Over the last four plus years, we have accumulated a lot of toys.
Toys for every age and milestone our kids have reached. Toys as gifts. Toys on the random trip to Target. We have tons of books, too, but I’m okay with books. I’m not okay with all the toys.
And you know what’s funny? The same way that I wear the same clothes over and over again and have lots of clothes I never wear, my kids play with the same toys over and over again.
And the clutter and accumulation of toys just leads to messes. They will dump out an entire basket of cars just to find the one car they actually want to play with.
We have some really fantastic learning toys, but we also have a lot of useless toys and duplicates of toys. At one point I was buying two of everything so the kids wouldn’t fight over it. And you know what? They find something else to fight over.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:34
I have made a plan to get rid of more than half of their toys. Why?
-One-
So they take better care of their toys. When they don’t have as many toys, they’ll appreciate the ones they do have and take better care of them. They’ll actually have a mental inventory of what they have.
-Two-
With fewer toys, they’ll become more creative. They’ll be imaginative with their toys, and come up with new, fun ways to play with them.
-Three-
Maybe they will actually play with their toys instead of just dumping them on the floor. Right now, they’ll dump out a basket of little superheroes just to look for one. Then there are messes that take up their play space and make it more difficult to actually play.
-Four-
They’ll become less selfish and have less of a sense of entitlement. They need to hear the word “no” and know what it means to wait for something they really want, and even save for it when they start getting an allowance.
-Five-
The most important thing is teaching them that toys do not make them happy. Material objects are not the source of happiness. And learning this at a young age will help them a lot.
Tomorrow I’ll talk about how exactly we’ve narrowed it down. What we’ve saved, donated, put in storage, etc.
Have you ever had a great toy purge?
This post is Day 15 in 31 Days of Creating White Space
when the kids are at school, I do a purge…maybe 2-3x a year. My boys dump all their bins out too…just to find one toy. the daily “dumping of the toys” sound is one sound I dread everyday.
I agree I dread that sound and when I hear it from the other room I try not to look right away lol !
I totally agree that less is more when it comes to toys. I go through my 3 boys’ toys several times a year and we give them away or save the very nicest and most favorite ones for the next brother in line. One of the best ways I’ve found to avoid getting so many things is asking for donations at their birthday parties (my middle son is getting coloring books and crayons for our children’s hospital where he has been a patient several times and is so excited) and giving them an “experience” for Christmas. Over the years they have received a dog (that was a big one), an art easel, a wagon, theme park tickets and this year they are asking for tickets to our NBA team.
We are works in progress when it comes to generosity and selflessness, but I feel that limiting their toys and helping them appreciate what they do have helps foster that along with their creativity and joy along the way.
Melissa, we did the same thing. We request no gifts at birthday parties and suggest people bring donations for the food bank or children’s charities instead. It has helped a lot!
I need to do this very badly. Have been mentally planning and plotting this move but its very overwhelming. Looking forward to getting some ideas from your process! Great job mama!
I do this at least once or twice a year. I did find it difficult to find charities willing to take kids’ toys, though. I didn’t really want to do Goodwill, and places like the Children’s Hospital or Ronald McDonald House won’t take toys that are used because of potential for germs. If you are in Columbia, there is a women’s/family shelter on Pickens Street that does want toys for its families. I’ve given to them several times, and they are very appreciative.
Hey Beth, That’s who we donated to for two of the boys’ birthday parties. People brought gifts for those kids and we have taken unused toys there, too. Much better than getting too many unnecessary gifts for our kids.
My kids are older–7 & 10–but about two years ago we stopped buying toys. They each have one nice piece of electronics (right now it’s a high capacity iPod touch, but I think Santa will get them ipad minis this Christmas) and Legos. Trust me, we’re not saving any $$…we have thousands and thousands of dollars in Legos at this point, but they’re confined to one room (they’re good about this, it’s not a happy day when I find Legos elsewhere in the house) and they can play with them for days on end. At this point my 7 year old son can finish age 16+ rated sets almost entirely on his own, and is beginning to dabble in robotics. Very cool!
I haven’t done a purge yet, but I try to be really careful about what/how much comes in to our house. I like throwing big brthday parties for my girls, but I’ve moved to a no gifts policy. We have a Thanksgiving baby, and this year we’re planning to collect toys for Toys for Tots instead of for her. We also try to have family gift classes or other activities instead of toys to cut down on the number of toys we have. Still, I feel a purge coming soon!
We haven’t really purged any toys yet. I don’t want to have baby #2 only to wish we’d kept that one toy Owen had no interest in, ya know? I do want to put some of them in storage though. We need to do that before Christmas. I agree that less is better. Owen is always drawn to the toys he can be creative with over the ones with all the bells and whistles. I’m glad he’s not into those much.
I can’t wait to hear how you’ve done this! I’m struggling with this right now too and specifically teaching them to be thankful for what they have. I’m loving all your posts about white space by the way 🙂
We have had a few BIG toy purges. I just did one right before we listed the house and one last spring. It feels great to get rid of so much. I actually plan to purge a lot more over the next month to prepare for Christmas. It is shocking to me how many toys they have accumulated over the past 4 years! 🙂 I feel like I am always wanting to purge a few things! Ha! I always work with the LPs are sleeping…they spaz out if they notice me giving away toys. Ha!
I throw away random toys every chance I get. Our neighbor keeps bringing over her sons old toys and its getting out of hand. I plan to purge them when we move.
Any advice on how to deal with grandparents who do not subscribe to these philosophies? We’re about to celebrate a birthday and with Christmas around the corner I am just dreading the spoilage. My in-laws are suggesting a puppy, a pony or maybe a motorized tractor. I wish I was joking!
These are such great posts, Erin. As someone with older boys (teenagers and a preteen), this is a good discipline. I wish I had been better when the kids were younger because you are right: they do better with less. The next phase is electronics and monitoring that, keeping them mentally and morally healthy with all that is out there. I have really LIMITED electronics over these years (especially the type of games they are allowed to have) and while it hasn’t always been easy, I am very happy with the outcome!
I grew up in a 1-bedroom apartment with my mom and sister for part of my childhood, so we did toy purges A LOT growing up. My mom would insist we help (and we wanted to hell to make sure she kept our favorite toys). She would give us a ratio we had to follow, like for every 3 toys we donated, we could keep 1. When we got older, she would buy the travel versions of board games and toys instead of the full sized versions to save space. And of course she focused on experiences with gifts, and I try to do the same with my niece & nephew. Tickets to a children’s play, a Sesame Street/ Elmo/ etc production coming to town, a circus, sporting event, or an amusement park are all good alternatives to material gifts. Savings bonds and other contributions to a child’s college savings is also nice. I also like the “toy library” system Jon and Sherry Perersik did on Young House Love.
I have this on my to-do list too. I gave away what felt like so many toys before we moved and we still have an entire playroom full and my kids never play with any of it.
Now I just need the time to go through it all. 🙂
i’m so excited about this post and reading tomorrow’s post. 🙂
I love your plan! Our boys sound a lot alike. It seems that inevitably, the toy they want is always at the bottom. And I don’t know about your kids, but mine tend to like the junky toys more than the real toys sometimes. We’ve had a talk about how we can’t get more until we give some away. I’m purging this week.
There was a post somewhere where a mom threw out all of her kids toys and forced them to read or use their imaginations. I wish I remember where I saw that post. It was brilliant!
I need to purge Andrew’s toys soon. Perhaps I’ll donate to his school or something. 🙂