Do you have too many toys in your house? What parent doesn’t? This helpful post will teach you strategies for when your house is overrun with toys. Learn how to get rid of excess toys and how to keep toys to a minimum.
Too Many Toys in Your House?
Do you have too many toys in your house? It’s hard to imagine a parent who doesn’t. I know in my house I am constantly fighting the constant barrage of toys coming in from birthday parties, grandparents and Christmas, not to mention the small gifts and dollar store junk my daughter seems to hoard!
Over time, I’ve learned how to cut down on the toy clutter. Today I’m sharing my top tips for how to deal when it feels like your house is overrun with toys. You too can cut down on having too many toys in your house and keep your house free of toy clutter!
What to Do When Your House is Overrun with Toys
Here are the recommended steps to take for when you have too many toys in your house:
Step #1: How to Purge Toys
The first thing you’ll need to do when you have too many toys in your house is a good old fashioned toy purge. You’ve got some options on how to purge your toys.
Be Sneaky
The first choice here is to do the “Sneaky Toy Purge.” You’ve probably already dabbled with this method. You know, wait til your kid’s in bed, then throw some of their precious ‘treasures’ in the trash. You probably push them to the bottom of the trash can and cover them with something, so the kids don’t notice it in there in the morning.
You’ll have to find some time when your kids are not home, or commit some major time after bedtime.
Of course, you’ll want to purge the underused toys, not their favorite stuff (you’re trying to clean your house, not be evil to your kids).
Basically, instead of throwing out the odd under-used toy here and there, you’ll do a big purge all at once. Pull out everything in the playroom and toss A LOT.
If you’re not brave, you may want to hide the toys in storage for a while, just to make sure you haven’t misjudged things and thrown out a toy your kids are crazy about.
This strategy is great for little kids who don’t understand about cleaning and purging. If your kids are older (and likely to notice when their things disappear) try the next two methods.
Be Altruistic
The second method of purging is be altruistic. Basically, you encourage your kids to be generous and give their old and underused toys away.
This is a great method to involve your kids in. It’s perfect for kids who are a little older, but even three or four year olds could get into this idea.
Your kids can choose to give some old toys away, to either a younger child they know, or to donate them to harity to help a child in need.
The key to this idea is to really get your child to understand that another child needs their help. This is an especially meaningful activity to do around Christmas (you can read more about ways to teach your child about giving back at Christmas here).
Let your child take the lead in choosing which toys they are done with. What toys do they want to pass on to another child. Accept whatever they choose and don’t pressure them to give away more than they are ready for.
Instead, praise, praise, praise! Let your child come with you to deliver the toys. Make a big deal of the kind deed your child is doing. Brag about it to others (in their presence).
Essentially, you want to make them feel like being altruistic is the best thing ever (so they’ll want to do it again).
If they’re feeling great about donating toys, they will be likely to do it again. You can bring it up again in a few weeks, or perhaps they’ll want to donate more as soon as they come home!
Some parents do this as a ritual every December before the present-explosion that is Christmas morning. Others have their Elf on the Shelf leave a note asking them to fill a bin of toys to donate (read more great Elf on the Shelf ideas here).
Be an Entrepreneur
Finally, if your child is resistant to parting with their toys, hard cold cash might just convince them. Help them organize a yard sale or sell their toys on Facebook Marketplace and let them keep the proceeds.
(Yes, this does mean you’ll end up with another toy in the house, but they’ll likely have to sell quite a few toys to purchase one more expensive toy). Ultimately you’ll end up with fewer toys than you started with.
Step #2: Toy Rotation
Ok, so you’ve probably gotten rid of a fair amount of toys, but you likely still have plenty left. So what to do with them all?
I cannot recommend a toy rotation enough!
A toy rotation is simply when you only leave out some of your child’s toys. The rest are kept in storage (doesn’t matter where-closet, garage, basement, etc. are all fine). You simply rotate the toys so you child gets ‘new toys’ every so often.
This is a win-win situation. You have less clutter in the house and your kid is entertained by their ‘new toys’. Even if they’ve had the toys for years, absence makes the heart grow fonder!
Toy Rotation Organization
If you’re thinking you aren’t organized enough for a toy rotation schedule, nothing could be further than the truth.
