It's that time of year again. It's pre-Christmas clearance time.

I am not talking about any kind of sale at a store. I am talking about the clearance of all of the toys my kids do not play with anymore to make room for the new ones Santa Claus will bring.

My house looks like Toys 'R' Us on any given day. We store toys in a bin-like shelf in the living room. We have a bookshelf with books, games and small toys, along with a "coloring station" in the dining room. The kids have their own room, and there are a few places where we put containers of toys. And there is so many that my mother hounds on me to get rid of them. She says I have so many that the kids do not know what to play with.

At my mom's house, the kids have only a play kitchen, about 15 books, some toy cars, some baby toys and an old Little People house with figures. My kids play intently for hours over there. Unreal, huh?

Back at home, the kids have all the toys they could ever want. Some lay untouched. Thank goodness I didn't break the bank and buy all of the toys new. I am a garage sale and flea market junkie. I get their toys so cheap that it is a shame to NOT buy them. Every weekend in the summer I come home with something "new" from a sale. My husband said it is a sickness.

Come Christmastime, I can see how bad my sickness is. I KNOW a lot of them have to go. And, sigh, my mom is right -- they kids DO have too many toys -- so much that they really don't play with them all, nor do they concentrate on one thing for a while.

So a few weeks ago, I began the Rodriguez Great Pre-Christmas Clearance.

It isn't as hard as it sounds. I know which toys fell under the "forgotten" category -- the ones at the bottom of the toy box, left behind the bed. The cheap and cheesy toys from McDonald's were easy to pitch. Also, games with too many missing pieces and toys the kids outgrew. I bagged them up for a future yard sale. So far, there are about six garbage bags in my basement. Yeah, it is THAT bad.

But sometimes it was hard for me to bag up toys that reminded me of my son's and daughter's younger days. I became attached to the rattles and teethers my 13-month-old just doesn't play with anymore. Sigh. There isn't a baby in this house any longer. I decided to keep a couple of little toys to remind me of the baby days, and tossed the rest into those garage sale bags.

I have really cut down on the amount of toys. But I can see a lot that can still go. We'll wait and see what Santa brings.

So, if you are looking for cheap toys come May, I can give you directions to my house!