In the Cleaning out Mode

It amazes me how I can go along for months and not really think a lot about the clothes the kids have outgrown, or the items floating around the house that belong elsewhere. It seems that with the changing of the seasons I get motivated to sort and toss and hand down . I had just such a day. I cleaned and sorted the laundry room, coat closet and the kids dressers and closets. As with the day we cleaned our desk, I ended up with a huge black garbage bag full of old sneakers, shoes, sandels ect. Our youngest son who is 7 is always trying to fit his feet into one of the numerous pair of sneakers that are a size too small. He gets mad because they don't fit. It doesn't help that he has sensory issues anyway. So, I tossed three or four pair of those too small sneakers away without him seeing. He won't miss them...out of sight, out of mind!! I also ended up with a huge bag of clothes to take to the second hand store. It is such cool store because as I take over a bag at a time containing clothes the kids have outgrown, they go through the bag at their convenience, and tally up what they feel they are worth. When we go there the next time, they give us clothing shop dollars and we can turn around and spend them on the things our kids need or save them up until we do need something. I guess we haven't needed much lately because we have over $100 worth of store dollars. The great thing is that when I want to get rid of the clothes that don't fit or we don't use, I have a place to do that, and when we need a few things for the kids, we have store dollars on hand to do that. I think it is a wonderful tradeoff. So, the summer coats and shoes are packed up and moved to the basement till Spring. The winter coats have been brought up and washed and are now hanging neatly in the closet with the winter boots lined up underneath. It seems so nice to have that job done and to have that part of the house so clean and neat and tidy.

Well, now that that work is done, I can spend some time in my studio sewing. I guess that is my reward for working hard this morning!! :o) We definately have to clean our ceiling fans before Thanksgiving though. Wow, where does all that dust come from..LOL Actually, I think that is a good job for my hubby's "Honey Do List".