Small house/ clutter / Christmas gifts!

[Mobley52]

There are 5 of us in a small 3 bed house and I have been making an effort to reduce the amount of stuff we have - not only do we not have the space but I feel it's much easier to keep things clean and tidy.

The kids have more than enough toys but every year Christmas and birthdays relatives buy loads of stuff for them - particularly DH's side who seem to think quantity over quality is the good way so we end up having loads of plastic tat filling the house.

What do others do in similar situations? Ie when you just don't have the space or the want for so much stuff. I feel I should probably communicate this to family but I don't want to seem like a Scrooge.

Any gift ideas which don't take up space or add to the clutter?

Oh i hear you!
my mum keeps bringing me hwr cast off unwanted decluttering things which ib really don't want.
Here's some ideas
Yoto player cards...
Experiences or tickets to do things
Food
Investments in children's ISAs ... plus one precious book/toy / clothing
Or Wirli credits so you hire the toys?
I'm not on top of this at all... keep bagging up toys but ds finds the bags and suddenly wants baby toys back!

You need to be very clear with them. Hopefully your DC are on board with having smaller amounts of things, you do say they have more than enough toys.

Point out the obvious that you have no space and are trying to reduce the amount of stuff for your mental health/environmental reasons/whatever.

Suggest some small or consumable gifts that your DC like. Also say that they'd really love passes/season tickets to whatever attractions you like to take them to - National Trust family pass, wildlife park, theme park, zoo etc etc.

Indicate that things that take up space you don't have will be sent to their houses after they've played with them during the Christmas holidays so they can play with them when they visit. Or donated to charity or sold. And do it.

Foisting a load of plastic crap on people who don't want or need it is not a nice, generous act of love. It's them putting their want to buy a pile of crap over your need to control the amount of stuff in your home, which I really don't understand. If they cared about you at all they'd not want you to feel this way. They obviously don't.

Plus it's a huge waste of money and almost everyone who does this doesn't have money to waste. A relative of ours always sends a load of unsuitable stuff (clothes the wrong size, toys the wrong age) for my nephews and DSis always says 'thank you very much, that's very kind but unfortunately they can't wear/play with it for X reason' and the relative just carries on. Now she just sends the stuff straight to the charity shop which makes her feel bad for the waste of money and is annoyed that she's not listened to and has another job to do.

Ask them for experiences or better yet money. Your DC can club it together and get something they really want. My DS used to love putting his money together and going to get something after Christmas.

I spent years getting rid of tons of toys even those that were never played with.

Absolutely communicate this! Loads of plastic tat is not nice for you, terrible for the environment and overwhelming for the kids. It should be pretty easy for everyone to understand that you don't have the space to deal with loads of stuff.
For present ideas, can they give experiences instead? Doesn't have to be fancy - a voucher for 'an afternoon baking cookies with Granny and Grandpa' can be exciting for a kid (not sure what age your kids are).

I'd get very controlling and make a gift list (Amazon wishlist if you like, or just an email list) and be very precise about it. So, pick a specific book or small toy and add '+ money for savings account'. Book tokens still exist, list those specifically. The add one or two physically small but expensive things (Go Pro camera?) and a couple of useful expensive things (Oodie, football boots a size up). They may well ignore it still but you've done what you can.

We do Amazon wish lists for kids to reduce the tat. My mother will buy one thing from the list then send a whole load of tat too. Always has. She’s very much quantity over quality.