Stella

I am finding this thread very interesting.
It is an issue that I seem to struggle with a lot.
We seem to have so much 'stuff'
I don't have enough space or storage for it all. The result is
piles of 'stuff' which make the place look more untidy and also
make it harder to clean or vacuum without a great big upheaval.
We have bags of dolls which the kids don't want to get rid of.
There are also other numerous toys which they intermittently play
with. We have about 7or 8 doll pushchairs and prams. 4 or 5
bikes. We have a similar number of Sylvanian family houses and
assorted buildings and lots of families and accessories for them.
Of course we also have craft projects, pet caterpillars, snails,
ant farm, books, books and more books and clothes, clothes and
more clothes!
In short I have got to the point where I don't feel that I can
make our house look like a house anymore.
There is so much 'stuff' in our living room that it is fairly
impossible to make it look neat, unless I stack it all behind the
sofa and then the kids can't play with their stuff.
We have a trailer caravan and awning erected in our back garden
and the children like to play in there. A lot of the 'stuff' is
out there at the moment.
The kitchen table is often covered in craft projects and when we
want to eat a meal, we are using the caravan at the moment. Once
the bad weather returns it will be a real problem if I don't do
something.
We have a small house and not enough bedrooms for the kids. 7yod
has a very small bedroom and 3yod has to share with me and dh.
19yod has just returned from university with LOTS of stuff and
has dumped out surplus which she doesn't want in her room but
doesn't want to throw out either!
On top of all this the kids don't go to sleep until about 11pm so
I don't get much time to clear up when they are asleep- I am too
tired out by then.
I enjoy being with my children but I do not enjoy our house at
the moment.
I daren't invite anyone in :o)
Sorry to go on like this in my first message!
thanks for listening.
Stella

Tracy Oldfield

Stella, we moved last year to a bigger house, with the same stuff
and we still don't have room! The problem for us is while the
house has more rooms, there's less storage space :-( You've
probably heard this rant before <g> Anyway, since the girls
decided to throw a load of their stuff away, rather than tidy it up
(it still involved picking everything up, go figure) we've had more
space in the house, but two great sacks of stuff in the garage...
Oh, for a freak act of nature to blow my house down and solve all
my problems <big grin>

Tracy

On 4 Jul 2000, at 19:13, Stella wrote:

I am finding this thread very interesting.
It is an issue that I seem to struggle with a lot.
We seem to have so much 'stuff'
I don't have enough space or storage for it all. The
result is
piles of 'stuff' which make the place look more untidy
and also
make it harder to clean or vacuum without a great big
upheaval.

Robin Norell

Early in December, the kids and I go through their rooms, to give toys to kids that are less fortunate (in time for them to have something under their Christmas tree too, not after Christmas when it's too late).  They know they are also getting rid of the toys they've outgrown to make room for whatever they might get for Christmas. When they get a little too stingy, I set a limit - when we did stuffed animals, I let them keep two for every one they gave away.  This got rid of 1/3 of the pile, anyway.
 
We also have a summer camp and bring toys up there and leave them. When we arrived last month, it was like Christmas - all the toys they had left up here last year and forgotten about.  We do the same with toys at grandma's house.
 
As for organizing what's left - I love wire drawers. We have them in my 6yo son's room, so he can see what's in each drawer without pulling everything out.  He can pull the entire drawer out and put it on the floor, then load it back up when he's done. We have the same thing in the garage/playroom - last year my husband cleaned out the garage and put down indoor/outdoor carpet, and that became our "project" room. We have thousands of K'nex, and I bought plastic drawers for those.  Then against one wall I put all wire drawers (with a countertop over them) for all the bigger toys.  It works pretty well.
 
They also collect Playmobils - I have 5 folding card tables set up in the "project" room (garage) and they keep their "Playmobil City" there (up off the floor).
 
But alas, with 4 sets of grandparents, and 9 sets of aunts and uncles, my kids STILL have too much stuff!
 
Robin
Orlando, FL
 :-)