Cleaning Out the Clutter -- Green Educational Family Activity

A few weeks ago, my husband and I found a brief moment of utter clarity. As we stared at the kid's toy closet -- filled from side to side and just about impossible to walk into without breaking things -- it came to us. It was time for a garage sale. I've tried before to talk the kids into giving up the toys they hadn't played with for awhile, but as soon as they'd see them, they reached an "I can't live without it" level.

So, this time, we waited to bring up the concept. We waited until the kids came and asked us if they could have this or that or just when they were vocally sharing their dreams of what they might like for their birthday or Christmas (both of which are at least 5 months away for our Winter born children). At that moment, we said, "well you know, if we sold some of your old toys, you might be able to afford that new Wii controller or that Barbie car that you're dying to have." And suddenly they were knee deep in that closet pulling out items and thinking about the price tag it could bring with it. It was amazing. It's also somewhat amusing as to how much a 5-year old feels they might get for a well-used toy! So, we did need to provide a reality check to the kids as to just how much some of these items may go for.

Going thru the enitre closet became a family affair. We had our just plain junk pile, our quarter piles (there were a LOT of these with all the Kid's Meal toys we had amassed over the years), and then we had the task of finding all the pieces to some of the larger items so that the next kid to enjoy them would have all the pieces. I'll admit, this process alone took half a day, with lots of breaks. And even funnier, my daughter had intended to sell her beautiful Dora House. But, once we managed to find the tons of furniture we had collected for the set, her willingness to let go shrunk. As I finally handed her the tree and swing set piece, she couldn't do it anymore, just saying "That's it, I'm keeping it." All in all it was great fun. We all re-experienced the memories represented by each item and the various phases the kids had gone through.

Once we were done with the kid's piece, my husband and I also became inspired. I'd heard of Feng Shui. I'll admit, I tend to be the pack rat type. Everything has a meaning and I have a hard time letting go myself (so, it's somewhat amazing that I got my kids past this). They say with Feng Shui, if you clear your home of clutter, you clear your life of clutter as well allowing the energy to flow through. A symbolic act, I have to say, once my husband and I got going, we could hardly stop. It's amazing what you can amass in a house that you've lived in for 5 or 6 years.

While we never intended to sell any of our clothes (I know that often they don't tend to account for much at a garage sale) we even went through our closets, cleaned out the old items and took them directly to Goodwill.

Finally, the day of the garage sale arrived. We all got up early, rediscussed our pricing and set everything up. My kids were pretty amazing with their items. My daughter took her two bikes (one from when she was tiny and the bigger one that was a hand-me-down from her brother, dusted them off and even wiped them down with a little Windex. She'd decided that by selling both she could money towards a newer girlier looking bike (her previous bike was named "Thunderstorm" was orange and definitely had a more masculine look). My son took his playsets out and carefully placed them out with all their action figures perfectly in place. He checked and verified the sounds were working.

Once the customers showed up, we were all "on." As the customer checked out their items, the kids were quick to answer any questions, point out features, and offering pricing. They even learned to negotiate, stating their price and then following up with "but that's negotiable." One lady even said she'd like to offer my son a job. I suppose he COULD be a good salesman one day.

In the end, we sold most of what we had. Almost all of the pieces we didn't sell went to Goodwill. Believe or not, the kids were fine with this option -- helping others especially since they had already emotionally "let go" of the toys enough to put them up for sale. I did save two items -- my son's Rescue Hero playsets. They were to be his main means of converting his toys into something new -- and for some reason we just didn't have a lot of boys that came by that day. So, if you're interested (and would like to make an 8-year old really happy) you can check out the items on craigslist at http://austin.craigslist.org/tag/739423722.html .

In the end, the kids learned about earning money and pricing things. They also got the fulfillment of helping others by donating the remaining items as well as some of their clothes. While it was alot of work, we enjoyed working on a large project as a family. And finally, it was actually a great thing to do for the environment. Instead of taking the easy road and throwing out some of these things without a thought, we've recycled them both through the garage sale and the donations. So, if you've got some time here and there and can use a little extra cash (as well as maybe a little extra space), a garage sale can be a fun way to do it. Now that my daughter has her new "girlier" bike, we're planning bike rides to the park and more. It's all good!!!

If you liked this article, you may want to check out some of our blogz related to kids at http://www.kidzaustin.com/blogz .