How to declutter with kids

[Rosiebelle17]

I feel the house is on a heap of baby items , toys, clothes
How do I motivate myself to get rid of stuff we don’t need ?

Kondo method does work with kids, with some adaptation.

You just have to dive on it and do it. Grab some bin bags for rubbish and a few boxes for donate. Go forth and purge.

Maybe try giving yourself a time limit - 15 minutes or half an hour, do as much as you can, then do the same tomorrow. Anything broken or dirty in the bin, good stuff to charity or sell.

Oh, and don't let the kids know you're getting rid of stuff. If you ask them, everything will suddenly become 'My favourite thing ever', even if they haven't looked at it for 2 years and it's been lost down the back of the sofa. Sounds slightly cruel and obviously you don't get rid of their actual 'favourite thing ever', but it's necessary for your sanity!

Sometimes when faced with a large pile of "what do I throw out" items, it's easier to think "this is ALL going out" then decide what you actually want or need to keep.
Sort items roughly into similar groups, then pick out eg toys you know they really like and play with, and at some point you'll find yourself saying "that's plenty"
Chuck the rest. (chuck doesn't necessarily mean bin it, just don't keep it)

Agree with the mentality of getting rid of it all! Being ruthless is the only way. It has also helped that we have younger children in the family so I do pass a lot of salvageable stuff onto them. I don't feel quite as guilty about getting rid of it then.

Book in a charity collection - you have to specify a number of bags/boxes and then you have a target!

I would second doing as much of the kids stuff without their input as possible, obviously this depends on the ages of the kids! Get a skip - all that empty space to fill can be really morivational!

With kids you have to be careful they don't realise or they will try to keep the stuff you're chucking out. Do it when they are in bed etc. Aim for getting rid of a bag a day.

At the moment it's more difficult to get rid of stuff because charity shops taking less stuff because of covid, but I have found listing things free on facebook or gumtree a good way to get rid of things. Often "mixed bag of toys free - must go in one lot" seems to work well.

Choosing a room or part of a room is also good then you can focus on an area and see real progress.