Decluttering Wm

We woke up to POURING rain today and decided to make the most out of a housebound day by tackling the insanity of Wm's room. I have been reading a book called Clutterfree Kids and it talks about ways you can keep your kids and their stuff contained (and send the message to kids that life isn't about STUFF!) So Wm and I had a big talk over breakfast about why it's important not to let your stuff take over your life and I asked him if he'd be willing to go through all this toys and donate the ones he doesn't use anymore to kids that don't have toys. He was more than willing. In fact, he goes, "Just donate it all. As long as I can keep my computer." Sooooo, obviously he was a bit OVER zealous! I told him he should just look through his stuff and anything he hasn't played with in a year, he should donate. If he's actively playing with it, he should keep it!! He said that sounded very reasonable and the fun began...

In the thick of things.

It took HOURS 

The Big Decision came when Wm stood back and looked at all his Legos. Years and years of accumulated Legos. He said, "You know, I never really play with most of my Legos anymore. I just like to play with the guys and make them battle. I'm going to donate ALL my old Legos and just keep the Minecraft Legos and all my Lego guys." Steve was very, very sad. He actually got a bit misty because he said the two of them had so many hours of good times building with those Legos and now Wm is getting too big to want to do that much anymore.

BUT, then he realized that they could likely be sold online and perked up. So he set out all the old instructions (of which there were A LOT) and posted an ad. It's been up for 30 minutes and he's already had multiple emails about them. Wm goes, "I GET TO KEEP THE MONEY!" I suggested that since Daddy did all the hard work work, he should get a cut, and Wm was fine with that. So then I added maybe they could divide it into thirds: one third to Wm, one third to Daddy, and one third to the charity of Wm's choice. Wm...making a difference one Lego at a time. ;-)

Steve laying out the instructions - not even done yet!

AFTER: organized toy/book shelf!

AFTER!

And STILL a mountain of crap to donate.

It has been raining so hard that we thought we'd have to build at ark! Wm and I walked over to Mimi's to feed Winston while she and Guy are out of town, and on the way back we were shocked to see the creek in the ravine had overflowed and was pouring down the street!

We were going to tackle the basement tomorrow, but it's full of water!! Maybe next weekend...

In other news, Wm and I finished Call of the Wild and we were both relieved that things turned out OK in the end!! Next up: Ender's Game. We take turns picking the book and this is a Wm pick so I'm not too excited about it. Hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised!