Comments on: Cutting through the Clutter of Toys

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:44:31 +0000

When my boys were little I divided all their toys into three laundry baskets. One train, truck, car, motorcycle, a couple of balls and so on. Each week I would switch baskets while they were asleep. This way they still had all their toys but it had been a few weeks since they had seen them – they were new all over again!

By: caron sorrels

caron sorrels — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:29:07 +0000

Please save the small toys roe the shoebox collection at your local church. My sister does these ever year for children abroad. Small toys are a must for small boxes. thanks

By: Crystal

Crystal — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:00:38 +0000

I love the shelf you used for toy organization! Do you know the dimensions or remember where you purchased it? It doesn’t look like it takes up much space width wise, but still holds a lot.

By: Mona

Mona — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:37:17 +0000

I really need help in this area. I have three kids, 7, 4 and 3. Our house is swarming with toys. I know I need to downsize. It’s easy for me to get rid of broken or junky toys, but the rest (and there’s a lot) I can’t decide what to get rid of. We have lots of play sets (Strawberry Shortcake, Pet Shop Pets, barn with animals, doll house, Bat Cave, Firehouse set, Tool bench, Kitchen with food, matchbox car city set, etc) I live in a townhouse, so rotating would be difficult. And just when I think a toy set hasn’t been played with for a while and maybe we can donate it….one of my kids gets it out and plays with it! But even if they have finally played with something, I know I don’t necessarily have to keep it. But what do I keep and what do I get rid of? I absolutely notice that they have trouble settling in to play with anything and cleaning up. The toys get strewn across the basement. My husband has told me for years, there’s just too many toys. I think I need an intervention!

By: Sharleen

Sharleen — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:12:46 +0000

I have to say I have learned a lot from this post and reading on the privious responses. I did have to laugh each time when you ladies said you finally have your house back, I am the opposite. I feel my house is for the kids, there place to play and imagine. I have only one little one my other is now an adult, boy where did the time go, but we watch my sister-in-laws 2 all the time. I do not like messes either, that is not what I’m saying, but I do like it when they express themselves creatively. So in my house my living room has 2 swings, yup, 2 regular swings hanging from a beam and the kids have the most fun on them and the great part is they can swing on rainy days and when it’s dark. The wall in my hallway has pictures and a mirror on top and a 10′ x 4′ chalboard on the bottom half, I used the chalkboard paint, my kiddo is an artist. I have bins in the room with toys sperated out too, this was the best thing I ever did, now if I can just get the hubby to be like me and insist on only one bin at a time, that would be great. I do like the idea of moving the toys to another location though, that would help limit the messes.

By: Shirley

Shirley — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:19:40 +0000

These are great ideas! I have an extra problem — my 3-yr old son is high, high energy and a “dumper & flinger.” We have baskets to sort books and toys but it’s like he has a pathological need to empty them. He dumps them out, flings the contents to the far corners of every room. Any suggestions, beyond severely limiting the number of toys/books/etc.?

By: Charlene

Charlene — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:26:30 +0000

I bought 3 identical totes, and split my son’s toys into them. He gets to have one tote down each month, but here’s the key – before we rotate them, I have my son bring all his toys from all over the house, and we sit together and go through them.

I pick 3 toys that are similar in size or type, set them out in front of him. He gets to choose 2 to put back in the bin, and 1 for garbage or donation.

Sometimes I’m sneaky, and put two good toys out, and one happy meal toy, and the happy meal toy almost always goes away.

Great way to keep the clutter down, and teach my child about donating to help others. We started doing this when he was about five or six. I need to implement it with my 3 year old pretty soon – her toys are all over the place!

By: Losaline Latu

Losaline Latu — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:45:23 +0000

I totally agree with you 110% I did the same thing after Christmas.I am tired of picking up toys, and stepping in them! I did the same exact thing throwing away, and storaging guys, animals, and so forth. The one thing that has helped me though was I stored them above in a closet and I have made it a privilege to play!If they earn it I will take it down. The way they can earn is by picking up toys after they play they will be able to play with the next time they ask! The other thing is, there is a time limit if they are good I let them play toys for an hour, usually while I’m cooking dinner.Afterwards we have fun playing clean up!

By: three4me

three4me — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:58:28 +0000

I am the daughter of a hoarder, fortunately I can get rid of things, but I have trouble just throwing away a toy because a few pieces are missing, especially when I know the piece will show up. When my children were little the toys were manageable because there were no “chokables” and I could sort all the pieces into bins in just a few minutes. But as the kids get older, the pieces get smaller. Then a few years ago I went back to school and kept working. My DH thought he was helping by gathering up all the little pieces and loading them into storage tubs. He did this about once a month. This led to the great accumulation of toys with missing pieces (that were somewhere in the tubs, all 10 of them!) that I wouldn’t get rid of (the toy was perfectly good if we found the pieces) and no-one could play with. This summer I finally had time to deal with the problem, I dumped all the tubs out and have so far spent about 20 hours sorting, sorting, sorting. But it is gratifying to hear the kids say, “Oh mommy, that’s so cool, I loved this toy, now I can play with it again.” Now we have put garage shelving along one wall of the bonus room and have all the toys in big see through tubs, (barbie stuff, little stuffed animals, little cars, games, dress up clothes, doll house furniture, legos, etc.) Now I am a nazi about them only getting down one tub at a time and cleaning it up right after.

As far as whether to include older kids in sorting out little pieces, I say yes and no. Yes when you need them to remind you what toy goes to what and to teach them to organize. No when you are deciding what to get rid of, because they like to keep everything. My son is only just now learning to part with things voluntarily and he is ten. I tried to encourage the girls, but they have separation anxiety to their toys and I feel like if I force them, they will become like my mother and start holding onto everything!

By: lovingmomof2

lovingmomof2 — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:26:04 +0000

I love this post. It is amazing how much clutter affects our lives. I still have a clear image in my memory of the first time I realized clutter had such a hold on my life. My hubby and I had been married about 3 years and we were finally able to get some decent living room furniture (we had been using a $20 set from a yard sale and it was past its use). We decided to go with an armoir instead of an entertainment center with shelves. No longer having the space for all those nick nacks, I had to get rid of some and only keep the ones that I loved. It was amazng, the next day I had so much energy. I felt fresh and renewed. It didn’t take me long to realize all those things stuffed on my entertainment shelves although they were pretty were adding stress to my life. Thus began my decluttering lifestyle. Now I think I drive my hubby crazy on occasion, because I am always picking something up and aksing “do you use this? do we need to keep this? if you aren’t going to use this in the next couple of months can we get rid of it?” I have also been teaching my children (5 and 4) to de-clutter. Once a month we go through their toys, broken toys get thrown out unless it is a favorite that can be fixed (hasn’t happened yet), toys they no longer want that are in good condition go in our get rid of pile and the toys we want to keep get put back in their baskets. My kids will even bring me toys and say “I want another little kid to have this now, I am done with it”.

What do we do with all of our get rid of item? We have one yard sale a year, but not your usual yard sale. I like to call it my ‘Make an Offer’ yard sale or my ‘Donation’ yard sale. These yard sales usually go over really well. What ever is left gets given away or donated.

For kid gifts we like to do consumables like crayons, coloring books, art supplies. My kids go through these things so fast and it is nice to know that it is not going to add to the clutter.