How I Regained (some of) My Sanity

When we moved into our new house last year, I remember commenting to Erin about the odd layout of the house. It was an older style, U-shaped ranch house. Entering the front door, you were dropped into the living room. Kitchen to your right, bedrooms to your left. But supposedly, the owners decided that living room wasn’t big enough, so they added another room off the kitchen. This room was marketed as the “big family entertaining room”, but as we did our final walkthrough before purchasing, I remember asking Erin what she thought we should do with the first living room… First-world problem, I know.

Like the idiots that we were at the time, we felt our first goal was certainly to find some sort of furnishings for it. And coming from a temporal apartment nearby, we were short on “furniture for extra living rooms.” So we bought some fancy “sitting room” couches — presumably to sit on while we read our books by the fire, sipped our tea, and pretended that our kids weren’t screaming in the other room.

But as the months passed, I found myself yelling at the kids more and more: “Get off that couch! Those are our nice couches!” I could only imagine what sort of stories they’d tell their kids about their cranky old dad not letting them sit on the “nice” couches. To make matters worse, the other living room — the one we actually used — was constantly full of toys. Not wanting to deal with the wrath of “angry couch-protecting dad”, they had decided to move play time into the one room I actually wanted to sit in after a long day.

Goodbye Couches, Hello Chaos

Last week, we decided we’d had enough. Two fold: 1) I was sick at yelling my kids to stay off couches. If I’m going to bark at my kids, it’s going to be for something important like not crossing the road. 2) Coming home to a disaster of a living room was stressful.

So we put our new-ish couches on Craigslist. They sold in a day and we lost a few hundred bucks on them. But I knew the loss would be worth it. We then sat down with the girls and laid out the new ground rules: No toys in the 2nd living room…but…go crazy with the other one. And here’s the result:

Chaos. Utter chaos. I posted this picture on Instagram and got comments like “I am breaking out in hives right now.” But here’s the deal: what we’ve gained is worth it. We now have a room where our kids have free reign. They spend tons of time in here now — all 3 of them, building towers, wrestling, playing soccer, playing dress-up. It’s awesome! And I have my couch back. The one we didn’t sell. That one is comfy and free of toys beneath my feet (though a few lingering yogurt stains still linger).

What About You?

If you’re looking for more info on how to simplify all the kid stuff, check out Clutterfree with Kids

 by Joshua Becker.

We gave up something we loved — the idea of a sitting room by the fireplace — and we gained something we loved even more. We had to sacrifice a little, but the rewards were worth it. What’s something you’ve given up to make life better for your family? Is there something right now that’s preventing your family from more time together?