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Cleaning out the toy box
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I have my 5 year old son help with the sorting. He has to pick what goes in the "keep" pile and what to donate or save for yardsale. He knows that his "keep" pile has to fit in the toybox. Many less tears now that he gets to make the choices and I am often surprised at what he deems valuable to "keep" and what he wants to donate.
I make sure the kids pick out a few things they want to give away, then I shoo them out and triple it... any McDonald's toys or broken ones are gone. They understand if they want new they have to give some of thiers away.
My kids are pretty good a getting rid of stuff. We have a rule that for every new thing that comes in one old thing goes out. So they know that when they want to spend their money on a new toy they have to pick something else to give up. It works great for us.
My daughter is still pretty young and does not seem to mind. Although I am sure as she gets older I will have to use some of the ideas suggested.
I just cleaned out the playroom, yesterday. I waited until my kindergartener, who insists she "loves" every toy, went back to school from winter break. Then, I lined up 4 boxes in the hall to organize the room. The first box was for trash and broken toys. The second "fix-it" box was for toys with minor repairs. The third box was for donations. The last box was for toy rotation. A friend of mine suggested taking toys out to declutter and bringing the box out in 3 months to exchange with toys they had become bored with. Then, in 3 more months rotate again. Now, theory is that they will be glad to see their old toys and be more likely to give up the old toys. If when the box comes out and they aren't excited, then that box just became a donate box. Win-win. Right? I guess we shall see in 3 months. :)
My daughter goes to my cousin's house for the long Thanksgiving weekend and that is when I clean out the toybox to make room for Santa. If she sees me getting rid of anything, even if she never uses it or doesn't like it anymore, she gets upset. If she's not home and doesn't know I do it, she never misses a thing.
We usually slowly get rid of toys that are broken, missing pieces etc. in a quiet manner. Our 3 year old doesn't notice if we keep it low key.
Up until recently I have my chidren weed down their toys prior to the holidays. We load up the car and take them to Goodwill, as I explain that some other children have nothing. Although we still do that, some of the bigger ticket items I have now been putting on Listia. My son enjoys listing his stuff and then bidding on new things (he had some wrestlers arrive yesterday) in exchange.
The method that works best is having a yearly garage sale. It's worked for me and my neighbors for years!
We tell our two year old that as he gets new toys that we have to make the old toys go 'bye bye'. We tell him we are giving them to other kids. He is amazing and does very well with it as we got loaded with tons of new toys for his birthday and X-mas and they both fall around the holidays. I personally get rid of most of the little toys so there is less to get lost, we stick with bigger toys like scooters, workbenches, guitars, tonka trucks, it helps keep the clutter down and he is still very entertained with the toys he has.
My mother used to make toys disappear all the time. Somehow, she always chose the ones we treasured. A sleepover or something would come up, and one of my sisters or I would be packing for the sleepover... and then we'd realize: Where's my teddy? My memory of this being a frequent experience still causes me anxiety at unexpected moments. Not to say that parents should never clean out their child's toy box. You gotta do what you gotta do. But as a child-turned-adult who still wonders what happened to her favorite teddy bear: I would encourage parents to involve your children in the decision process. Some memories last a lifetime!
I know which toys my kids play with most so usually while they are napping or otherwised distracted I go through their stuff and take out broken and/or unplayed with toys. Some of the toys I stash away in the basement since they were favorites that were just outgrown and will good if we ever add to the family, but the majority find their way onto ebay, craigslist or to a thrift store.
We try to weed out a couple of times a year. I can't seem to get rid of many books or puzzles for some reason. Sometimes we box up some toys and put them in the spare bedroom for a year or more and then when we pull them out, they are exciting again.
I always have our boys help when it's time to purge the toys and books. Having a garage sale is always a good motivator. We also take boxes of stuff up to the local 2nd hand stores. Sometimes they'll find stuff they've forgotten they had.
We clean out the toy boxes & bins when the kiddos are asleep. If they notice something missing, we'll return it. Otherwise we put it for a garage sale or we rotate it to bring out later.
My rule was/is, if it hasn't been touched in five months, its gone. This goes for myself also, with clothes and shoes and stuff. We just do not have the room.
I always go through their toys when they are gone. It doesn't matter if it's been in the toy box for a year, they'll cry if I want to get rid of it. If they notice stuff is gone, I tell them I donated it to other kids who don't have as much as they do and it helps them calm down.
it is like cleaning out the clothes closet, will just keep expanding fovever if you don't do it!
My 5 and 4 year old help go through the toys and decide what they want to donate to other kids who don't have as much as them. Then I go back through later without them and pack up the toys they said they wanted to keep but I know they haven't touched in months. Those ones I put in the attic for a month to see if they notice they're gone, if not then they go as well. If they do look for any that I have packed in the attic I keep those ones. We also have a small pile that we take to grandma's to leave there. We swap out the toys at grandma's with the new pile.
I make sure my daughter cleans up her toys, books, whatever she had just played with before she can get other things to play with. We sort her toys in bins. After every season she helps me collect toys she has outgrown or don't play with anymore. Wedonate it to the local daycare - these are mostly kids of teenage moms & low income women who has to work.
For every toy that comes into the house, one gets donated. That's the rules. We always have a large load to donate after Christmas.
We actually just cleaned out toys BEFORE Christmas. I have twin toddlers that are almost 3 years old. We actually purchase one toy for each of them at the local Goodwill store each month, and explain to them that "this is where we bring your toys when you're too big for them". When we clean out their toys, we explain that "Some kids don't have any toys at all, and you get new ones all the time, so it's time to give some to other kids." We don't let them decide on toys to give away, because they don't full understand the concept yet, but they know if a toy is no longer there the next day, it has been "given to another kid".
I clean out the toys when my kids are not home. They never know what is missing. I don't throw away anything that they still play with but I do get rid of all the toys that are broken...!
My daughter will often go through her own toys to clean them out knowing that we're going to share them with others who will enjoy them now.
Cleaning out their toys when they are NOT home is the only way to go for me and my family. I think I have a future hoarder with my youngest but each of them (I have three from 18 to 7) become so attached to the weirdest of their toys. The things I think are important ( probably in accordance with how much it cost lol ) they seem to be easily rid of, and the McD's toys, impartable?!?! So, I just go with what I've actually seen them playing with in the last year.
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