Organized our craft supplies this morning. Lazy Sunday, pajamas, coffee, perfect time to pull everything out and sort through it all.
Andrew is an exceptional tester of markers, and Will loves having things organized so I can find him specific supplies.
Tackling a craft or toy area is great before the holidays because you can let relatives know what your kids have too much of, and what might be missing .
We have more colored pencil sets in our house than people, and an embarrassing number of black sharpies.
Doing more and more reading about minimalism, I’ve started to realize how much time I spend sorting through and taking care of our stuff. It owns me more than the other way around, and I know so many people (especially parents of small children) who feel the same.
I’m going to keep sorting and purging, and I’m working on a list of non-material Christmas gift ideas so we don’t get more coloring books, more crayons, more toy trains, more puzzles etc! I love seeing family around the holidays, but I wish our culture didn’t show love by giving gifts to such a large extent. It has a high environmental toll, costs money that could go towards vacations and organic produce, and clutters our lives. (Some gifts are wonderful – but we have gone way out of control as a society.)
Organize. Inventory. Offer relatives alternative ways to share affection at the holidays instead of gifts.
Good luck!
