Not Picking Up

My three children are wonderful.  I really only have two complaints:  their volume and their stuff.

There's not much I can do about their volume besides send them outside to play.  Sometimes they will disappear upstairs and then their volume is much better.  When that happens, however, I am bound to pay for it later via their stuff.

I feel like I am constantly picking up after them or hounding them to pick up after themselves.  Either way, it is wearing me out.  Here is my latest bright idea:

I put this box in the upstairs hall about a week ago.  They all came running when they heard me throwing things into it.  I could see the panic on their faces and hear it in their voices,  "What are you doing?  That's not fair!"

Here's the deal:  I will not nag them about picking up.  I will throw anything out of place into the box.  They have plenty of time to remove items from it and put them away nicely.  Each Saturday, I will take what's still in the box to be donated.

So far, this arrangement is working for us.  We are all much happier without my nagging.  The kids are doing a much better job of picking up their stuff so not much is being put into the box.  They have even found some things they want to donate.  Less stuff!