Have you seen the TLC show “Hoarders: Buried Alive.” Scary. Mark had it on the other day as I was working on the WAGI site. And, this is the kind of thing I looked up from my Macbook to see:
(NOTE: This is NOT Ashlyn’s room. This is a picture from the tv show. My husband told me today that some people sounded like they thought this was in our house. No, no, no!!!)
Over the next couple days, I realized Ashlyn and Lydia’s room may eventually come to this. Ashlyn is a collector (that’s the nice word for hoarder). She likes lots of little things–a bead or button she finds somewhere, happy meal toys, gumball-machine-like figures. If it can fit in a pocket, she loves it. Problem is, she loves about a gazillion of them.
When I couldn’t put the girls’ clothes away because there was just too much junk in their room to figure out where to put the clothes, I knew something radical had to be done.
What was supposed to be just Mark and me discreetly cleaning the room became a family affair. All 6 of us were in there with a couple cardboard boxes and a bunch of trash bags. This was the deal–we wouldn’t throw anything out (within reason…we did throw out trash we found like tags and pencil shavings I’m so embarrassed). Instead, everything would be put either in the basement storage room or the playroom attic. IF Ashlyn asks for something specific in those boxes in the next 6 months, she can keep it. If she forgets all about it, it’s gone (unless it’s something Lydia may want…did I forget to mention that the hoarding tendencies may be genetic? My younger sister confirms this.).
I’d say God had a hand in this day–and delivered the “perfect” message in the end! i believe we all could be this way–if we weren’t taught otherwise–you’re great parents and a great family…:)
I have a “collector” myself … only I’m not so nice. I sneak in there when she is gone and purge. Otherwise it would be a long and overly dramatic day of how everything is “my special [fill-in-the-blank]”. I will admit that I think it’s cute when people come over and A. whisks them into her room to show them all her little treasures. And there are many. Sometimes they don’t come out for hours! LOL
Ah, Ashlyn. I have a bit of it in me too! :)
LOVE the storage idea. I am SO gonna try that one (on myself).
LOL! wow! at that point (photo 1) I would have been thinking ‘moving’ thoughts. Good for you tackling such a huge undertaking!
LOL! My DH and I have been trying to NOT be so hoarder-ish, too! Wish I had a little more of my mother in me…she hangs on to NOTHING!
The room looks great and your post was hilarious.
Ally is our hoarder…I mean “collector” around here. Drives me nuts and I find myself a little sick to the stomach with the dizzying posters and thingies hung up everywhere!