{"id":3222,"date":"2012-09-11T06:00:41","date_gmt":"2012-09-11T11:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/?p=3222"},"modified":"2016-09-27T11:56:11","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T16:56:11","slug":"simplifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/?p=3222","title":{"rendered":"Simplifying"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC_0019\"<\/p>\n

Even plants need baths!<\/em><\/p>\n

I would not call our house cluttered by any means. But lately, I have been looking around and feeling like we just have too much stuff<\/em>. \u00a0A good deal of it is the toy situation and Emil’s constant curiosity\/short attention span (he can dump out every toy bin downstairs in 10 seconds flat. I timed him) but some of it is just what happens when we don’t stay on top of things.<\/p>\n

With every change of season comes the desire to clean every nook and cranny, and when those crannies contain unnecessary stuff, I wonder\u00a0why.\u00a0<\/em>And do we need<\/em> this stuff? Does this stuff enrich our lives or make us happier? The answer is usually no.<\/p>\n

The kids’ toy situation gets out of control the fastest, as they can accumulate so many items through gifts from family and friends. I get it. In fact, I am guilty of it! We go through a semi-annual toy purge, but this is getting a bit harder as the kids get older and know exactly what they have and want to keep it ALL. Andrew and I rarely buy them toys– we got them each two small things for their birthdays (Oliver got a tool belt and a toy car, Milo a little catapult and a toy car, Emil got a doll), and we often suggest to family to chip in for one gift for them all (like the play house) but where do you draw the line? I feel like such a schmuck asking for no gifts from family and friends- I certainly don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable or be a wet blanket. \u00a0So before the holidays approach… let’s discuss. How do you handle the influx of toys and stuff? How do you raise a child who will appreciate what he has and not get caught up in always wanting more? And finally, is it inappropriate or just plain rude to ask for no gifts for your kids? I’m so curious to see if anyone else out there thinks about this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even plants need baths! I would not call our house cluttered by any means. But lately, I have been looking around and feeling like we just have too much stuff. \u00a0A good deal of it is the toy situation and Emil’s constant curiosity\/short attention span (he can dump out every toy bin downstairs in 10 … Continue reading “Simplifying”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-living","category-motherhood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3222"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12408,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222\/revisions\/12408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}