Here are 5 simple tips to declutter toys and keep your sanity! Decluttering and minimizing can be easy with these 5 simple tips to declutter toys in any kid’s room.
Too many toys can make any parent feel insane. The constant picking up, cleaning, and organizing is such a time-waster.
My solution is to have fewer toys to deal with! Here are 5 tips to get your toy collection under control and your sanity back.
Declutter to Keep Your Sanity!
We had a lot of toys! Just like every other family I know. The only problem was the toys were creeping into every room in our home. This is when I found 5 simple ways to declutter toys without any drama.
During this decluttering process, I noticed we had a lot of toys that no one played with. If we wanted to live with less (and not clean up toys constantly) we were going to have to declutter.
I started by decluttering the toys my boys were not playing with.
Getting them involved was a must. My 4-year-old could easily tell me which toys he wanted to keep and what he didn’t mind getting rid of.
The truth about decluttering toys!
More is not better. I found the more toys we had the less they actually played with them.
There were so many options that they went for the first thing they saw or their one favorite item. All the other toys were neglected or they were dumped out and kicked around.
I feel fine with decluttering because they have never asked me for something that has been donated.
It really is an out of sight out of mind situation.
5 Simple Tips to Declutter Toys in Kids Rooms Video:
Using the Konmari declutter method was the easiest thing we did. Dump out all of the toys and make one giant pile. Go through the pile and decide what to keep and what to donate.
Seeing all of the toys in one pile makes you realize how many you actually have! We had a lot!
That big pile made me realize there was no way my 2 boys could ever play with all of those toys in a day or maybe even a month. Having a lot of choices made them run from toy to toy.
Now that everything is simplified I notice they focus more on what they are playing with.
Here is the room after we decluttered.
5 Simple Tips to Declutter Toys and Keep Your Sanity!
1. Keep Toys that are Being Used
This tip might take some time, but it is really important.
Pay close attention to what your children are really playing with. Sometimes it seems as though they are playing with everything, but really they are just dumping everything out.
Once you can identify the toys they always go for then you know it’s safe to get rid of the rest.
If you are involving your children in the decluttering process, I have a recommendation. Instead of having them pick out what they don’t want, have them pick out what they want to keep.
As an experiment, I made a pile of toy cars and told them to pick out 10 that they wanted to keep, and we would donate the rest.
Surprisingly they were able to pick out what they wanted and were ok with getting rid of the rest.
2. Declutter Duplicate Toys
Declutter all the duplicate toys. There was a time when we had several cars that were all exactly the same. My reasoning for keeping these was maybe one will break, or someone will come over and want to play.
Kids can only play with one toy at a time! Keep this in mind as you declutter and go through everything.
3. Decluttering Broken Toys
When a toy breaks I try to remove it as soon as possible without my children noticing. If they tell me something has broken I try to get them to get rid of it right on the spot.
If they are resistant to getting rid of the broken toy I usually talk them through all the reasons why we don’t need it. How it won’t work properly and how we can replace it if it’s really important.
If they insist on keeping the toy then I give in. Yes! Some things are not worth the fight. Also, you can wait a few days or weeks and once they have forgotten about the toy try to sneak it out.
Toys break all the time. Keeping a broken toy can lead to frustration and crying when it won’t work properly. Broken toys also take up space that can be used for functioning toys.
This is why I like to declutter and go through the toys seasonally. To make sure everything is functioning.
4. Declutter Non-Age Appropriate Toys
As a parent, I am always thinking of the future. Especially as a new mom, I was very excited to get my son everything, even if that meant he had to grow into it.
I quickly realized buying toys for them to grow into is a waste of time and money.
Half the time I would forget that I bought certain toys, and by the time I found them he had outgrown them. We have also had a time when I thought my son would like dinosaurs, but he could have cared less.
My toy motto is: Buy toys as they need them and get rid of anything not age-appropriate.
5. Annoying Toys Must be Decluttered!
Yes, some toys are very annoying. We all share a house and I feel annoying toys must go. What is annoying to one person might not bother another.
If anything is annoying don’t feel bad if you decide to get rid of it. Once in a while, we are given very annoying loud flashing toys! Anything that can’t be turned off is very annoying.
Try to phase the toy out. See if you can hide it for a while in hopes that they forget about it or make a rule that it can only be used outside.
When a good opportunity comes around, maybe they get something new and declutter the annoying toys.
Staying Toy Clutter-Free
Now that you have done all the hard work make sure you stay clutter-free. The best way to keep your sanity and your toy inventory in check is to adopt a one in one out policy.
Never have a huge decluttering session again by getting rid of an older toy as a new one comes in.
Read More Simple Living Tips:
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