Too Many Toys
I've just had the BEST day!
Now what could be so great that I had to write a lens about it? Well, I spent over 10 hours decluttering kids toys! Yes, that's right, over 10 hours!
You would think that after spending that amount of time I would be exhausted, but the opposite is true. I actually have more energy at the end of the day than I did when I started.
Impossible you say? Well, let me tell you how I managed to clear out over 6 garbage bags full of toys and still kept my sanity. Not to worry... all the toys found new homes and I'll tell you how.
Today I had enough. We often have many toys scattered across the floor of our playroom and by the end of each day the kids bedrooms look like a bomb has gone off. Well... not any more!
Now what could be so great that I had to write a lens about it? Well, I spent over 10 hours decluttering kids toys! Yes, that's right, over 10 hours!
You would think that after spending that amount of time I would be exhausted, but the opposite is true. I actually have more energy at the end of the day than I did when I started.
Impossible you say? Well, let me tell you how I managed to clear out over 6 garbage bags full of toys and still kept my sanity. Not to worry... all the toys found new homes and I'll tell you how.
Today I had enough. We often have many toys scattered across the floor of our playroom and by the end of each day the kids bedrooms look like a bomb has gone off. Well... not any more!
A Bit About Me...
And my four kids!
I'm a mom of four young kids. Our oldest is a girl and just turned 9. She is followed by her three brothers ages 6, 4 and 2.Needless-to-say we have a lot of toys that have made their way into our house over the past few years. They tend to sneak in at Christmas and during birthdays.
When I first landed in "Mommyland" I often wished I had someone in my life who could share their experience with me. It is because of that wish that I now write what I've learned along the way in an effort to help the next set of women who find themselves in my shoes.
Me And My Blog
I love my blog, and if you are a mommy (or daddy) you may like it too.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byCleaning Up The Playroom
4 Kids And Too Many Toys!
There have been many days that I have felt overwhelmed by the amount of toys we have in our house. Tidying them up at the end of the day was no longer a quick chore and we found ourselves leaving the playroom a mess until the weekend rolled around so that we could devote more time to tidying it up.What I've realized is that the kids don't even play with half of the stuff we have. They just have to throw it out of the toy box in an effort to find what they really want to play with.
The mess was starting to feel like a heavy burden and it was not a pleasant way to live. But the thought of spending a day clearing out the toys was even more overwhelming. Not only did I have to reunite missing toys pieces with their long lost counterparts, but I had to do this all the while convincing my children that getting rid of toys was a good idea. This wasn't going to be easy.
I waited until the kids were on spring break and we had nothing better to do. I gave them the weekend to enjoy themselves, and decided that Monday morning we would tackle the big job. I had a game plan in mind and after breakfast on Monday I told the kids my plan.
Decluttering Your Toys Game Plan
- The Plan.
Sit the kids down and tell them your plan. Everyone has to be on board otherwise it won't work.
- Set Up Mission Control.
Pick a large room in your house that will become mission control. For me it was the basement.
- Gather.
Ready for this... bring every single toy in your house into the mission control room. Yes, that's right. Every single toy, piece of a toy, stuffed animal, colouring tool, if they play with it you bring it. Everything!
- Sort, Sort, Sort.
Create piles around the room for each and every category of toy. Stuffed animals, cars, dolls, lego, plastic animals, etc. When you are done with this task you will see exactly how many stuffies you have. We had over 40. Hello!!!
- Sift, Sift, Sift
Once everything is sorted and your kids can see that they really don't need over 40 stuffies you begin to sift through each individual pile. You will need two bags: one for garbage and one for donations.
Have your kids go through each pile, one at a time, and decide what stays and what goes. If they put something in the stay pile, then challenge them to match that by putting something in the donate pile. This works very well.
And please... if it is garbage, throw it in the garbage bag. Charities get a lot of junk donated and they have to then pay for its disposal. Be fair and just throw it out.
- Put Away
Once a pile has been sifted through, take all of the items that are to stay and put them away immediately before you move on to the next pile.
