I am.... a closet hoarder.

I think.
I am.
I think I am a closet hoarder.
You know the type. Maybe you are one too. You get one thing that you LOVE, and then you must have more. You are not happy with just one. (This also pertains to food for me, unfortunately)
Admittedly, I am a clothes and shoes snob for my kids. I tend to buy the super cute, mostly expensive stuff when we have a little extra to spend (or for birthday's and Christmas usually). And then, when I see it on sale... I THINK I HAVE TO BUY MORE, OR IT WILL NEVER BE AVAILABLE EVER AGAIN!!!

Ayla looks adorable in anything (in my unbiased opinion), but she looks even cuter in clothes from TEA or Mini Boden, or Hanna Andersson.... you get the picture. And Google and Facebook know how to do it. They know to put those ads up for those places that taunt me with deals. Also, I "like" them on Facebook, so they themselves taunt me. Maybe I should just "unlike" them?.

I figure with the boys, it might last through two of them, right? Or if I am lucky, all three.

I look around our house and I just see a bunch of stuff though. It has been really getting to me lately, and I feel an incredible need/want to purge some stuff. But when I go to do said purging... I find that most of the stuff is GOOD stuff. You know, wooden toys that for some reason I LOVE, or toys that one of them thinks they can't live without. Or things that we may SOMEDAY need. This good stuff needs and is begging to be let go... but I find myself holding on for some unknown reason.

I think I am going to start trying to consciously make the effort to find out why I can't let go, and then try to get around it. I don't think of myself as overly sentimental. I have let go of some of the kids baby things that a bunch of people I know would not get rid of. I have decided I will keep only handmade stuff or things that I ABSOLUTELY ADORE. Maybe these rules are good to live by.

There are so many ways to accumulate stuff though, isn't there? You can buy it, or get it given to you. You can find it, or it is made. Some stuff the kids make is pretty hard to let go. What if they want to see it when they are older? What if I want to see it when they are older?
Letting go is so much harder when it is you that has to let go. Even of stuff.

The last couple of days, I have had some crazy ideas that need some extra money.... so I am going to try to save said money over the next couple years to try it. Let's see how long this lasts. We already save a decent amount of money for ourselves and the kids; we tend to live within our means (even with my buying expensive kids clothes :) ); and I think it would be a really good thing for our family.

But dreams are always nice as dreams too. Someday.

Someday, I will not be a hoarder.
Someday, I will be able to let go of the things that own me, so that I can be owned only by the things I love.
Someday.