How does decluttering work exactly?

[TessTing123]

Serious question.

My children have too much stuff. How do I decide what to get rid of? They range in age between 5 months and 8 years. The older ones insist we keep everything for the baby.

surely we don't need an ELC farm and two wooden farms?

And millions of soft toys, each of which have a name and a personality and are "much loved".

And 2 shelves of activity books which never get looked at.

I feel like I'm drowning in it all.

thats why you have to throw things away when they are not there to see them getting put into the bin bag! If they havent played with it for years then there's no point in keeping it. I remember dd finding an old Barney toy on a bin bag I was going to get rid of and suddenly it was her most favourite toy in the whole world. Took a few more weeks before I could get rid of it and she never even noticed it was gone.

Keep the best of everything and get rid of the rest. Keep what you need, use and love. Then you own your possessions instead of them owning you

And if you plan on giving it away (school fetes can use clean labelled soft toys for tombolas) and playgroups/toddler groups/refuges may like the other stuff, talk to your children and explain where you want it to go and why and then get them to help.
They may well be really happy to help for a good cause.

Definitely do it when the children aren't around!
Which farm is the most played with? That's the one to keep
Is everything else in good condition? I would start by throwing away anything that is broken. Is anything sellable? There are lots of places to sell now, eBay, Facebook etc. Then the rest can be charity shopped/refuge/preschool.

I am a bit ruthless, I have already got stuff in the charity shop pile that they got this Christmas

Right. have put together a box for a little girl I know - doll, pram, doctor set and some other nice stuff. have thrown every broken car and plane away. Have a big bag of baby things for charity. if I can find the animals that go with it I'll get rid of the elc farm. am going to smuggle the big crane out under cover of darkness. craft and activity books tomorrow.

Two months ago I got rid of every single play cooking thing, food, tea set and 2 toy cookers and they have yet to notice.

They've spent today playing with a cardboard box

I had a boot fair when my daughter was about 2 yrs old in a bid to declutter.

Her dad brought her to see me mid morning.

She promptly picked a cuddly duck off the stall and said 'I've got one like this at home'

Felt so guilty he came back home with us...

Harder with kids things, but I have just read this: Banish Clutter Forever which gives you the principles behind decluttering, which I am finding useful.

Travel, I do NCT sales too, so do the same thing!!
Well done OP, sounds like you are getting there

How do you all deal with children who REMEMBER EVERY TINY LITTLE THING AND ASK YOU WHERE IT IS 6 MONTHS LATER??!!!! Aaaaargh!!

DD buys a lot of toys in the charity shop. I tell her they will run out of toys for everyone if she buys toys without giving any

I find that the "little and often" approach works best for me with regard to decluttering the kids stuff. We have a big box in the garage, which DH and I sneak stuff into on a daily frequent basis. Once the box is full, I take it to the local hospice shop.

We're doing well.

Next up... I'm going to try and get rid of some soft toys. Gulp.

Watch out though - if mine can't find anything they come to me first and ask "Have you given it to the charity shop?" with a glinting look in their eye...

OMG Dont you feel guilty???

Good luck with the soft toys! I have to admit, I am bad at parting with the softies... I put them on top of the wardrobes to gather dust instead...

It's the guilt, or even the prospect of guilt, that I cannot stand. ugh.

I think I have a problem!

I went through a stage of having to take 5 items a week to the charity shop or to be thrown away. It definitely helped keeping on top of stuff.

I am no help whatsoever - I still have all my soft toys from my childhood because I couldn't face getting rid. They are in the attic - having a party.

But i'm sorry i don't get it.. Surely if they grow out of them then they're happy for them to go to other places for children who don't have much / anything nice!!?? How do they learn to make decisions on de-cluttering in their future lives???

I clear out while they aren't there. They have never noticed

Every birthday and xmas the children go through their toys and choose things to get rid of to make room for new things.

Books are harder.

Oh god I couldn't get rid of books.