I enjoy receiving little presents from my children, but as a work-at-home mom, my office is overflowing with them.
What do you do with all the presents your children give you for your home office?
About this Alpha WAHM Blogger: Candy is the owner/operator of OffAssist and brings to it a background heavily steeped in bookkeeping for small to mid-sized businesses. OffAssist began as a concept in 1999 and officially opened its doors in 2002. Candy credits her success to her amazing family and friends, who have stood by her while growing OffAssist into what it is today. Candy served on the Board of Directors of the International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA) from 2005 to 2008 in a variety of roles: Historian, Vice-President, and President. She is also the founder of 2 Minutes with a VA and the Texas Virtual Assistants League (TexVAL). 
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t have kids, but I do have a similar problem: I love toys. I buy them for myself all the time, and I have to keep myself on a short leash or my home office does become overrun.
I dream of one day redoing my office with short bookshelves all the way around the room, just to display all my toys – they won’t be clutter, they’ll be décor. Until then, though, I use a rotation system.
Some of my toys are favorites, and they stay all the time – like Daniel the penguin on his skateboard in-between my monitors, my little blue duck, and the lobster that lives in my inbox.
Then there are the toys of the moment – whatever are the newest things I’ve bought. I have a toybox – my toybox – here in the office, and as I buy new things, I move the older ones to the toybox. They don’t go anywhere – they’re always here for me to play with (and I do, especially if I’m stressed – also when I’m on the phone) just not out on the desk. I’ve set aside a certain amount of space for them, and when it’s full, it’s full.
Maybe something similar would work for you. Get yourself a toybox – Mommy’s special toybox – and maybe let them decorate it for you. Decide how much space you’ll dedicate to gifts, and divide it between your “permanent” items (whether they’re permanent because you want them to be, or because someone else insists that they be) and to the transient ones.
If you’re anything like my mom, when you get a new gift from one of the kids, there is an obligatory “Oh my, I just love it!” dance. You know what kind of psychology works on your kids. If “Oh, I have to have it on my desk, but what will I move to the toybox? What do you think?” would work, go that route – if not, just move whatever the oldest item is to the toybox and replace it with the new. (Whether that happens dramatically in front of them as the new item takes its place of honor, or quietly when they’ve gone.)
A nice touch, if it would work, might be to let them “catch” you “enjoying” one of the old gifts from the toybox every so often – put a reminder on your Google Calendar or something. That way, they’re reassured you really do appreciate their gifts, and aren’t just tossing them in a box in the corner.
Whatever it turns out to be, I hope you find something that works for you.
Nice blog. It was nice watching the video on your blog. keep on posting.
Hmmm… I like the toybox idea… I might just try it! I have a pixo (those are the little round things that you stick together with water) flower and 12 million other crap things just laying around. It’s driving me complete mad. I’ll have to find me a toybox! Duh!