To ask how many toys your kids have

[frogsgoladidahdidah]

I have four kids aged 1-8. It feels as though our place is overflowing with toys and clothes. I think that the children don't play with their lego/playmobil etc as the amount is overwhelming, and that they would be better off with half of the amount that they have.

We live in a 3 bedroomed apartment, so space is an issue.

Any decluttering also has to be done in secret as DH, and all four grandparents (who buy most of the kids things) all get quite upset when they see me carting stuff off to charity shops. My inlaws, for example, still have DH's childhood toys in their attic, and trying to give them to us!

(I do also hide/phase out lots of things and use them in the shoebox appeal at Christmas time, for example, but again, that is a secret).


Please tell me how you all do it!

[GeorgiePeachie]

Use Spark Joy? I'm not sure how it would work for kids stuff. but if it doesnt have a function/sentimental value/ pretty/a favourite and used all the time then it goes.

If you have so many clothes you only cycle through the top layer then start mining and get rid. basically dont let people being up set upset you and start making room.

[frogsgoladidahdidah]

I thought you weren't supposed to do that for other people's belongings? (Haven't read the book but have read threads)

[Meekonsandwich]

Tell them to open savings accounts and if they feel the need to buy toys or treats, to put the amount in the savings accounts that they will get access to when they're older, they'll appreciate and remember that a lot more than toys they'll grow out of and ignore.

[Playmobilpeacock]

I looked at what they really played with and got rid of everything else.

We have a box of playmobil, a box of lego, a box of duplo, a selection of Lottie dolls and clothes and a box of Sylvanian families although their days are numbered

Anything else goes to charity. When asked for present ideas I ask for these toys.

We also have a huge craft cupboard as they love crafting trashing the kitchen

I have found they play more with their toys now there are fewer of them.

Obviously this will evolve as they get older but it's working for now.

[RebelRogue]

We are in a 1 bed flat so space is always an issue. I just tell DD no more toys until we get rid of some of her old ones (massive clearouts before xmas and birthday). So we go through them and get rid of stuff. Broken,incomplete go first. Doubles/similar go next,then anything she might be too old for/hasn't played with for a while. Works fine for us.
Oh and also I'm a meanie and a few times if stuff isn't cleared away it goes in the bin .

[Funnyface1]

I have no idea, every time I clear out it all seems to get replaced. I absolutely have to clear out ahead of birthdays and Christmas. I'm absolutely no help because we moved to a house literally twice the size of our old one and seem to be bursting at the seams again! But at least it's not just me.

[Teabagtits]

Op my dd and oh sound like your family for hoarding toys and gifts. We have way too much stuff and despite constantly asks bf grandparents to stop buying tat and toys they continue to do so as it's grandparents prerogative. I'm thinking of going to love in a tent in the garden and leaving them to their mess!

[smilingsarahb]

Well we had lots and I felt like you. We then moved and put our stuff in storage for a year. We had a much smaller amount of toys and it made no difference whatsoever. I think the key is rotating if you have lots so they remain fresh and if you don't have many make sure they can do more than one thing and more than one age. We kept lego, den building stuff, crafty stuff, cooking stuff, magformers, a range of balls, and a handful of figures and tech deck. We also had a few family board games. It sounds a lot but it fitted in 2 boxes. We did get our stuff out of storage eventually and refresh the toys a bit but so much went to the charity shop. The children got good at making extra bits like marble runs from toilet rolls, castles from boxes for the figures, extra ramps for the tech deck etc. They are older now anyway so don't play with as many toys now so even if you do nothing it will thin out.

[Heirhelp]

Do you live close to and visit the grandparents regularly? Can you leave toys at their houses for visits?

[Cakescakescakes]

Every 3-4 months I do a clear out and throw out anything my you gets has outgrown and also get rid of anything that doesn't hold their attention for a minimum of 10 minutes. Our house is too small to keep stuff that they lift fleetingly then discard again 2 mins later.

[frogsgoladidahdidah]

Funny yes! I feel like that! Aaaarrrggghhh

[frogsgoladidahdidah]

Teabag I like your style!

[gincamelbak]

I hide toys that haven't been played with for a while and if no further mention is made of them then it's off to the charity shop with them. I went the other day with two massive sacks of toys, books and games that were in excellent condition but just weren't played with.

My parents buy too much. And it's never one brand of thing if that makes sense. They buy duplo and mega bloks and toot toot drivers and wooden cars and remote control trains and remote control diggers etc all for one birthday or Christmas. I don't have the space for all of them and we prefer to build on what we have (duplo and toot toot) so the other stuff goes to charity.

I don't care if they get annoyed, I've asked them to scale back on the amount they buy because the toys just don't get played with and the house is just full.

We have approx 8,500 toys and I want to down scale aggressively. I'm getting there

[Ankleswingers]

A fucking stupid amount

[witsender]

We have 2, 6 and 4.

They have a few cuddly toys each, a couple of Sylvanian sets, a giant digger, a my little pony castle. Lots of wooden blocks of varying sizes, a tub of Lego, tub of magformers, train set. Couple of jigsaws and board games. Lots of craft stuff.

That's it really.

[witsender]

And a couple of Lotties. I do cull regularly, I'm pretty ruthless.

[AndKnowItsSeven]

A lot we have 16 of these trofast boxes and we have 8 underbed boxes in the loft to rotate.

[AndKnowItsSeven]

That 16 unit not the individual boxes

[TooStressyForMyOwnGood]

We have far too many toys. However, one thing which has helped is, as PP have said, to streamline into categories. For example, if grandparents are keen to buy, suggest lego as it can all be stored together and used together. This at least lets you receive toys while limiting the clutter issue.

Or books, as long as that is not a clutter issue. We asked for play doh for DD2's birthday which was great as she does love it and it gets used up. I have ties to direct (when asked) grandparents towards experiences (e.g. a day pass somewhere / cinema tickets) but not had much luck with that.

[TooStressyForMyOwnGood]

tried to direct not ties to direct!

[AndKnowItsSeven]

I forgot we also have this trofast

[AndKnowItsSeven]

below

[ItchyFoot]

Fucking loads! Dp has a slight hoarding problem that I struggle to keep in check. It's nearly dd's 3rd birthday and we've never thrown away any of her clothes/toys. We do use a lot of them for dd2 and luckily I've now been able to give the stuff dd2 is finished with to a friend (minus some sentimental bits).
I'm really hoping to tackle a few more things before her birthday. And I've tried to steer people away from toys since she did very well at Christmas.

[WhooooAmI24601]

Both DCs have masses of Lego and Playmobil. They have Expedit (I think it's Kallax now though) shelving in their rooms, the large 5 x 5 ones so lots of storage. A couple of times each year I go through everything; this year I've given all of DS2's (6) baby toys away, all the cars and ninky nonks and happy land stuff. He had a little 'waaah' moment when he realised but i've always been a bit militant about stuff like that; before Christmas and Birthdays we organise their rooms to make sure they give some stuff to charity before expecting anything in return. They're great at it now and the only thing they'll never let me chuck out is the Lego.

[PolarBearGoingSomewhere]

God, I thought mine had a lot but I could name them all! We have the toy food, till and trolley, some Fireman Sam toys, Duplo, cars and garage, a wooden train set, a doll's house, a box of Happyland and Paw Patrol playset. Then we have a sideboard full of board games and jigsaws and craft stuff
They play with it all.

For Christmas they had an annual pass to the Zoo and the year before they had a climbing frame. It is really hard to keep on top of stuff even with a small family! I bribe mine every school holiday with a small treat or cinema trip if we have a toy cull. It works quite well as I don't like to chuck stuff without permission.