As we were getting ready for the holiday, I had the girls help me organize and clean up their play area. While they were eating their lunch, I started on the task. As I was straightening up their toys, I had a box over to the side where I was placing toys I know they no longer use: teapot, teacups, baby keys, some play food, etc. When they were finished their lunch and rushed down to help, (because Santa can’t deliver presents if the play area is not clean) they noticed the box and tried to convince me they needed everything in that box. I made a deal with them. “Let me put this box in the laundry room for two weeks, if you don’t ask about it or remember all the items in the box, we are donating the box.”
I love the idea of Boxing Day. It’s a tradition tracing back to Victorian times when churches often displayed a box for parishioners to place donations. In countries outside of the US it is an actual holiday. As so many new goodies arrive into our homes from the holiday, why not get rid of the treasures we no longer use?
But why stop at one day right after the holiday? January is typically a month of hibernation. Take the month to go room to room, box or bag in hand, and start to look in drawers and closets for items no longer being used by your family. Make a plan to take all the donations to the local shelter or donation center by month’s end.
When you are all done, relish in the feeling of accomplishment. Not only did you provide for someone else in need, you also cleared your home of items no longer in use, leaving more space to breathe!