You don’t need your toys perfectly organized. You don’t need a detailed schedule on what toys come out what week. You may have seen this on Instagram (and if this floats your boat, more power to you!), but you absolutely don’t need to be that mom.
In our house, we are decidedly NOT organized with our toy schedule. We keep about half our toys downstairs. When our kids are getting a little bored and antsy, they choose a couple of old toys to bring downstairs and I pick a few new ones to come up. That’s it.
We don’t have a set schedule (in the summer we seldom to toy swaps; during rainy weeks we do it every day).
There’s no specific toy we take downstairs. We let our kids choose which toys they’re tired of to bring downstairs and I pick a toy I think they’ll enjoy (based on their interests at the time) to bring upstairs.
There are some toys that never go downstairs (like our Little People, that are constantly being played with every day).
It’s a super easy and flexible system and it keeps toys from being strewn all over the house.
Training your Kids to Clean
OK, now that you’ve got the toys under control, you need to make sure they stay that way. That means getting your kids involved and responsible for taking care of their own toys.
I will admit that I’m not the best at this with my own kids, but as a teacher, I know what works and what doesn’t.
Consistency
First, you MUST be consistent with your expectations and cleaning routine. Kids need routine. Having a consistent schedule is crucial. It will take more effort in the short term, but once you have them trained, you will have much less resistance.
So pick a cleaning schedule that works for you. This will depend entirely on your own preferences and family schedule.
You may want to schedule a cleaning time once a day, or maybe several times a day (before mealtimes, before naptime, etc).
Whatever you choose, stay consistent. Once a clean-up time becomes routine, your kids will be less likely to put up a fight.
Another tip would be to schedule cleaning times before something fun, not something your children don’t want to do. Any kid will drag their feet if they have to clean before bedtime, but cleaning before snacktime or an outing will be much more motivating.
This post contains affiliate links. This means I may receive a small commission at no cost to you if you make a purchase after clicking on a link on this page. Read more here.
Visuals
Visuals are key for kids. Telling your child to clean the playroom is one thing, but your child may have a totally different vision of what a clean playroom looks like than your vision.
Take pictures of the playroom after you’ve done a good thorough cleaning. Post the pictures in the playroom so your kids have a visual of what you’re expecting of them.
You can also use a visual timer so your child knows how much time they have to complete their job. A visual timer gives a visual representation of time, which is a totally abstract concept for children. I cannot recommend using a visual timer enough! It’s a game changer for cleaning, chores, and makes getting ready in the morning so much easier!
Incentives
Finally, if your kids are still resistant about cleaning, offering an incentive can help encourage them.
I would recommend a sticker chart (you don’t need a fancy one… just draw five squares to start). You kids earn a sticker for every cleaning session they complete without complaining.
Once they fill up their chart, they get a predetermined reward.
The next time, make the reward slightly smaller, or make them fill up more squares to earn something bigger (maybe ten squares for a slightly bigger reward).
The point is to use the incentives as a training tool, not to bribe your kids to clean for the rest of their lives. Each time you start a new chart, they’ll either need to fill up more and more squares, or work for smaller toys. Slowly wean your kids off the chart.
Read a Book
Finally, as a teacher, I always encourage parents to read to their children if they’re having any sort of difficulty. A book about cleaning up can help children understand why having too many toys is a problem, and how they can take steps to make a big difference!
Here are some of my favorite books about too many toys:
Step #4: Buy Fewer Toys
Hopefully you’ve got cleaning under control, but you also need to make sure you don’t wind up with too many toys again.
One way to do this is to simply buy fewer toys.
This can be easier said than done!
First, encourage family and friends to give practical or experience gifts, instead of toys (here are some practical gifts for toddlers).
Second, encourage your child to spend their money on experiences, or save their money for larger toys, instead of a million little toys.
Third, watch your own actions. It’s so tempting to show your love through gifts (especially if that’s your love language). Instead, show your kids the value of spending time together over material possessions. If you want to put a smile on your child’s face, plan a special outing instead of buying a toy.
Of course, your kid will still receive some toys, so continue purging when needed!
Well, those are my tips for when there are too many toys in your house! I hope you get your toy situation under control, stat!
Like this post? Pin it for later!
No Responses