We saw our neighbor's flyer for a garage sale last weekend. They had listed all manner of things that piqued our interest - baby toys, books, furniture and gear. Then we realized, we were on the wrong side of that equation. Rather than looking to buy, we should be getting rid of our stuff. Jump below for our tips for paring down...
Determine your space.Assess your room(s) and determine how much space you have to devote to your children's toys and accessories. Figure out how much space you have first and stick with that. If it doesn't fit in that space, you've got to get rid of something.
Beg and borrow. Hang on to the books your child wants to read over and over but expand his reading list by going to the library or doing a book swap with friends. Same with clothing. We're big believers in handing down baby and maternity clothes. For special gear, like jogging strollers, borrow or rent it for short-term use, or if you're trying to figure out whether to buy or not.
Stick to open-ended toys.Legos and building blocks are workhorses in our house. Meanwhile, we've got bins full of great toys that are rarely touched. If your kids have toys they haven't played with in the last month, it's pretty safe to say they won't miss them if they're put in the donation pile.
Visit your friends.Kids love playing with other kids' toys - it's fun to play with the unfamiliar and fresh. Instead of recreating the same set of toys in your house, just make regular play dates (and remember to recipricate) - you've just doubled your universe of toys.
Share with us your tips for paring down in the comments.
good tips, I am in the middle of getting rid of things before we move back to america! what a challenge.
...... oh and I love those boxes ....
view Barbara S's profile
organisation is key! that way you know everything has a place, and you know how much stuff you have exactly. we have lots of baskets and tubs that house different activities (like cars, trains, blocks, musical instruments etc) so the kids learn to look after their things properly and they know where everything goes.
we did a big clearing out recently and got rid of a lot of battery operated toys and things the kids get tired of easily.. and nothing beats the basics: wooden blocks, play food, train set, books, cars & trucks, dollhouse.. I work in a toyshop that only stocks quality wooden & educational toys so I guess I'm a little spoiled for choice, but it still amazes me when I go to people's houses and they have every single brand spanking new toy that vibrates, sings in spanish, grows hair and pees in a nappy and yet their kids play with it for two seconds then throw it away for the next one.
Kids would definitely benefit from less than more..
view minimacs's profile
my parents had this one tricky method: whenever my sisters and i were given new toys we had to replace an old toy with an new one. and our parents made us donate the old toys to poor kids or my uncle's orphanage. made us appreciate our stuff even more...
view beefromberlin's profile
We have four small bins/cubby cubes for our baby and that's all the toys we allow in the house. If it goes over those bins we weed out items to sell/donate. It made us realize that we don't need five sets of blocks when she only likes one of them.
view InMadison's profile