- Finish
Once you are done sorting, sifting and putting away everything that is staying you must immediately deal with the toys that are ready to leave your house. If you have a friend that wants your old legos... drive it to her house immediately.
I posted an add on kijiji.com that advertised free toys for pick up and within five minutes I had two people call me. They arrived at my house 30 minutes later and took everything. Done. It was a win win situation because they got free toys and I got them out of my house with hardly any effort on my part.
How Did The Kids React?
Going into this project I thought it would be an uphill battle all the way. My kids suprised me.After we gathered every last toy in the basement I realized that my kids were just as overwhelmed by their toys as I was. Hello... light bulb moment!
I was afraid to declutter their toys before because I thought they were so attached to them, when in reality they were drowing in a sea of toys just like me.
My boys lasted for about 2 hours into the great toy clean up. It was enough time for them to gather the toys, see that we had too many and agree that we should donate some. I had them pick up the toys they wanted to save and then they went on their way as I tackled the bulk of the work.
And it was hard work! It took me a long time to match missing toy pieces, to put long lost puzzle pieces back in their boxes and to throw out dried markers and bits of paper. Oh... it was a long day. But it was so worth it!
They didn't even care that I was throwing their broken toys into the garbage and donating the other ones. What does that tell you? It tells me that we crossed a threshold that our kids had so many toys that they no longer valued them. It was all too much.
The Secret To Decluttering
I recently read It's All Too Much and loved it. It is always great to take a look at your life from a different angle. What this book made me realize is that my kids had too many toys and it was all too much!
The secret to decluttering your kids toys is to be ruthless.
I know, I know... sounds too mean. But it is true. People can get emotionally attached to items and especially when it comes to their kids things. But teaching your kids to live in clutter with too many toys does them no favours in life. Teaching them to clear out items they don't need or use gives them a tool that will serve them well all their life.
It's All Too Much taught me how to do this.
The secret to decluttering your kids toys is to be ruthless.
I know, I know... sounds too mean. But it is true. People can get emotionally attached to items and especially when it comes to their kids things. But teaching your kids to live in clutter with too many toys does them no favours in life. Teaching them to clear out items they don't need or use gives them a tool that will serve them well all their life.
It's All Too Much taught me how to do this.
Can You Declutter?
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A Weight Has Been Lifted!
At the end of the day, I called my sister-in-law to see if I could bring a bag of Fisher Price Little People toys over. That got me out of the house and I felt great as I drove to her place.What I didn't expect was the feeling I got when I returned home. My house somehow felt lighter.
Yes. Lighter is the right word. There was no noticable difference on the main floor as all of our toys have always been kept in the basement or the kids rooms. But I have to tell you that when I walked through the door it felt different.
And that is great!
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Feedback Is Always Appreciated!
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- jgelien jgelien Nov 28, 2009 @ 11:06 am
- In 1995 we bought 5 acres of bare land. We planned to build our home but in the meantime, put a single wide mobile home there to live in while we built. We went from 1266 sq feet to 720 sq feet, two adults, three kids. I took huge multiple carloads of stuff to charity and kept just bare bones of toys etc. It was great and the kids had so much room to explore outdoors they didn't even miss what we gave away.
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- aj2008 aj2008 Nov 24, 2009 @ 11:09 am
- The Childrens and Parenting Group that this lens belonged to has survived all the recent changes on Squidoo and is now a Lensography. This lens is now featured at Children and Parenting HQ.
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- aj2008 aj2008 May 20, 2009 @ 6:11 am
- Just revisiting lenses in the Children and Parenting Group to say how proud I am of the quality of lenses in the Group and that I am so glad this is one of them.
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- hlkljgk hlkljgk Apr 15, 2009 @ 4:15 pm
- decluttering could be my middle name. i love simplifying our space. great lens.
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- Snozzle Snozzle Apr 1, 2009 @ 10:58 am
- I think we have to declutter lots of things in life - as you say it's a weight lifted when it's done.
Mike.
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by sprete
Hello! I am so thankful to have found Squidoo! It is a creative outlet for me and I love it! Thanks to the Squidoo team for setting up this forum to s... (more)
