Thursday, November 29, 2007

One small project leads to a ginormous mess...

The other day I was finally motivated/determined to re-collect all the dora doll house figures and accessories so that I could get them listed on ebay...in hopes to have a little extra spending money for Christmas, because we are pretty much broke this year. I had rounded it all up a few months ago, back around the time that Dora stuff was being recalled (ours was bought a couple years back so none of it was on the list) and wanted to list it then, but didn't get around to it so stuff got rescattered by my wonderful children. I actually knew before getting into this, that it was going to turn into quite a big project because I'm somewhat anal and have to go through every single bucket of toys in the house to make sure I have every piece that belongs to it, before I can list it. This is why I suck at cleaning because I get way into trying to get everything "organized" and end up with a bigger mess and too much stuff to know what to do with. Another reason I knew this was going to be such a big project is that I've been needing to go through the kids toys for quite some time now and weed out what has been "out grown" or just doesn't get played with....therefore taking longer than if I was just looking for the Dora stuff.

I started Tuesday. The first bucket that I went through was the geotrax train bucket and made sure all that was in there was train parts and pieces. The bucket next to it was full of misc toys but I did find atleast 2 Dora items in it. Then I moved on to the Little People bucket....which made me realize how much I need to get that stuff sorted out too and sold.

This is the mess I still have to conquer, of the Little People stuff and the contents of the misc box. The train bucket was the only one that was filled back up with what belonged in it. I even pulled out the couch in the front room and moved the chair to clean under them...they weren't too bad underneath, but a few toys had found resting spots there. I did find a 1/2 eaten pudding cup w/it's spoon behind it, and an empty chocolate milk bottle. Fortunately nothing that was moldy and growing.

After the front room was gone through, I moved on to the boys room. I wish I had a before picture, but sadly I didn't think about that at the time. There room was a ginormous mess. In serious need of being reorganized. Before I could even begin with the buckets of toys though, I had to weed through all the crap on the floor. Their room took a good portion of the day on Tuesday, but was well worth the end result...

We also rearranged the furniture in the process. That was something I always really loved as a kid...being able to rearrange my room every few months.

The actual toy box is filled w/toys that have to be put together...you know the ones that get opened, put together right away, played with for a day, then end up with pieces of it all over the house and never get put together/played with again... I used one bucket for action figures/dinosaurs and 1 bucket that you don't see, I used for some bigger toys/trucks. Here's what was weeded out and will be gotten rid of...

After I'd finished with their room, I was done for the day. I hadn't actually figured I'd get around to anything else until today, but yesterday after preschool, I started on the girl's room. Another disaster area. I still have to finish going through a couple small piles on the floor...stuff that was under the bed and behind the dresser when we moved those, but other than that, I went through the mess on the floor of their closet and through all their toy drawers and doll buckets. Alyssa is a little pack rat. I couldn't get her to part with anything it seems like. She just loves all her dolls including her big bratz babyz that she doesn't ever play with. I may just have to hang onto her stuff for forever and let her do all the parting when she's grown and moved out. I'll keep it in the garage or something. I kinda wish my mom had done that with more of my stuff, but atleast my sister and I had all of our My Little Ponys to figure out who's was who's and sell them on ebay. That was fun. I did find a bazillion and a 1/2, 1/2 to almost full water bottles in their room...

Alyssa being the culprit...mostly. This was only about 1/2 of the bazillion and a 1/2. I took the box out before we moved the bed and discovered the other 1/2. She likes to bring a bottle of water with her to bed so when she wakes up in the middle of the night needing a drink, she doesn't have to get up. I really have no problem with that, except I see now that it's a little out of hand and she needs to either bring her unfinished bottles back to the fridge in the morning, or just plain finish them before she gets a new one. Here's the "almost finished" picture of their room...

It was 10 o'clock last night by the time I got to this point and the girls were trying to go to sleep so I figured I'd finish today. My vaccuum also needs to be opened and have the belt put back on right, before I can get around to vaccuuming in there. I accidentally sucked up a sock on Tuesday, while I was vaccuuming in the boys room, which messed it up. And here's what has been weeded out and will be gotten rid of...

I may try to ebay some of it, but most will probably be put in a yard sale this Saturday, or sent to DI. I only like to sell stuff on ebay though, that I know will bring in some money. I asked Rylie if I should sell her loving family doll house that she got for her 3rd or 4th birthday....but she's not ready to part with that. That's ok though. It sits in our front room and keeps small children occupied when my Visiting Teachers come by. The kids also still get some use out of it.

So here's what I've rounded up of the Dora stuff...

The actual doll house is in the garage and I didn't feel the need to bring it in for this picture, but I will include it when I take a picture for ebay. I got really excited on Tuesday, when I looked up the Weeble's Tree House...I should be able to sell that and bring in about $30 or so. And between all the Little People stuff, we should be doing ok!

Today I need to clean a couple more areas before I can for sure list, and I may need to go through a couple buckets in the garage, who knows, but hopefully by Saturday, I'll have everything listed. If you want to check up on how I'm doing...here's my selling page... http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&since=30&userid=soupy_doop&include=0&rows=50&sort=3&completed=1

(which by the way, if you checked that out, it includes my last months worth of what I've listed and I was really glad I went ahead and listed those jeans on there. I was going to sell them at a yard sale and try to get a buck a pair...I made out much better on ebay!!)

Until next time...

4 comments:

Jenna said...

Holy cow! No wonder you've been so busy! Doesn't it feel great to de-junk though? It's one of my favorite activities. Old toys don't stand a chance around here. Good luck on ebay!

Hannah said...

Wowsers Sarah!!! You are rockin it!


Here's my secret, I don't give the kids a say in what gets thrown out. If I know they don't play with it anymore, I take it away while they're not around. I'll keep it in the garage for a month or so and if they haven't even asked where it went by then, then it gets thrown out or donated.

Raelene said...

Wow, Sarah, I know how much time that took. I need to talk to you about selling on ebay...
Love ya!

Crazymamaof6 said...

whoohooo! way to go! that is awesome you are cleaning out toys and selling them on Ebay! i have never done that but it is a super smart way to go! i don't even bother with a garage sale. but always think i should since we always are broke. but i know how much i paid and get all offended when someone offers me a buck for something i am still attached to. you are smart and impressive!
i love rearranging too while cleaning. in fact i can't clean unless i rearrange, but my hubby thinks it is stupid. but otherwise how do you get to all the junk under the beds? good job!