One person's junk is another person's.....junk.

My kids are collectors. Oh, not stamps or coins or trading cards. Nope. What they collect is garbage. I kid you not.

You cannot throw a toilet paper roll out in this house without someone pilfering it and making it into "something." A spyscope, an animal, a snowman. Many, many uses for the common toilet paper roll.

Every scrap of fabric or paper becomes something else. Doll clothes. A boat. A card. String? Heavens! Don't throw THAT out. It's tied around a Webkinz neck to lower him from the first level to the second. It's a collar. It's beaded for a bracelet.

Yes, yes. They are ingenious. Creative kids I surely have. They use their imaginations and come up with any odd number of ideas for any random piece of "whatever" that I intend on throwing out.

The problem occurs because these creative geniuses live in MY house. And when you are anal, seeing a toilet paper roll with tape and string stuck to it is not an animal with hair. It's a toilet paper roll with tape and string stuck to it. Oh, I admire their foresight and their inventive natures. But, can't they make it and then promptly throw it out? Does it really have to LIVE in our house for a week?

It's come down to two solutions so that we can all live happily and sanely in our home, without squashing imagination and creativity. Solution number one involves the said article of splendour staying for a week. After that time, I take some pictures of it with our digital camera so that we can see the masterpiece "for life!" and the actual piece goes into the trash. The other solution involves me stealthily hiding toilet paper rolls at the bottom of the garbage. If I have some paper that isn't being used, it goes up high in the cupboard where only I can access it. String is rolled up into my fist like a magician's slight of hand trick. And VOILA, it disappeared into the garbage pail! Magic!

It's a constant struggle between nurturing their love of all things crafty and artistic, and still keeping my anal retentiveness satisfied with a clutter free home. It's an ongoing battle, but one I intend to win! Paper towel rolls be damned!