Help! We’re Drowning in Toys!

If your home feels like it’s been overtaken by toys, you’re not alone. The key to taming the toy chaos is to declutter in stages. Before you even get started, it's important to set clear expectations with yourself. It took time for your space to get this full, so getting it organized will take some time too, and that’s ok! Decluttering is a great first step in your organizing journey because it is kind of like setting up the first domino- once you reduce the sheer amount of stuff in your space- you set yourself up for a chain reaction leading you towards a peaceful, playful home. 

First, schedule a time to spend 15-30 minutes focusing on just decluttering. Pour a refreshing beverage, put on some background tunes and choose a space to get started. This could be a drawer, a counter or a whole room depending on your time and energy.  First, remove anything that is trash, broken or missing pieces. Throw it away, it’s ok.  Next, sort toys into categories and set a limit for each  that works for you- like only 10 stuffed animals or cars or board games. My favorite way to set a limit is using external constraints. Don’t worry, it’s easier than it sounds!  All you have to do is select a container and only keep what fits, easily, inside. Here’s a real life example from our house.  Say your kiddo has 300 matchbox cars. Collect ALL the cars in the whole house into one place, choose a container that fits on their bedroom shelf, then pull out all the broken ones to toss in the trash. Then you can invite your kiddo in to sort through their cars and keep only what will fit in the container. Maybe this container holds 50 cars, maybe it holds 10.  From our pile of over 500 matchbox cars, my three boys have each chosen about 5 they really like to carry around and play with, and we donated the rest. Use short simple phrases to allow them to make their own calls. You can explain that  we will only be keeping our favorites and we will be donating all the things we don’t really need to other kiddos who don’t have many toys. You can ask “ would you like to keep this or donate it?” Then raise one car at a time, saying “keep or donate, keep or donate?” until you've completed the pile. If your kiddo is super reluctant to part with toys you can always bag up some extras and put them in a toy storage area where you can rotate toys every three months or so.   Want help keeping it simple with kids? Schedule a consult and get started now!