It creeps up on you. It happens during the day, the night, anytime. Before you know it's everywhere! No, I'm not referring to a character out of a horror movie. I'm talking about toys. All the toys!
Somehow through some unknown exact timeframe kids toys start piling up and infiltrating all the spaces of our house. A toy here, a toy there, a birthday, Christmas and BAM! Toys become an uncontrollable clutter. So what do you do?
You purge!
How exactly do you go about doing that? Getting kids to relinquish their hold on a toy they haven't played with for almost a year? Well, you can try bribing them with new toys? You can simply start making toys disappear without them every seeing you do it, and honestly they probably won't notice either. Or you can be more direct. Here's how my husband and I go about "The Purge".
1. We bring out all of the toys that have been sitting in random boxes, containers, or just lying around, into the living room and allowing them to familiarize themselves with said toys. Give them as much time as you notice they need. Meaning if after two hours they start losing interest then it's time.
2. We explained to our oldest son (who's 4) that it was time to give other kids who may not have as much some new toys. We followed this also with we can't buy ANY new toys until we have let some go. Although we had attempted altruistic intentions with telling him about children who aren't as fortunate as he is we have to remember he's 4. It probably wasn't his driving force to actually letting anything go. The understanding of new toys was more than likely what sealed the deal.
3. The process begins. It's not easy, and our 4 year old really wanted to keep everything. So to help things along I'd pick up toys that I know he has little interest in and ask if he wanted to keep it. Of course it was yes, at first. Then I just explained that "Hey, this toy you don't like as much as others. We should donate it." Without any further debate I put it in the donate box. From here I allowed him to choose what he wanted to keep. With a loose keep one donate two model. Most of what he really wanted was his trains and cars. The trains are a no brainer, we keep them. He's obsessed. The cars were a pick one give one situation. It wasn't always 50/50 but it worked.
Three seemingly simple steps to purging toys of Christmases passed. Now I will say that there are somethings that we just simply aren't as parents willing to donate. We have toys that used to be my husbands when he was child, we keep those. I mentioned his trains because those really are his favorite toys. Our Nana gifts us collector Hess trucks every year and we have several from when my husband was a child, we keep those. So as parents use your good parent instincts and help guide your children in deciding what they REALLY want.
I must note that through such a process I realize how fortunate we are that we even have an issue with abundance to where we have to purge. It's a great attempt at showing your kids that other kids would love these items more than they will, and that not all kids are as fortunate as they are. Eventually I think the message will stick. It's also scary to see how much plastic goes into toy making so please recycle!
Hopefully this helped either guide or jumpstart a purge in your home. We donate everything to our local consignment shop that also works with individuals in our community that have special needs. Do what you want with your purged items, but my suggestion is to donate to local charities, shops, or families in your area that are in need.
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