The Saturday Seven - #13
the three steps forward, two steps back edition
ARRGH. You wouldn't believe the hours I have spent on trying to get rid of stuff this week, and not to very much avail.
Early in the week, I did manage to part with three nursing tops and a teether, to a freecyler I've given stuff to before. But it's been downhill ever since.
First I should say that this week has been awful. AWFUL. And I'm looking forward to at least two more that are at least as busy and stressful. Then this morning was my Parents of Multiples club's semi-annual toy and clothing sale. Because I'm an officer in the club, and because the sale was happening at my church and I was the point person for that, the sale involved some volunteer hours from me. But on top of that, I decided it was high time I got rid of some of the boys' things I've been hanging onto. Including some big stuff.
A few weeks ago, we finally disassembled the boys' cribs. We had to take the changing table out, too, because they were climbing on it. Now their room consists of two mattresses on the floor, a bookcase, a dresser, and some plastic bins of toys. It is a really sad looking room to me, especially compared to the picture at the left (which doesn't show much, but trust me when I say that long ago the room was lovely and it slowly devolved as the boys grew older).
I decided to try to sell both the cribs and the changing table at the sale, along with one of our carseats (the other one went to My Old Man's new grandbaby), and several bags of clothing. All in all I took 100+ things to the sale. I won't know how much sold until I get my check in a week or two. I do know that I had to pack an awful lot of it up afterwards, including the two cribs, the changing table, and the carseat!
What kills me is how much time and money I put into this event, apparently for little payoff:
1 - approximately 8 hours of sorting, labeling, and packing
2 - 5 hours at the sale itself
3 - $2 on parking
4 - $32 on babysitting during the sale
5 - $2 seller fee
6 - $10 on stuff I bought at the sale, because I apparently can't be around stuff for so long without buying some of it
For a total of 13 hours and $46, and I would be surprised if I sold even $20 worth of things!
But the thing that was most difficult about this event was actually going through all their little things. I actually cried. They are just things, and yet each item I held brought up a wave of emotions as I remembered my little ones wriggling around in this sleeper or that. This is my constant battle: between practicality and sentimentality. My Old Man was wonderful, encouraging me not to get rid of anything I wasn't ready to yet. So I put aside one big box of things I can't part with, even though they fit no one anymore.
And apparently there's a whole lot of stuff I was ready to part with that I'm still stuck with.
So my total is up in the air for this week. Obviously there's the 4 things from early in the week. And I know I got rid of at least 7 total. But the exact total will be a mystery for a bit yet.
What about the rest of you? What do you do with baby things you can't bear to release?
ARRGH. You wouldn't believe the hours I have spent on trying to get rid of stuff this week, and not to very much avail.
Early in the week, I did manage to part with three nursing tops and a teether, to a freecyler I've given stuff to before. But it's been downhill ever since.
First I should say that this week has been awful. AWFUL. And I'm looking forward to at least two more that are at least as busy and stressful. Then this morning was my Parents of Multiples club's semi-annual toy and clothing sale. Because I'm an officer in the club, and because the sale was happening at my church and I was the point person for that, the sale involved some volunteer hours from me. But on top of that, I decided it was high time I got rid of some of the boys' things I've been hanging onto. Including some big stuff.
A few weeks ago, we finally disassembled the boys' cribs. We had to take the changing table out, too, because they were climbing on it. Now their room consists of two mattresses on the floor, a bookcase, a dresser, and some plastic bins of toys. It is a really sad looking room to me, especially compared to the picture at the left (which doesn't show much, but trust me when I say that long ago the room was lovely and it slowly devolved as the boys grew older).
I decided to try to sell both the cribs and the changing table at the sale, along with one of our carseats (the other one went to My Old Man's new grandbaby), and several bags of clothing. All in all I took 100+ things to the sale. I won't know how much sold until I get my check in a week or two. I do know that I had to pack an awful lot of it up afterwards, including the two cribs, the changing table, and the carseat!
What kills me is how much time and money I put into this event, apparently for little payoff:
1 - approximately 8 hours of sorting, labeling, and packing
2 - 5 hours at the sale itself
3 - $2 on parking
4 - $32 on babysitting during the sale
5 - $2 seller fee
6 - $10 on stuff I bought at the sale, because I apparently can't be around stuff for so long without buying some of it
For a total of 13 hours and $46, and I would be surprised if I sold even $20 worth of things!
But the thing that was most difficult about this event was actually going through all their little things. I actually cried. They are just things, and yet each item I held brought up a wave of emotions as I remembered my little ones wriggling around in this sleeper or that. This is my constant battle: between practicality and sentimentality. My Old Man was wonderful, encouraging me not to get rid of anything I wasn't ready to yet. So I put aside one big box of things I can't part with, even though they fit no one anymore.
And apparently there's a whole lot of stuff I was ready to part with that I'm still stuck with.
So my total is up in the air for this week. Obviously there's the 4 things from early in the week. And I know I got rid of at least 7 total. But the exact total will be a mystery for a bit yet.
What about the rest of you? What do you do with baby things you can't bear to release?
posted by earthchick at 1:28 PM
4 Comments:
The wife and I went through something similar a few years ago.
The funny thing is it was the clothes they wore the most that were most precious to us and these were the most worn out.
One thing we did when we sold baby clothes was sprinkle them with baby talc.
I'm so sorry you had such a rough week! I hope you are pleasantly surprised with the stuff you sold. And I can't believe the cribs and changing table didn't sell.
Hmm, I kept some of my daughters "special" outfits for 20 years!! And surprisingly, when I had my son, he wore some of daughters sleepers. they were both small baby's, and the sleepers were gender neutral.
I guess I'm the wrong person to ask about getting rid of baby stuff!! LOL.
Hang in there!
I kept some special things from girl child to girl child but since the current one is a boy - suddenly keeping things seems to take up too much room. So, I kept a few special items , send a lot to a charity rummage sale and send nice, fun items to another baby boy with promises to continue passes things on. It wasn't things that made me cry but events that can never be replaced - first walks, last days of pre-school, learning to read, rides on the bus. So, giving things away is okay -although I knit a sweater for Youngest Daughter as release when she switched to pre-k.!
Obviously I'm a bit behind on my reading here. I take a picture of the child in a special outfit (or maybe holding it if they are too big for it) and save the picture. You are doing great!
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