I’m going to hang onto the art stuff for my son, but I did decide to donate many of the toys to toys-for-tots this holiday season. I should write a post about that decision, but in essence I’d rather know that a kid got joy out of them today then see them sit in a box waiting for a special occasion!

Did I miss the big announcement? Did you two finally buy a house or are you moving to a new apartment?

The worst part of purging is finding items with the original tags still attached. I found a wreath in our attic space with the tag still hanging on. We bought a new door and didn’t want to put holes in it to hang things. With the wreath way up in the attic I completely forgot about it. I’m not sure if I could have returned it, (I don’t remember when I bought it), but it still irked me to see a $30+ tag on it!

Purging definitely gives me insight into things I buy but don’t use. No more holiday decorations for me! I’m keeping everything to a minimum.

I’ve started phasing out the gift box myself, there are a few things I’ll pick up throughout the year as gifts because they’re unique but I spend very little time bargain shopping anymore so it’s naturally fallen off that way as well.

Oh those craft bins drive me crazy, but they are helpful on rainy days. I’m not sure I’ll get back any of these things I gave, but maybe another mom will have some hand-me-downs for me 🙂

I use a binder that looks something like this one. I write the name of the stores across the tabs. “Macy’s”, “Home Depot”, “Rite Aid”, “Target”, etc. I used to maintain two of these but shop more often on line and find that one works just fine. As soon as I come home I find the receipts in my wallet, purse and shopping bags and file them. It takes less than a minute or two and every time I go to the store to return something I know the receipt will be in there. Every so often, maybe every six months or so, I clean out the old receipts for stores where I know I can no longer make returns. I typically shred them.

You gave me a great idea for a new post :)!

If you’ve been giving your baby clothes away that means that you probably have friends that may be able to help you out now. Hand me downs!

Congrats on the new little one, excited for you!