just start
It was my intent to declutter the toys in my preschool son’s room before Christmas so that we could make space for the imminent onslaught of toys that I knew would be making their way into our home. Between my husband and myself, and two sets of grandparents, I figured out that I needed to prepare. I never got round to decluttering before Christmas so my timeline shifted to “I’ll declutter the toys before I go back to work the first week of January.” Guess what? It still didn’t happen.
My son’s room was a major hot spot in our home and just stepping into his room or walking by and seeing what a disaster it is made me feel stressed, anxious and overwhelmed. On Sunday, January 10, 2021 I decided to just go for it. Enough was enough!
Listen up sis. If you’re waiting for the perfect time to declutter your kids’ toys, stop waiting and start doing. It doesn’t have to be the perfect time. You don’t have to already the project penciled into your planner. All you need to do is start. Please know that I’m in your corner rooting for you and cheering you on. You’ve got this…now get to it!
Declutter Toys Step 1: Round ’em up!
The first thing I did was dump all his toys out onto the floor in his room. Just kidding! They were already all over the floor to begin with, and if you’re reading this article then maybe you can relate? Don’t just make a pile of all the toys from your child’s room. Get them from everywhere. Check your bedroom, the kitchen, in and under the sofas, the bathroom, laundry room, guest room…leave no space unchecked. Once you’ve gathered everything you’re ready to declutter the toys.
Step 2: Create categories
Gather larger containers (crates, laundry baskets, old Christmas popcorn tins, etc) to help keep your categories separated. At this point you’re going to pick up each toy one at a time and put it into a container with other “like” or similar toys. If you don’t have enough containers , just make separate piles on the floor. Here are the categories that I used for my preschool son’s toys:
*Matchbox cars
*Medium sized cars/vehicles
*Large cars/vehicles
*Stuffed animals
*Action figures
*Everything else
As you sort through the toys you’ll notice that many of them will likely fit easily into one of your defined categories.
QUICK TIP: Don’t waste too much time trying to figure out which container to put a toy in. If it’s not obvious at first glance, put it in the “everything else” container/pile. This will help you to build up the momentum.
Step 3: Weed Through Each Category
I promise that you’ll feel tremendously accomplished once you get to this step. Even though you technically haven’t gotten rid of anything yet, simply seeing all the toys separated into organized categories is going to cause some of the overwhelm and anxiety to begin lifting.
To Tell or not to tell?
The first time I tried to declutter toys in my son’s room, I told him that we were going to get rid of some of his toys and that he was going to help me. He was 3 1/2 years old. Rookie mistake. He promptly removed everything that I put in the bag to donate or throw away. Keeping that experience in mind, I decided not to tell him what I was actually doing. I made sure not to have any garbage bags out so that he wouldn’t be suspicious. He was right alongside me the entire time and didn’t even have a clue.
One Basket at a time
Here’s how to quickly go through each basket:
- Dump out everything onto the floor
- Categorize again. These will be your sub categories that you group by:
- color
- size
- or duplicates.
- For example:
- Red cars all together
- Black cars all together
- All the duplicate fire trucks together, etc.
- Have your child to pick the two best toys from each sub category (unless it’s a duplicate; in which case you would only keep one). These will go into your keep heap. QUICK TIP: It may be helpful to avoid language like “Which two red cars do you want to keep?” or “Which ones should we get rid of?”
- Put together all the outliers that didn’t quite fit into a sub category. Tell your child to pick the two or three best ones. Put those into the keep heap.
- Everything that doesn’t make it to the keep heap should can go into a separate pile to get rid of.
- Repeat steps 1-5 for each of your main categories (which are likely in containers or in huge separate piles on the floor).
Declutter Toys Step 4: Get It out the house
Once you’re finally down to the keep heap and the “get rid of” pile, go through the “get rid of” pile and separate anything that you plan to sell. The rest can be donated or thrown away. Now you can. breathe a huge sigh of relief. You did it! If you have other areas of your home that could use a good decluttering, you’ll likely be super motivated once you’ve gotten this project under your belt. How often do you declutter toys? What are your best tips? I’d love to hear from you, so be sure to leave a comment below and share this post with your sister, best friend or coworker!
NEED MORE DECLUTTERING MOTIVATION?
Check out: HOW TO SIMPLIFY DECLUTTERING YOUR CLOTHES
