Reformed Clearance Junkie...

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The last remnants of my obsessive clearance shopping are gone.

Today I cleaned out the toy closet. It was filled with toys that I had bought during Target's infamous toy clearances and I was honestly just so over keeping them.

There was a time that when there was a big clearance sale, I would fill my cart with reckless abandon. 75% off toys were just too good to pass up and I figured that they were so cheap, why not buy them? I could give them to my kids or as presents to other kids.

That mentality, as I now see, is stupid. The toys I was buying for the future actually ended up being thing my kids weren't into- how is one to know what their kids will like in a year? I also felt cheap giving out the toys as gifts- it felt so impersonal to just pick something out of the closet because I want to save a buck. Granted, there were times that I had things that I actually wanted to give but those were few and far between.

I love giving gifts, I love putting thought into what I give and always want to recipient to like it. I also love giving my kids gifts, ones that they will like and not ones that I just gave them because I got them for 75% off. Giving them stuff I got for cheap adds to clutter and clutter is not welcome in my home anymore.

No more salivating over when Target's toys go down to 75% off for me. It is just not worth the time or effort and I don't want to bring anymore crap into my house unless it has an actual purpose. As I have proven to myself this Christmas and last Christmas, I am able to get awesome deals from my couch that get delivered to my house. My kids have gifts that I was purposeful in buying and that I know they will like and use. Any birthdays that come up for friends, we will go to the store and have a fun time picking out a gift because I think it is important for my kids to connect gift giving with putting thought into what the recipient will like- not throwing some toy into a gift bag and calling it a day.

I really hope that some children will be blessed with a wonderful Christmas from the three giant bags of toys that I donated to Toys for Tots. I know that in the future I will still take advantage of good deals to give as gifts and to donate, but there will be meaning behind what I purchase and something being on clearance is not good enough in itself.