• Reflect
• Be inspired
(read on for your final assignment!)
Hello and welcome to the last day of the 7-Day Toy Cure! And welcome to mherhav who uploaded some great photos to the Flickr group. In her words: "buying more baskets is always a sign that it's time to go through the toys AGAIN." Amen!
Assignment #7:
I told you that Assignment #6 was my favorite because of the weight I feel lifted when I remove a bunch of things from my home, but Assignment #7 is probably the most enjoyable. You've done the work, you've made the choices and now it's time to sit down for a few minutes (however many you can spare!), reflect on the Cure experience and be inspired by others.
Reflect
Reflect? That sounds awful touchy-feely, but besides decluttering your home of superfluous toys, Cures are meant to teach you something about yourself, your home and the things you let enter it. If you found yourself looking at your Outbox wondering, "where did all this stuff come from?," now is a good time to think about that for a moment. I realized that one of the things I do that I had considered a virtue, is actually a vice. I love to pick up toys for my son at a local thrift shop. I figure it's better for the environment than buying new toys and it's certainly better for my pocketbook. But is it better for my home? No, I now realize. My standards for the toys I bring home from the thrift shop are lower than toys I buy because I think, "Eh, if he stops liking it in a few weeks I'll just put it on the stoop for someone else to take." Which, in theory, works except I don't do that regularly and instead the toys pile up.
Did doing this Toy Cure inspire any deep thoughts for you? I'd love to hear them.
Be Inspired
The goal of the 7-Day Toy Cure is simply to edit your children's toys, books and art supplies. And, congratulations, you've done it! But the process may have also got you thinking about how these things are stored, organized or displayed in your home. Perhaps you have a system in place that's working for you and you just needed to weed your toy inventory a bit - terrific. But if, like me, you realize there's room for improvement, I wanted to leave you with an inspiration gallery of smart and beautiful home organization. Take a peek. The first two rows are toy storage, the third is books and the fourth is arts & crafts.
Parting Thoughts
I recently stumbled on an old post, inspired by Martha Stewart.com, about having a donation bag (akin to a permanent Outbox) in your home. Doing a full-on Cure every once in awhile is a great idea, but editing your home should be a part of daily life too.
Finally (and this is not part of your assignment), consider buying a new toy or book or box of crayons to celebrate completing the 7-Day Toy Cure. It's a nice way to show your child that there's a reason to get rid of toys - so that you can enjoy new toys in the future. My advice: choose something small!
(Images as credited in original posts)
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Beatriz's Fun & Functional Workspace
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
How to Make Easy 3-Ingredient Energy Bars at Home
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
Thanks so much for doing this series. I had just started a bag of stuff to go out when you posted the first day. I was inspired to let a lot more go (7 grocery bags full) and am thrilled to have the space and less clutter. I would not have gone through the books and art supplies without your posts. We will likely have an influx of more stuff this fall with two birthdays, Hanukkah and Christmas, so I'm thrilled to be ahead of the game. :) Now, to get the "out" toys off the front porch so the kids don't discover them!!! Oh, and I have empty bins for the first time ever!!
So glad ninaax! You just made my day.
Where did the chalkboard labels come from on the silver buckets?
I've seen those labels on etsy - just look up chalk board labels and you'll find a nice assortment of shapes and sizes.
I've not been following the cure. In fact, I don't even have kids.
But, all the organizational photos are great and very inspiring for lots of home projects. Thanks.
Trying to catch up!! :)
This was an awesome series--thank you! You inspired me to seriously edit my kid's bookshelves and rethink what I want to bring into our home (I'm also a thrift store book junkie). After working on the shelves, I actually moved on to my closet and have gotten rid of half of it! It feels great and I like that you brought up the importance of reflection at the end of this process. Thanks again! vanessa
I have been following this cure though I didn't make it to the donation bins today I have cleared 4 garbage bags worth of toys. some were broken or missing parts, most of the volume were gifted stuffed toys given to us at the birth of our children. I was keeping them because they were gifts, but in the years of them taking up a cubic meter of my home I have never once seen a child play with them, it was so cathardic to finally commit to them going to good will and the playroom looks better & more fun in their absence.
Carrie, I really enjoyed your posts too ! We're caught in a major kitchen reno, but I saved them, and intend to do the cure once I can have access to my living room...
Thanks for the feedback everyone - so nice to hear about your successes and also from those of you who are going to try the Cure in the future.
@jocelynaus - 4 bags, wow! If I had one, I'd give you a Toy Cure blue ribbon! Another thing doing this made me think about were the kinds of things I give to other kids as gifts. I bet you'll never give a new baby a stuffed animal now!
@sillyeaglebooks - see you at the thrift shop (not!)
@Rocket Scientist, @Lizzykewl & @Loora Thanks for following along! Good luck!
The link to the Cure posts will be on our sidebar for some time so it should be pretty easy to find again in the future.
This was a great series. My baby's only 10 months and she still returns to her "little baby" toys (plus we hope to have another) so a purge feels premature, but you have inspired me to remain vigilant about keeping things moving. (I probably need to rethink my thrifting standards as well.)
I finally finished! Amazing how one grandparent's trip to a yard sale can necessitate some major purging! But thanks to the Toy Cure we now have room for our the awesome train table my mom got at said yard sale (for TWO DOLLARS). Will be uploading the video of my son seeing it in his room for the first time soon!
thanks this got me motivated to do my sons room which badly needed it, I didnt post to anything else and I didnt exactly do it in increments ( i go full out and only had one room to do no playroom or anything) and you were almost done with the 7 day cure, but we did donate a garbage bag and a half plus tossed a bunch of broken toys away (maybe a quarter to half a garbage bag) it's so much easier now and we even have some empty bins now! I also made room for a train "table" small coffee table that fit his track perfectly!