With three kids in our home, the toy situation gets out of control pretty quick. I’m sure you can relate (or you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog post. Unless you’re my mom. Hi, mom!).
In the past, I would just do a quick look through and declutter of the toys and donate/throw away every couple months. And that worked fine when we had just one child. But as we added more kids to our family and more birthdays and holidays passed, my quick declutter system just wasn’t keeping up with the toys. And before I knew it, basically our whole house was covered in toys.
But why declutter toys? Our kids love their toys, so why get rid of so many? I have a couple reasons why I like to keep our toy collection smaller, and your family might relate. For us:
- Less toys, less clean up. Before I did a big declutter, our kids would dump out every basket, every day. And it took us so long to clean up everything. With everything else that needs to be cleaned up each day, this was one way to lighten my load a bit.
- Happier, better play. My kids just play better and more creatively with less toys. In the past, they would dump out every basket and still not be able to find a toy they wanted. Or they would play for a couple minutes, then lose interest. I realized that they seemed overwhelmed by the choices. With fewer toys, the choice of what to play with is less overwhelming and an easier decision. And they are more creative with their play. There are lots of studies they’ve done on this as well that you could read up on!
- I’m more intentional about gift giving now. This last Christmas, I was way more intentional about what I was buying for my kids. And when family and friends asked me for a list of gift ideas for my kids, I was also more intentional about the ideas I gave. Each gift we got our kids was thoughtful and something they actually enjoyed. And we also spent less money!
Whatever your reasons, decluttering toys can be a big job. So here are 4 easy steps to declutter your toys (plus how to keep them from getting out of control again). And if you or your kids are struggling to let go of certain toys, I have some tips at the bottom of the post to help!
Step One: Choose Which Toy Categories To Keep
Right from the start, before you sit down and look at what your kids have – decide on toy categories. Think about what your kids actually play with, their interests and ages.
- Cars
- Legos
- Barbies
- Small dolls
- Animal Figures
- Play Kitchen Supplies
- Magnet Tiles
- Blocks
- Dress Ups
I would recommend choosing no more than 7-8 categories. If you want a serious declutter, try for 5-6. We are trying to downsize here! Think about what your kids play creatively with, or what toys they ask for repeatedly.
Step Two: Grab Your Supplies
You’re going to need a few supplies to start:
- Boxes or Bins for storing toys
- Garbage Bag
- Donation Box or Bag
For the toy storage, use whatever containers work best for you! I have these ones, and I like them a lot. I recommend finding something with a lid (because we are going to be putting some of these in storage when we’re done. But use whatever you have right now. Don’t stress about buying something new for this. Just make sure you have one for each toy category.
Once you have the containers you’ll be using, we need to label each one. You could make a cute label for each one. Or you could find some painters tape and a sharpie in your junk drawer like I did. We’re going easy and quick with this declutter. You can make it cute later.
Step 3: Sort Toys Into Categories
Now for the exciting part! Bring all your toys and supplies to one room. Try to gather all the toys in your house. If you accidently miss a few stragglers, that’s fine. You can deal with those as you find them later. Once you have a big pile, start sorting them into your toy containers by category. Barbies in the barbie bin, legos in the legos bin, etc. Start with only the items that fit into the categories you already picked. As you go, if you find something that is broken, toss those into the garbage bag.
If your bins start to get full, you can do one of two things:
- Get Another Bin: You could have two bins for that category. I actually chose to have two Barbie bins. one holds the Barbie dolls and clothing, and the other is for the Barbie dollhouse furniture and accessories.
- Declutter The Bin: I did this with our toy car bin. There were several different types of toy cars, and I knew which ones my kids preferred. So I got rid of the others. And guess what? My kids didn’t notice at all. They saw their favorites in the box and were very happy with that.
Step 4: Donate The Excess
Now you should be left with a pile of toys that don’t fit into any of the categories you picked.
Take out any toys that are broken or just not in good shape to be donated and put those in the garbage bag.
Then everything left over will go to the donate box.
Okay, you might be feeling a bit worried looking at some of these toys and thinking “but this toy is so cute” or “this car was a gift from someone we love!” And I totally think those same thoughts every time I declutter! Here’s what you’re going to do – put your donation box in storage and make a note in your phone calendar for a month from today. If after a month, your kids haven’t asked about those toys and nobody missed them, it’s time to donate them.
Let’s Keep It Organized!
Now that you did all of that work, let’s keep it organized! Here’s what works for our family.
Once I had everything organized into bins, I put all but two bins in storage. I chose to store ours in the top of my kids closet because it is easily accessible for me, but my kids won’t be able to get them out on their own. And now you’re all set up for a toy rotation!
I know lots of moms who do a toy rotation, and many of them swap out the toys every 2 weeks or so on a routine. I do mine a little different, just because it works better for our family.
For our toy rotation, I let my kids choose which bins to have out and when. However, I don’t allow more than 2 bins out at a time. So when my kids come to me and ask to get the a different bin down, I say something like “That sounds fun! We need to put another bin away first. Choose which bin and let’s clean it up.” I don’t even entertain the idea of getting more than 2 bins out (I pulled all of the bins out once and it was a disaster. Learned my lesson). Because my kids are motivated to get the “new” toys down, they typically are motivated enough to help clean up.
But How Are We Going To Keep It Decluttered?
We definitely don’t want the toys to get out of control again, so here are a few ideas for your home:
- One in, one out rule: I know a lot of families like this rule for their home. If you get a new toy, an old toy needs to be donated to make space. Following this rule, you should never have more toys then you have now.
- Watch What They Are Actually Playing With: I’m not saying you need to watch their every move while playing. But make a note of what they gravitate towards, and what they don’t even touch. We’ve been using the toy rotation system I explained above for months. And I noticed that we have 1 bin that my kids have never once asked to get down. It’s been there for 6 months. So I know that they don’t miss it, and it can go to the donation center with my next trip.
- Pay Your Kids For Donation Boxes: I heard this tip from The Minimal Mom on YouTube! She will give her kids a box and offer to pay them if they fill it with toys and items they would like to donate. The amount you pay will depend on your kids ages and they’ll probably be more motivated if they’re saving up for something fun at the time.
What About The Stuffed Animals
You might have noticed that I didn’t talk about stuffed animals here. That’s because I have a couple stuffed animal obsessed kids, and my efforts to declutter those have failed. So I have absolutely no advice for that. I’ll update you when I finally figure it out – but please share your tips if you have them!
Doing a serious declutter of our toys has been a huge blessing, and has helped our home function so much better. I hope it can help you as well! Comment below when you finish your declutter!
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