Monday, November 12, 2012

Digging out..Part 1

Simplicity Parenting.  Great book.  About how less is more.

It's giving me LOTs to think about while I dig us out of the consumerist mass I have spent the last 10 years (and most of our dollars) loading into our house, quite on top of us.

Don't get me wrong, I still love 'things', and I still want the 'BEST' things for my kids, but I am on a curatorial cleanse, and I won't stop till I've figured out the which, what, and why of it all.   And simplify.

I think THIS is why the boys Lego was driving me so insane: there's so much, there's too much of it in the house, AND they want MORE.  We have been outdoors a bunch lately, and that has helped 'cure' the monomaniacal-ness of it all, plus I've been simplifying the kids' rooms, so that's helped too...but I've been realizing, really with the help of this book that too much of a good thing is really really crippling, to creativity, to peace of mind, to living the life you intended to live with your kids.

Too much of a good thing can be suffocating.  Mega piles of Mega Blox?  Massive piles of clothing? Monstrous stacks of books, too many for our shelves? More play-kitchen foods than the play-kitchen can hold? Stacking bins filled with the overlow? Yeah, it's too much.  I'm embarrassed.  I am grateful for all we have, but I am guilty of over spending.  In my search for wonderful playthings, I have bought, traded, and created more than our little house can hold, and more than we can afford.  I have spent whole days, weeks, probably months trying to get everything 'organized' and put away, but I have to admit there is more stuff than we have space for.  And with 6 kids, space is precious.  Time spent with the kids is precious.  Not time spent sorting stuff.

I've already given loads to the Salvation Army, I'm selling on ebay, I've got listings going on craigslist, and I've decided to offer up some good free-bees here, if you're interested.

So stay tuned!  I'm going to go look for some good offerings for this site, maybe 1 per day.
Don't let my lovely clutter become clutter for YOUR home, though!  Tell me why you 'need' the free-bee and it'll go to the answer I like best.  Or to the first.  I don't know.  But let's see what I can find.




About Me

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Mamazakka is Mommy blogger Autumn Sousanis; also-known-as Autumn Dunbar; and also-known-as "Mama" to six little ones, ages 9, 7.5, 5, 3.5 2 and a 3 month old! :) Busy,yes. A graduate of C.C.S. (Center for Creative Studies, School of Art and Design in Detroit) with my bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, I have finally found my calling as 'Mamazakka', maker of everything and anything that might improve your home, life and outlook. :) It's my goal to create things that truly meet Wikipedia's definition for 'zakka'; (here's an excerpt)..."cute, corny, kitschy is not enough. To qualify, a product must be attractive, sensitive and laden with subtext." Oh yeah! You betcha! Well, that's my goal, anyhow! I'm also known as an over-user of exclamation marks(!) and parentheses (can't help it) though I do try to keep my smileys to a minimum :)