25 Toss
Every once in awhile I grab an empty box, stick it in the hallway and announce to the kids, “It’s time for 25 toss!” That means that everyone in the family has to find 25 things to toss in the box for donations. Regular 25 tossing is important because it usually leads to full-scale cleaning also it keeps the kids’ give-away muscles limber.
This week’s 25 toss was inspired by a conversation Brett and I had last night to figure out how the heck we could organize Madison’s toys in a way that promotes playing. Her room was getting too crowded and I wanted to bring some of her most popular toys out into the main living area. The toys we had there have lost their luster and her room was overwhelming so it had to be big things, which meant rearranging the living room. And as long as we were rearranging, I figured the kids could help by giving stuff away.
Noah is an enthusiastic 25 tosser but Madison tends to be a “oh my gosh, how can Noah throw this away? I better rescue it!” kind of person. The deal I made her is that she could trade things out of Noah’s toss box and that made a lot of the stuff look less appealing. She did rescue some small pocket-sized plastic rectangle that beeps, which she is pretending is a Nintendo DS but the rest she left. Her major contribution to the project was 25 tossing all of her Gerber toddler underwear that no longer fits. Oh and her cootie bug game because she’s lost most of the legs. (Sometimes the donationables are not so donation-worthy.)
Now the house is cleaner, the train table is in Madison’s room (still crowded so we’ll see how it goes) and her dollhouse and “work” table are in the family room. Noah is outside practicing on his new-to-him rollerblades and waiting for his friend L. to show up and Madison is shooting around on her bike wearing inside-out, backwards leggings. Brett is sitting on the porch enjoying the spring-like weather and I am here in the basement slaving away. (But cheerfully slaving.)
love the 25!
i am having a massive tag sale (loads of gals) the first week of May….You can come and set up a booth!
I am having a dumpster arrive at my house tommorow for this exact purpose (only its nothing that is good enough to be donated). I LOVE clearing out the junk. Chuck it parties are awesome!
That’s a great idea. Unfortunately, my kids would probably pick 25 Legos — individual Legos.
That’s a brilliant idea. I may have to try that!