I am proud to say that I have emptied fifteen bins of items that I will either be donating or selling at a garage sale in May. It has been an emotional process, but I feel lighter and seeing my storage area in my basement with so much more room, makes me happy. I tried to go through at least one bin each day during Lent and I did accomplish that; sometimes even more. It was emotional at times, as I found memorabilia from my daughter's school years. There was a bin full of gymnastics medals from both of their years of gymnastics meets (twelve years worth) and while hard to part with, it was time.
I saved primarily holiday decor, but may need to pare that even further, at some point. I have only one bin of miscellaneous decor and feel good about that too. I did save the two American Girl dolls and their many, many clothes, but picture a granddaughter having so much fun with them someday. The American Girl sized furniture will go, but that was hard too. I couldn't help but look back and see my girls lovingly putting their dolls to bed every night.
Another thing I had an emotional connection with were the tea party sets my girls and I had so much fun with over the years. On rainy days we would have tea parties on a big blanket spread out on the floor. We would fill the tea set pitcher with pink lemonade, cut peanut butter sandwiches into heart shapes and serve strawberries on a pretty platter. The girls had three different tea sets and I forced myself to keep only one.
So many memories in those bins and boxes.
{Linking with these friends}
Posted with Blogsy
Wow! I don't know if I will ever have what it takes to part with all the things that have sentimental value.
ReplyDeleteWow! I don't know if I will ever have what it takes to part with all the things that have sentimental value.
ReplyDeleteWe too went through our basement the past few months. I still need to go through all our photos, and the girls school papers. We do have many bins of the girls things left, but the things I know they will want to pass along or we will want to have for future grands to play with at our home. I host the children's team on occasion and have pulled many of the items out for the kids and they love playing with them.
ReplyDeleteA worthy project and one I need to tackle. When we used to move every few years, stuff didn't accumulate. We have been in our current home for nearly 27 years. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteGood for you! When you move like we do you tend to pare down as you go : ) Happy Spring!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as a grandma of 2 granddaughters, hang on to the AG stuff:-) I'm so glad I did, they are loving it. I am attempting to do what you are doing, but I do have trouble. I know if feels so good as the stuff goes out the door.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job.
Well I am amazed at you . . .
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised at your 40 bags/bins . . .
Or the melancholy . . .
I felt for you in the tea sets, American Girl Doll things . . . and the medals . . .
You are a trooper!
Its so hard to let those things go. My kids are in their late 30's, but I still have a couple of boxes of their childhood things including a box of small cars which my grandsons loved playing with when they were younger.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on accomplishing this big task!
Good for you! I SO need to do this! My storage area runneth over:( Have a blessed and productive day dear friend, HUGS!
ReplyDeleteOoooooh.....think twice about those tea sets Vicki! Me, who raised 3sons and really had no clue what to do with a tea set, now has 3 granddaughters. And I have bought 3 brand new tea sets to play with when they come to my house. Will make u so happy to play tea party with future grands....remembering doing same thing with your own babies. My grandsons even love to play with them!
ReplyDeleteI'm just sayin....
But hey!!!! Yay for you on your big clean up. You've got to feel great about that! I kept saying this winter that this would be the yr I did that. Ooooops...now it's spring. Oh well...as I try to cram shut closet doors 😳
ReplyDeleteClearing things out can be cathartic but, as you said, also emotional. I have saved American Girl dolls and a tea set too but so far have only grandsons. Good luck as you wind down your 40 in 40 days project!
ReplyDeleteI am (as usual) way behind on the 40 bags, but I did make some progress and got past the 'wall' of the childhood awards. So hard to part with and for no good reason in my life. I hope to get a few more bags out in the next day and again, appreciate your helping me get on track. :)
ReplyDelete