Wannabe Balanced Mom

Crystal Escobar

· in Fashion· Giveaways· Mom Stuff· Saving Money

Spring Forward

Don’t ya just LOVE spring!!!
I’ve been working my way around the house pursuing the yearly SPRING CLEANING. Cleaned my car out, swept out all the accumulated leaves and dirt in the garage, cleaned the basement, going through old clothes and toys, getting RID of stuff. I feel an overload with STUFF everywhere, toys, gadgets, clothes, ect. SIMPLIFY is the word going through my head as I weed through the piles and piles of unnecessary things we tend to collect over time. It seems like such a daunting task at first, but the results are so refreshing.
A while back I took a friends advice to pack away a huge box of toys for about 6 months or so. It was AMAZING what happened. I pulled out this box as I was packing for our trip, and threw a bunch of the old toys in a suitcase. The excitement my daughter had when I unloaded them on our trip was just priceless. She had completely forgotten about ALL the toys. It gave me that same giddy feeling I get when I save money. We usually buy a few new toys before trips for the kids to have something fun to entertain themselves while in the hotel room, plane ride, or car ride. So, in reality, I DID save money. My husband and I were secretly laughing feeling as though we’d fooled them into thinking we went out and bought them new toys 🙂
I have a new rule that I’ve been following for about a year now. I learned it from Peter Walsch from the TLC show, Clean Sweep. He says, “When you talk about ‘spring-cleaning,’ it really makes it an event rather than a process, I’m much more a fan of the concept that spring-cleaning or organizing is something you have to tackle in a little way every day.”
That is exactly what I’ve been doing over the past year. He advises to get rid of an item every time you buy something new. I’ve found this to be VERY helpful and has kept the clutter to a minimum, in my closet that is, haven’t quite been as diligent when it comes to the toys. We have an older home so unfortunately it didn’t come with many walk in closets. I think its been a good thing though, because I believe that the more space you have, the more stuff you buy to FILL the space. When you have TOO much stuff, you eventually forget about it or where you once placed it, and end up buying the same items over and over. Now each time I buy a new article of clothing I find an old one I don’t wear much anymore and stash it away in a bin. Once the bin is full, I either donate them, give them to my sisters, or I’ve even taken them to PLATO’s CLOSET a few times. I walked away with $40 cash once!!! That was pretty exciting!
So, as I was cleaning out and sifting through everything I realized that I need to start doing this with the toys as well.
I went through the entire house and made groups of toys.
Do you think Lily has enough babies?
I don’t think she’d want this many in REAL life so WHY so many dolls???. It’s totally unnecessary, so I’m getting rid of some and packing up at least half and storing it away for about a year.
hmmmmm, maybe it can be her Christmas this year 🙂
Everytime Sean goes to the store he buys Oliver a new ball. I think he’s got enough now but Sean doesn’t seem to think so 🙂
In the process of my spring cleaning, I came across this purse that I LOVE, bought it last spring, only used it for a few months,

then of course had to buy a new one for the fall 🙂

and now it’s spring again, so I felt like I needed a NEW one.

I spent $90 on the first one, but have come to terms with the fact that it will probably just sit in my closet and never get used again. Changing purses is fun, and I know I’ll keep finding one I like more each season. So, what I thought I’d do, was offer it to one of you! I will make it a giveaway!!! I’ll keep this going until the 1st of May.
By the way, I got the white and maroon purse from this awesome Boutique I love, you can go to my friends facebook page, see pictures of what she has right now, and ask her where the next open house is. She also has tonz of cute clothes, shoes, and accessories.
I got the pink one from Boehme Boutique at the mall. I love that place. Find so many cute things there.
Okay, so, here’s how to enter to win the WHITE purse. (you can find all the icons you need at the top of my page) Leave a comment for one entry, and here’s a list below of things you can do for more chances to win (leave a comment for each thing you do).
  • Become a follower of this blog
  • Become a Fan on Facebook
  • Subscribe to this blog via email (in sidebar)
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Subscribe to my Youtube channel
  • Mention this giveaway on your blog, twitter, or facebook.
  • Or vote for me on top mommy blogs (you can vote once a day and leave a comment each time if you want)

Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

signature

87 Comments

You Might Also Like:

Comments

  1. Girl…I am right there with ya on the clutter thing! We didn't build enough closet space at all! My toy room…looks awful right now. As a matter of fact…I am on my way to fix it right now! UGH! I like the idea of getting rid of one thing when you buy an new thing! I am gonna try that out!

    Reply

  2. okay you just inspired me to do some more spring cleaning! I actually organized toys yesterday….I took everything out of the room and started with clean slate! I figured it was time to donate all our baby toys being that my baby is now 2!!!

