Plan & Playroom Purge

The moving company rep is here right now doing his assessment (how much stuff do we have? how many boxes will they need & how big of a truck?) and our house-hunting trip is set. This will be the very first time both JB & I have ever left the kids for more than one night in a row together, (we're not psycho attached parents; we have just been very into spending JB's scarce free time together as a family) and I am so thankful that they'll be staying with my BFF. (Pray for her health; she & one of her sons have bad colds; they need to be better ASAP!) When we fly down, JB will stay there & start work; I'll fly back up, get the kids, and go on with life here until the movers can come move us out. Then we'll all fly down & start a new chapter of our lives! I cannot tell you how thankful I am that his new company is providing all these flights, so that we don't have to make the 900-mile drive!!!

The kids are really excited! ...Which I'm *totally* happy about, but just a little surprised. When we prepped to leave our Chicago suburb last year, they were bawling messes, wailing about not wanting to leave everything there. (Naperville really is an amazing place, but still...) Maybe it's just b/c the moves are so close together, and they don't feel as attached, yet? Also, we've moved away from our BFFs here before, and they know we'll see them again, so... I don't know, but whatever the case, THEY came to me, saying that they "should really clean up the playroom to get ready for the movers." Usually when we find out we're moving, it's so fast that we don't bother pre-purging too much, since we don't pack or move it ourselves; we wait & purge more as we unpack. But I was ALL OVER this idea!

I channeled my BFF who just did her own big toy purge (I was jealous of her motivation, of which I could find zero for myself, until yesterday :-P) and made brutal cuts. I am so bad about holding onto broken things, thinking we'll fix them, and toys that are too young for my kids, even though they still occasionally touch them. (This is my über-cheapness.) Not yesterday! We threw out EVERYTHING that had missing pieces or broken parts. For those of y'all who really know me, this is shocking. Even presents they recently got, if they were already virtually destroyed or missing pieces? Trashed. I am putting out the notice right now: DO NOT BY ANY PRESENTS WITH PARTS FOR MY CHILDREN! I'm not joking. Until they prove that they're responsible enough not to break or lose all this stuff, what is the point? Don't waste your money! Buy them experiences - zoo, museum, or fun park passes, fancy hair-do's for Sis, meals at their fave places, sports & dance stuff - or completely self-contained things. Just no pieces. I implore you not to waste your hard-earned dollars on their irresponsibility.

We filled two giant contractor bags with trash and then one more with donations. I want to just sit on the floor in there now and look around, smiling.

Comments

  1. Last year leading up to our move I did so much purging that the movers were shocked when they arrived (our pre-assessor guy apparently thought we needed lots and lots of boxes for all our junk). I am glad I got rid of so much of it...it made the unpack here easier!

    Best of luck on your house hunting trip! Can't wait to hear how it went.

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  2. super like! i love purging before and after moves. i usually do both :-D but i'm kinda a fanatic about sorting and getting rid of stuff. i've decided that you have inspired me and i'm going to start packing in faith that we too will be moving. :-) happy house hunting!

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  3. Thanks, Michelle! Hopefully I'll have details to share soon!
    Amy - YES!!! Pack in faith!!!!! I'm praying with you every single day!!!

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