A long time ago, I read something about 1 Cor 7:30 ( . . . those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;. . . .). The author said that we should look at all of our possessions as if we were renting them instead of as if we were owners - to put the verse in the modern vernacular. I was inspired by the concept, but I'm human & fall short.

Then, enters my Little One. She's a normal kid. She LOVES to get toys & books. And, she loves to KEEP things. And, we have a GREAT thrift store where I can buy MANY toys and books for a range of 9 cents to 69 cents each! And, well, it's really hard to turn down a deal like that. We go there often because we also buy a lot of necessities there at great prices, and it really saves the budget - but I don't want to keep every little thing forever!

So, we're drowning in kid-stuff. Way more than we could play with.

Today, I made an offer. I would buy her ONE item IF she would go home and find at least TWO similar items to donate. And, it worked GREAT! We got three small items, and we're returning about 15 items - HAPPILY!

She went through the items and talked about how much enjoyment she had gotten out of it, and how much enjoyment the next little kid will also get (we've been talking for a long time about sharing with those in need, but it's been really hard to get started on).

She really enjoyed it, I really enjoyed it, and God Willing, the next kid will really enjoy it.

An added plus, she found a great toy she has had for a long time and had forgotten - and enjoyed playing with it, too.

Now, just to see if it works NEXT TIME : )

_________________
http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/

When dd was little, we would go through her toys every six months. I found out all she really wanted to keep were her beanie babies and stuffed animals. That is it. So that is what we kept.

_________________
<a href="http://lilyslim.com/"><img src="http://swtc.lilyslim.com/G2dWbbw.png" width="400" height="120" border="0" alt="LilySlim Weight charts" /></a>

Now, if I could just get rid of stuff so easily. I keep decluttering, decluttering... and I still have way too much stuff in my home. How does that happen???

Same here!!

It was easy to get my kids to round up toys they no longer wanted to sell in a garage sale, they could keep the proceeds to buy something new. Lil dd inherited a tub of McD toys that we had accumulated through the years from her older two siblings, at 25 cents a pop you can bet she made quite a bit of change for her trouble.

_________________
"...with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

Dh calls the kid's toy room "Toys R Us". We're about to go through their toys again and take out what they don't play with. Since they are not as spoiled as they used to be and get less toys for Christmas, Birthdays, etc. they have a lot less toys than they used to, but judging by the messes they make, it's still too many! I'm about to get a big box and whatever I find on the floor at the end of the day goes into it and is either given away or given back to them at a much later date. They won't get a warning, either. Maybe that will get them to pick up their toys without being nagged at.

_________________
Mom to Christian (13), Saphira (10), Xavier (5), and Adrian (2).