My Feral Toddler and Spring Cleaning / Nelson Notes

My Feral Toddler and Spring Cleaning

5.16.2019

The weather is beautiful which means I can no longer hide my feral child under warm layers or within the walls of our home. Conrad's new favorite activity: get naked and play in the dog water.

Remember, he poops he pants and loses his shoes too. Wherever we go, even though I am prepared, I just can't seem to be prepared enough for whatever he throws out.

Two is both the best and the worst age. On one hand, Conrad is so stinking cute! The way he talks and thinks and all the unconditional love he gives just melts me to a puddle on the floor. (Those kisses!!) On the other hand, he is sooo exhausting. Conrad throws a fit over things I cannot control (Sorry, it's Thursday), makes all sorts of messes in the name of independence... poops his pants, and loses his shoes. Heaven help me, I struggle to keep up. But he makes me so incredibly happy.

In other recent happenings, I am decidedly determined to rid our home of all its extra stuff. We have lived here nearly eight years. Can you believe it? We moved in a few months after Bron graduated with his master's degree and began his career. These last eight years are basically the accumulation of our adult lives. Looking around, I can't help feel lucky and blessed. We are a full blown family living in this home now!

However, we have accumulated a lot of nonessential stuff. It is time to purge and reorganize, deep clean and repaint the walls. It honestly feels like an overwhelming task! Where do I even start and where do I find the time?

That's when Bron shared an idea he gleaned from a podcast. The idea is to throw away or donate one thing on the first of the month, two things on the second of the month, etc. So on May 25th I am obligated to throw away 25 things. And on the 26th, 26 more. That's a lot of stuff!

I have noticed two effects as I've taken this approach to ridding our home of the extra junk.

1. I've given myself permission to pick something up and simply throw it in the trash can.

I couldn't believe how often I was picking up an old toy (or any item, actually) and finding a place for it to "live". If it's a cheap McDonald's style toy, you'd better believe it's going in the trash. So far, my boys have not missed these items one bit.

2. I can tackle half or a quarter of an organizational project and still feel like I accomplished something. Ten + things trashed. Done! Two shelves organized. Yay!

It may take me all summer to purge and reorganize and all Fall to repaint, but hey, I'm on my way!