms, and sizes (Luke 12:27). Of course, we couple this with verses about the danger of finding our treasure in this world (Matthew 19:21; Matthew 13:44). But I think the Lord wants us to find and create beauty. 

So along those lines, I have been seeking to not only simplify our toys, but also to create beauty even in our toy room. Anything that overwhelms me has to go.

Our toy room now mostly consists of homemade items and wooden toys. We haven't parted with all plastic toys, but they are definitely kept at a minimum as I found that they overwhelmed me the most. Ben and I have enjoyed making things for the girls for Christmas and birthdays, and they now have many items in their playroom that were made by us which is special.

I don't have a lot of color in our house as I prefer natural wood and white, but I enjoy putting color in their playroom. I still keep it pretty simple, but I love the soft colors, and they do too.

All of their little toys, I put in gallon freezer bags in their toy box. They have a bag of Mr. Potato Head, a bag of little animals, a bag of cars, and more. When they want to play with that toy, they can pull out that bag, play with that toy, and then put it all back in that bag (which I usually have to remind them of that last part).

 I still feel like I spend a lot of time cleaning up and helping the girls clean up. But I think that's just the phase of life we're in. And the fact that I'm a little obsessive compulsive about an ordered house.

If you're curious about my process of getting rid of toys, here is how I do it. First, paper. I let them color and draw whenever they want. If they just leave it on the table or floor and it was just a quick drawing without much thought, I throw it away when they go to bed. If they ask to hang it on their wall, I let them do it. When it falls off their wall or when they replace it, I throw the old away. If it's something they spent a lot of time on, I either take a picture to remember or keep a very few select pieces of artwork (very few at this point). With toys, if they get broken or are missing pieces, I get rid of them immediately (unless they're something really special that was either handmade or a very favorite toy). If it's something that I just don't like, then I do one of two things. I either put the toy away for a while, and if I find they don't ask for it, then I get rid of it. Other times, I think it's important to talk through getting rid of the item, if it's something they will notice gone because it's bigger or they play with it from time to time. Sophie is a sentimental child, but I have found that she has been able to get rid of things easier because I talk through it with her. When we had a garage sale last year, she saw all the toys we put in it, and she watched them go. I was very nervous about this, and she was a little sad about seeing some of the toys go, but she understood that if she wanted new toys, she needed to sell old ones. Because we talked, she understood that she had a lot of toys and other kids have less toys and would enjoy her toys that she didn't play with as much. I have seen her become less attached to things as a result (she's certainly still more attached and sentimental than my other kids though, but my hope is that she will see that things are things and they will never bring lasting joy... because it's a lesson I'm always teaching myself too).

I've also become very thoughtful about the gifts I do get the girls or ask for for the girls. Honestly, with three girls (and another on the way), it can be hard to think of more things (other than books... we always love books!). But I do a lot of research and try to know the girls' personalities well enough to know what they will really like. And usually, they only get one toy from us for their birthday. For their birthdays this year, Sophie and Brielle got some books, and then we made them each a high chair for their babies. Garage sales are the hardest, because Sophie always wants something from them (although, she's getting better about determining whether she would really love something!). Usually when we go garage sale-ing, she ends up coming home with one thing. It's often something she ends up liking for a while, but if it's not, it thankfully only cost $1 to begin with.