Decluttering toys?

[Grasshole]

It's loooong overdue here, but the prospect of it is overwhelming 🙈 We have 4dcs aged 8 and under and despite having a playroom with decent storage, and storage in their 2 bedrooms, there is way too much stuff (a lot of which doesn't get played with).

I think there are 4 main problems:

1- The 2 year old is now starting to grow into the older kid's old toys, so I am reluctant to chuck too much (attic is already jam packed too)

2- We have a good few toys that take up space that were asked for at Xmas/birthdays but then subsequently rarely played with, but I am weirdly reluctant to chuck them as they cost £50+

3- Books. Books books books. 2 kallax squares full in the playroom, and 2 kallax squares full in each bedroom. Rarely get read as there is too much choice, but also reluctant to chuck because youngest will grow into them. Also have books in the attic.

4- Eldest isn't really a toy player and prefers things he can actually use like tools etc, so he has toys he was given over the years that has rarely been used but he doesn't want to part with them (and the youngest will eventually grow into them).

All of this makes me sound like a hoarder, but actually the opposite it true in every other aspect apart from toys, I swear! I know I need to be ruthless, but how can I figure out what to get rid of and what to keep for the youngest?

Kids go to a cm until 6pm during the week so they're actually not at home that much to play with what they have 🤷

1 - get rid of baby toys, sort by category- reminding myself I don’t need a mud kitchen, tuff tray and water/sand play table
2) sell it on Facebook
3) there are always libraries
4) tell him if lets you sell them he can have the money

The biggest thing for me is reducing the amount which comes into the house.

We have just had a massive cull!
Our dc are the same, not home until the evening in the week and most weekends we try to go out at least one day so they aren't even in the house that much to play with them!
For the youngest I would just keep the most played with stuff, for us that would be Lego, playmobil and a few games.
Books - we have a second hand book shop near us that buys old books, maybe have a look if you I have anything nearby.
Toys - I have seen locally some appeals for toys to be donated for families who have come to live here from the Ukraine, maybe with looking into.
If you want to sell stuff Facebook marketplace can be good, or you may have a local free site on there if you just want it gone.
If you just want rid quickly it might be worth checking out your local tip. Ours has a large portacabin where you can leave toys/books. They are then sold in a community shop in a local disadvantaged area.
It's hard work, but will be worth it!!

Yes I think containing what comes into the house is key! I have kept so much stuff like imaginext etc for our youngest, but then obvs he still gets gifts etc for his birthday and Xmas.

I need to check if anywhere local accepts bundles of toys, I don't have the time to sell on FB and don't have the space to take things down from the attic and wait for people to collect etc.

For all my advice I’m with you on the toys front. I think lockdown and having them home ALL the time made it worse. Definitely just bag it all up and take it to a charity shop but be aware you may need to book in a slot or but it out for those charity bag collections which come round your house.

The more they have, the more they can’t see the toys for the crap and get too overwhelmed to get things out!

Firstly get rid of anything for babies and too young for youngest- easy pile. Next you want to have a rotation of about one large box full of toys to play with per child plus one large box full of toys to switch out. Let the child choose too- you know what they will play with so guide them but do they need 8 barbies when the only have 2 hands? No. So halve that- let them keep the 10 best outfits, cull the rest,

I charity what I can as it makes me feel happier that toys that are just not played with here will
Be someone else’s BEST toy.

Also I do a 6 month policy - if I don’t think they play with something then I put it in the garage for 6 months, if they haven’t asked for It within that time then I charity it.

Honestly they need to learn to have a good spring clean and it will lead them to use what they can see

I'm struggling too OP. Only 2 DC though. Hoping to get rid of some of the crappy stuff this weekend.

This is my plan over Easter. Only 2 DC and both hoarders! We have too much stuff and dd8 only plays with a few bits now and even ds 6 has grown out of paw patrol etc so that's all going! I'm going to sell on Facebook . We have a porch so going to put all for sale in porch to collect. If not gone in a week then charity shop it.
It's hard work but we have too much stuff.

Yep I absolutely agree that having too much means they can't actually see or find what they want to play with.

I like the idea of one box each and one for rotation. I used to be very good at rotating between bedroom/playroom/attic when they were younger (and there was less of them!) but it just became too much of a hassle as the stuff piled up.

I've had an initial look in the girls room this morning and have found another potential issue. Dd7 has loads of crafty things like a bulky bracelet maker and huge box of beads etc. She hasn't asked to use then in a while but then again they're up high (due to younger DC and bead hazard). Need to get her using up this stuff 🙈

Like I said before, I'm a very clutter free person in every other respect, but we didn't have much growing up so I think that drives my reluctance to pass the toys on.

