One of the struggles I’ve dealt with, as a woman & as a mom, is getting caught up in the habit of buying too much. I'm not going to lie! I love to shop! My family tells me that when I'm in a store, my eyes glaze over & I go into THE ZONE!
Kid’s fashion & home décor became the hottest trends when I was newly married & starting a family. When we had our first, Chloe, we lived in a little one bedroom apartment in Bloor West Village in Toronto. As moms, we loved going for coffee in the village or meeting up at Yorkdale Mall. We’d grab a Starbucks & hit the sale rack at Baby Gap. Who cared if Chloe already had 10 diaper shirts! They were soooo adorable and only $3.99!!! I'm actually saving money!!!
When I got pregnant with Max, we needed to find a bigger place – you can only have a full-size crib in your bedroom for so long! Now they are so cute & tiny & round! Our first house was a semi-detached in the suburbs of Toronto. We were so proud of our little home! As a woman, it was an opportunity to show my style & creativity. A brand new HomeSense opened down the street & you could literally buy a piece of art...cheap, matchy, matchy art , as my husband calls it, take it home, & if it didn’t look right, return it within in an hour! What else was there to do on maternity leave, in the middle of winter with little kids anyway! I mean, we could only handle so many days of diaper-smelling, sticky fingered, runny-nosed, kid shrieking indoor playgrounds - we deserved a little shop here & there for our own sanity!!!
When my third, Rachel came along, I could justify even more purchases! All 3 were exactly 21 months apart. So everything I bought for Chloe, I could get double the mileage with Rachel. When I saw an awesome deal, I bought for a year ahead. The problem was that styles started to change even more rapidly & by the time it got around to fitting her, even I didn’t like it! I used to get frustrated with the mess in their rooms and their inability to stay organized. One day I finally realized they had too much "stuff" to manage.
My kids are nearly 16, 14 & 12 & you can imagine what we've accumulated over the years. I've reflected on what got used, worn, played with & the other things that fell apart or never even got touched!
Here are some things I've found helpful in the management of "Stuff":
1. Have an ongoing list for each person in the family to keep track of what you need. Only shop from the list to avoid impulse buys. Stores hire experts to find ways to get us to impulse buy - Watch for my next blog about this!
2. Don't let yourself or your kids get into the habit of shopping for "something to do." Let's be real here, none of us can hang out at the mall & not be tempted to buy!
3. Buy clothes that go well together. This is great for kids who don't have a real sense in how to put things together - this really helped my son when he was younger!
4. Buy clothes that never really go out of style like jeans, t-shirts.
5. Only buy what you need. Kids don't need 15 hoodies - they'll only loose them anyway & they won't even care - have you looked in the lost and found at school lately???