At Thanksgiving time, we go through the kids rooms (two daughters, now ages 12 and 10), and then get all the things that they no longer want/need/use that we give to a local shelter. This is GREAT because their toys and things are always in great shape, and they know that the kids at the shelter don’t have much, and so this giving at the holidays will be well appreciated. (If there is stuff that doesn’t seem appropriate for the shelter population, we take the rest to Goodwill.)

In the spring, right after school is out, we do another major clean-out, but this time for our annual June garage sale. We always buddy up with our neighbors, and let the entire block know so that sometimes there are several families involved. The girls get to keep the “profits” from anything of theirs that is sold. They also usually bake cookies and make lemonade which they sell at their table. It’s a great way for us to clear clutter, spend a captive day in the driveway with our neighbors, and the girls have fun with it too, negotiating prices and counting the money at the end of the day (and trying to not eat all the cookies themselves!) If we’re collecting money for a cause, they’ll put some of the money toward that (last year they put half the money they “earned” into our collection for the Smile Train, which we sent once we’d accumulated $250.)

Cleaning out the old books, toys, and collectibles twice a year really helps keep things under control!