I havee we tons of games and stuff to our afterschool club at school. My DC play with it all there

I was given 4 huge bags for life full of stuff today.

I know your DC are young but I used to involve my DC in the culling-

Mine used to like the idea of sharing out the toys they had outgrown for other children-

I used to set a target of how many they had to choose to give up

Also a firm "one in one out" system is a good idea going forward...

Put all the toys into categories, like big piles on the floor.

Throw out anything crap/broken/that doesn't fit into a category. Or that seems to fit but is misplaced (for example we have three pieces of marble run that fit a different marble run to the one that we have )

If you have duplicates, or themes which are too close, pick one and get rid of the other one.

Sell the big items that don't get played with on FB marketplace. Or donate them.

Put the remainder in boxes/tubs with clear labels on to assist cleaning up.

Watching this with interest! About to embark on a major declutter here too, with children that are reluctant to get rid of anything! Let us know how you get on...

I had to postpone my cull last weekend for a variety of reasons, but am planning to make headway on it over the next week. I have the DC on board for the most part (or at least I think I do!), and I have a few friends with younger kids who are willing to take anything decent I'm getting rid of 🙌 Let's hope it goes well 🤞

I’ve had this problem, 3 girls close in age so things are kept hold of for the next to grow into, toys, clothes, shoes. I’ve started to be more ruthless. We moved last year so that was a great help in getting rid of things. I totally hate waste so find it hard at times. I use to use the local free gifting sites a lot but because we moved in lockdown I couldn’t do this. I put a lot of stuff in our front garden, bikes, scooters, sand pits and posted on our local community page for anyone to take and put a sign up for passer bys. We had loads of bikes as we get given hand-me downs from older cousins for our girls to grow into. I think we had something ridiculous like 10 bikes of various sizes. I did the same with some toys too, just put them in a box that said help yourself. I was lucky with the bikes and scooters as a scrap man drove past and took most of the stuff that wasn’t snapped up off my hands, he also came and cleared a load of my DHs crap out of the garage for me.

At the moment I’ve got all our craft stuff out, 3 big boxes, just one entirely of bloody aqua beads. I’ve let them go wild over the last few weeks. Where in the past I’d save anything that can be reused I’ve just thrown away when cleaning up. I’m doing the same with play dough as we have loads of that. I plan on reducing it all to 1 box.

Some big things I packed away, Disney Belle Cart, Doc McStuffin ambulance etc.. I had them in the attic and brought out for younger DDs birthday and Xmas last year.

I also have a patio box outside containing toys I don’t mind being left outside, plastic toys that can stand the elements a bit. This way they get played with outside especially over summer. I do a cull after winter, anything that’s not fared well gets thrown away. Then add more from the house that can be “outside” toys. I’ve also got more relaxed leaving stuff outside, the Belle carts been in the garden since DDs birthday last year, it will be shipped off to the tip soon, but it had lots of playing with outside and gone through 3 children so I don’t mind.

I recently donated a lot to a parent at my DCs school, they are working with a refugee camp somewhere and were desperate for toys (not Ukrainian, this was pre the invasion). It made getting rid of expensive toys easier as I knew they were going direct to children who had absolutely nothing. My DDs didn’t even notice their Our Generation camper van missing for 2 weeks so I didn’t feel to bad. Also when I explained where I’d taken it they were ok with it.

New things I hide, it can be Christmas or birthday presents, if they havnt been looked at in the the few days after they get them I pack them away. Some stuff I bring out throughout the year, some stuff I regift or donate. Ive always taught my DDs to donate and we always put new toys in the Christmas collection boxs, I regularly say o look I forgot we had this shall we use this…

I have sold stuff too. Pre Christmas I sold a massive dolls house. My DDs wernt using it, youngest DD had a small one in her room so I said if I sell it you kids can split the money so you have money for Xmas, they were happy with that. Even my 4yo has wised up to selling things to get new toys. She wanted a new baby pram but I told her she had a very nice one already, but it wasn’t the same as the one in the Smyths catalog, so she told me to sell her old one so I could afford to buy her the new one she wanted 🤦‍♀️

Thankfully they are getting older so there arnt so many big toys. Last Christmas was all about Nintendo switches and other more expensive but smaller items.

Half the time they don’t even notice when something has disappeared as I tend to get rid of stuff when they aren’t around. So far I’ve not got rid of anything beloved 🤞