Sometimes, it feels as if toys breed more toys, but in reality, all toys that our kids have are either bought by us, by close friends or family, or inherited from someone else.
The hard truth is that all their toys are there because you’ve accepted them in your home. But enough is enough. There’s only so much space in your house or apartment, and your kid can only play with so many things at once!
If you’re struggling to figure out what toys your kids' love, what they use all the time, what’s rarely used, and what’s not been touched for months — then this post is just what you’ve been searching for.
Welcome to the ultimate guide to toy decluttering!
The first step when trying to declutter your home and the toy repertoire is to immediately ban toy shopping! Tell your kids’ gran, uncle and godmother that there’s no more space for toys in your home and that there’s a temporary ban on bringing toys when they come to visit.I know this seems quite impossible in the run up to Christmas and all, but if you're looking for alternative gift ideas for the kids why not read my post on 10 gift ideas for kids that aren't toys.
Once the incoming flow of new stuff has been stopped it’s time to go through what’s already in the house. To make things a little less overwhelming, follow this 5 step process:
Categorise all toys
Before you designate a full week to go through all toys that have ever set their little plastic boots, paws or wheels in your home — think about your kids' attention span.
You’re going to want your kid to take an active role in sorting through toys. Breaking everything up into categories or collections is a great way to work your way through toys slowly but steadily and it can really help keep spirits and productivity high. List all the different types you’re wanting to sort, i.e. dolls, cars, Lego, cuddly toys, bath toys, sandbox toys etc. Strategically plot these categories into your calendar and work through them one by one with the little ones.
Something that will keep both all kids and adults involved happy for longer is snacks. Throw some popcorn (not literally) and good music into the mix and you’re flying!
The sorting machine
When you’re sorting through your collections of toys, have three boxes lined up:
One box for toys that your kid uses every day
One box for toys that he/she uses regularly
One box for toys that have not been used for a long time
Now, there’s no throwing away anything yet, unless of course it’s broken or of no value to you or your kid.
Keep the most used box out and put the two other boxes into storage
The box of never/ rarely used toys is probably good to go off to charity or to be donated to another family but maybe keep it for a week or so to see if your kid requests anything from the box.
Keep the box of toys that are used sometimes in the house and only take things out of there when your kid asks for them. You’ll slowly be able to move these ‘sometimes used toys’ on to the never used box and slowly filter away things your kid doesn't need.
Keep a lookout for keepsakes
You’ll likely find you kid binning all sorts that you think have sentimental value, are handmade or have a special importance to you.
Keep a small box of toy keepsakes and old favourites for when your kids grow up and maybe have their own kids one day.
Purge often
To make sure your home stays decluttered, be sure to purge often and only allow a minimum amount of new toys into the home.
No one needs 17 boxes filled with toys, not to mention all the toys that are too big to fit into the boxes in the first place!
Whenever Christmas and birthdays come around, be a little extra thorough to really clean out the home, this way stuff doesn't build up too much and all the toys will (hopefully!) get played with at one time or another.
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