    Next up is closets…ick!
    Oh and a girl can never have too many baby dolls!

    Reply

  3. Great job on your organizing 🙂 I love the idea of putting things away for a while & surprising them later. Isn't it amazing how many of one thing you can come up with when you put all like things together? I do this in my closet & find about 17 black tank tops – duh!! Oh, and makeup… don't even get me started.

    Reply

  4. I really like that purse! I will have to check out your friend's FB page. Well, I am already subscribed to your Twitter, FB & YT from your past fundraiser, so I subscribed via email & voted for you!

    Reply

  7. So true!!!
    I have started to clean out some extra things and organize too. We are working on getting our basement finished so there are a million things upstairs all over the house- I am going insane- LOL!
    By the way- those purses are to die for- SOOO CUTE!!!

    Reply

  12. I love decluttering. I need to bring some clothes to platos closet. We have a once apon a child that is great, but I have never thought of bringing clothes to platos (sp?) I have a ton of stuff from high school that I dont wear any more. I also need to get in the mood to start my spring cleaning!! I am hoping to get a lot done today.
    Kelly

    Reply

  14. It's just been five months since we moved and already I feel like I have to go through the kids clothes again.

    No giveaway for me thanks. I have to do some unloading myself. 🙂

    Reply

  15. props to you for organizing. Ava has SOOOO many toys also. I need to have a yard sale or something. I LOVE LOVE THAT PURSE! Even though I rarely win anything, I'm gonna try!

    I am a blog follower!

    Reply

  19. ok i want the middle one but will take the white one. hee hee.

    love you and keep up the good work. honestly i find my kids really do not need so much. they play better when there is less around. i have been decluttering since we moved and it's so nice and so much less clean up. kids would rather be outside anyways.

    Reply

  31. You are so cute and your blog is funny!And now I need to do my spring cleaning and really don't want to! oh well. Love ya BFF Monique 🙂

    Reply

  32. Great idea to give away a gorgeous purse like that on your blog! I HATE cleaning but I'm pretty good at keeping the clutter down. I might start to enjoy vacuuming though. We just moved into a new house with central vac and it's so much easier, I already vacuumed twice! I wonder how long that will last…

    Reply

  33. I love cleaning things. All year round. I am a big purger. And definitely agree with the whole concept of getting rid of something when you get something new. It's a concept I've had to drill into my husband (who has too many shoes). It's starting to work, though!

    Reply

  34. my son is the same way with collecting balls – we've got them coming out of our ears…and you are wise to enjoy your limited closet space; if the extra space is there – you WILL fill it up (as we have done 🙁

    Reply

  39. Cute blog and a little inspiring — watch out toy room, here I come! (p.s. does anyone ever think about Toy Story when getting rid of old toys? I have to admit it sort of gives me a complex!)

    Reply

  40. I did my spring cleaning too early. It didn't last all spring. My house needs cleaning again. (Isn't that how spring cleaning is supposed to work?!?)

    Anyway, I've got an award for you over at my place. Come pick it up when you get the chance.

    Reply

  41. Oh I am TOTALLY feeling you! All this warm weather & sunshine is making me believe I need to CLEAN, CLEAN & CLEAN some more. I also have this GREAT URGE to go through everything I own and start to declutter and organize it all!!

    Reply

  46. Love it! I am working all thru my house too, tackled my closet and it felt soooo good to get rid of a bunch… I also got rid of all my kids noisy toys and they didn't even notice!

    That purse is adorable- i will be needing a new one, now that I got rid of almost all of mine!

    ~Lily

    Reply

  54. Girl! I dont know how you do all that you do in a day! I am proud to say I know someone SO AMAZING! I will try to be a better friend and keep in touch more! CRYSTAL AND KATIE, REAL BABES! LOL!

    Reply

  62. Thanks for the tip on putting some toys away in a bin. I'm going to have to do that this week. My friend tried to get me to do a 5 toy challenge, but I don't know if I could handle it.

    Stopping by from SITS

    Reply

  85. Great giveaway Crystal!!! such a cute purse!!! 🙂 I am a fan on fb, I am a follower, I also voted for you I think like a week or 2 ago. I typically do not win things like this but I thought I would try. Thanks for the oppertunity! 🙂

    Reply

  87. I also voted for you!

    If anyone who is spring cleaning in Utah (from Draper to Brigham anyway) has anything they want to donate to my yard sale fundraiser for our next adoption, I'll pretty much take anything. Just let me know!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected!

Welcome!

Thank you for stopping by! I love connecting with other like minded women. This website is all about how to become the best version of yourself as you strive for balance in motherhood, business, and overall personal growth. Let’s work together! Email me at crystal@escoweb.net

Subscribe To The Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from Wannabe Balanced!

You have Successfully Subscribed!