Garage Sale!

We've been dealing with a lot of clutter around the house lately. Despite my best attempts to clean and organize, living in this house of boys I always have clutter. Mostly toys. Ok, it's about 90% toys and the other 10% is papers and the like. The boys do pick up-they really do. After we badger them and hound them and threaten them with torture. They pick up--but honestly, they have no place to put anything. Only a select few folks have seen the abysmal pit of indulgence that is our playroom and basement...and very few have seen the basement. It's a mess.

The biggest problem we have is that our boys are spread out in age--13, 8, and 3. Very different toys for those different ages AND we tend to save toys because, "When X (brett or bryce) is older, he will play with this." While this is a great money-saving idea, I can't begin to tell you how many toys and books I forgot we had down in the basement that the kids didn't get to enjoy. Also a factor in the toy mountain is my ability to find toys, books, and games for free or practically free at rummage sales and from other people. AND, Brendan was the only child in this house for a very long time. We bought him a lot of toys. I like toys. I like to buy toys. I like to have toys. I used to like to have toys.

Then we had an epiphany while the older boys were up at my Dad's condo.

garage sale!

Brad & I have had garage sales (well, technically yard sales as we have no garage). We've held them here on our own, we've held them here with friends, we've participated in them at friend's homes. The beauty of the garage sale is that you make a little green by selling off your crap junk stuff treasures. A friend of mine (we met when her son & Brett were in Kindergarten) is having a garage sale this weekend and I begged her to let me sell my treasures at her sale. She agreed & thinks it'll be fun.

(insert scary music here!)

Brad & I have spent the past few days going through the playroom, the playroom closet, and the basement. We are just blown away by the amount of things we'd accumulated over the years. I can't wait to sell it all and have it out of our house. The beautiful thing is that whatever is left over will be taken to our church for the youth rummage sale!

Can I get an AMEN?  Or a WOO HOO?!

Here's a shot of the playroom when it was used as a guest room last October/November (yes, just a few months ago!) when our friend N and her daughter S stayed with us:

We'll be using this as inspiration. It won't be a bedroom once we're finished-but you will be able to see the floor, which you currently cannot. I'm not ready to post photo evidence of our abysmal pit of indulgence. Let's just say that whatever you think it looks like, I guarantee it's worse.