I'm drowning in kids stuff.

[ImFree2doasiwant]

I have 2 Dc. Young primary age. So many toys, books, drawings, crafts....

1dc is a hoarder in training. I just can't work out what to get rid of/keep. How do you keep on top if it?

I'm pretty hard up which compounds the issue. I feel like I should should and sell stuff. I also get given stuff

Help - I'm overwhelmed.

Rotate!

Box up a load of toys in the loft - if they don’t ask for them sell them or give them away.

Set up some savings accounts and ask family to donate instead of gifts.

Stop buying stuff.

Start with removing duplicate toys.

Eg, they might have a tub of buttons and a tub of cotton reels for threading. Pick one, diitch the other.

They might have 4 different farm puzzles...get rid of 3 of them.

Then downsize collections, if they have 50 metal cars, cut it to 25 (or whatever)

Then just quietly remove things that just aren't played with.

Don't replace the craft stuff when it's used. Then you'll see the stuff that lingers unused and dump it.

Don't buy them anymore toys. Use birthdays Christmas for things like annual passes, show tickets, days out vouchers etc, save the toys for relations and friends.

I'm not buying stuff apart from birthdays and Christmas, abd the last birthday each and at Christmas they had 1 really decent present from me, and a few little bits like a book, toy car etc.

I think I just need to be ruthless but I'm finding ut very hard!

I was looking at photos if when they were baby/toddler age and the house is significantly less cluttered.

Just start with one thing.

So maybe look at what has been grown out of, like if they're 6 and 8 and still have a toot toot garage or whatever.

Or one box/drawer/shelf.

When they’ve grown out of something, get rid when they’re not looking.

Definitely don't consult the kids on removing things that haven't been used for a while.

Obviously we're not going to sneakily get rid of Fluffles the Lovey Bunny that has only one eye and a frayed arm from being snuggled too much, but now lives on a shelf.

But crap like must have toys from 4 years ago, a sorry looking action figure, the long forgotten dinosaurs, the blind bag collectibles etc.

Don't consult, because they will definitely want to keep 99% of the stuff.

And then, have a conversation about how they could pass their older toys on to others. And sgon"oh well , you don't really need 12 puzzles, and look, these two are both horses, which one shall we keep. Oh and this one is too easy,.it's for younger kids"

I'm going to start with the stuff a friend donated. She dropped it off when the dc were here so they want to keep it all . Even now, I'm thinking I get of X,Y,Z but then think oh but DC2 likes that ....argh.

Don't let people 'donate' stuff to you when you have enough things of your own.

Fake photos of their artwork and get rid of the originals.

There is no point in having a load of stuff to play with of there isn't enough space to play in.

After a day at home with them getting very thing out I'm even more determined to sort this out. I managed a pile of magazines and "art" today and earmarked sone of the donated stuff, that I will remove after bedtime. Its madness how much stuff there is