My Little Pack Rat

     OK, I have a couple of problems.  According to my family, I'm a little bit of a hoarder!  However, in my defense, I'm an organized (for the most part) hoarder!  I do keep a lot of things.  Things that I'm sure I'll use, reuse, redesign and then use, and the rest is just stuff that I can't get rid of. 
     I don't keep junk, well I don't think it's junk.  Most of it is for the kids, it's hard to get of things that have memories tied to them or that I know Lily and the baby will use when they get a little bigger!  But I made a resolution that I would work on this.  And I have!
     Recently, we had a HUGE garage sale.  I cleaned out the most of the house and our garage of STUFF!  We sold so much of it.  The problem....we had so much to begin with that you couldn't tell that we had sold anything.  After the sale, I promised myself that the stuff wasn't coming back into the house or the garage.  I felt good looking at our garage and seeing it clean.  It was actually a relief to let it go.  Sure there were some items that I cringed selling, but not once did I take things off the table or out of the customers hands.  To be honest, I thought about it...but I took a deep breath and let it go!
     The items that didn't sell are being donated.  Unsold books are going to the Rockford Literacy Dept.  Unsold clothing is being donated to a shelter.  Everything else is going to the Salvation Army.  Someone else has needs for these items.  I know that I don't really need them.
     So, here's the other problem....my hoarding has apparently moved onto Chloe.  She came home the other day with her back pack full of STUFF.  It was the end of school and the kids had to clean out their lockers.  Now, Chloe is in 4th grade and really shouldn't have a lot of stuff at school.  Shouldn't is the key word.  Just take a look at what I dumped out of her backpack....

Sadly, there was no photo shopping done here!

Yes...those ARE cookie crumbs!

     This is not really everything that was in Chloe's locker.  To be honest, she had already been bringing home items for the past 2 days.  This is what was brought home on the THIRD DAY OF CLEANING!  Chloe had three water bottles, five (that's right, 5) socks, two shirts, a multitude of broken pens and pencils, chewed erasers, and some things that I had no idea what they were!  Trust me, I'm on the path to stopping this behavior.  I do not want my children to become the new family hoarder. 
     So to my family members who are reading this...quit tempting us with your crap!  If you don't want it, don't offer it to us.  If you're having a hard time getting rid of things, don't want to donate them because of the memories, I hate to tell you this...BUT WE DON'T WANT IT!  Sure we'll say yes and take it (because you give us the puppy dog eyes), but we don't need it and at this point, I don't want it in my house or my garage!