Comments on: WFMW: The Great Toy Purge of 2009

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:19:58 +0000

Freecycle is great for getting rid of all kinds of things in your house. Google it and sign up for your local group. I love the storage cubes in the furniture you showed. I sort by category like baby dolls, mr potato head, food, books etc too.

By: Laney

Laney — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:47:47 +0000

I bought one of those awesome wooden shelves too!! But, I also bought 16 pop-up fabric baskets to slide into each wooden slot in our shelf..My sons room is Disney Cars themed so I bought 8 red and 8 blue fabric baskets in target and each one has a handle in the very front so my son can just slide each one out easily..I also took a few of them and ironed on disney cars decals to the front, so it matches his bedroom so good! He already knows only one basket is allowed out at a time and when he is finished he has to clean up the mess before taking out another basket..I filled each one with something different, one has his matchbox cars, one has his legos, one has crayons and coloring books, one has gi-joes, one is filled with dinosaurs etc.. It’s the best thing I have ever bought for his bedroom, everything is so organized now!! He is 5 years old so its about time he starts to clean up after himself and keep his bedroom organized..He is doing great!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:10:58 +0000

I just finished reading Peter Walsh’s book, It’s All Too Much (So I’m sorry if this sounds bossy!). He addresses multiple reasons that people have for keeping things, including “We might need it someday”. Yes, we might need it again someday. But we need the space now. I toss what’s broken, give away/donate the outgrown or unloved, gather all the ‘we might need it someday’ items into a pile for storage, and put the rest away. When I put the WMNIS stuff into storage, date it. I choose an arbitrary timeline (like a year), and if we haven’t accessed it within that time, we don’t really need it, and someone else just might need it now, as opposed to someday, so out it goes.
I’ve had to move many times, and each time had to go through this process, so I tend to be a bit practical about it, but there are very few items that I later regret not keeping. Hope this helps!

By: Uncle Paul

Uncle Paul — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:53:33 +0000

I am of no help here! I can’t part with anything, and the kids toys remind me of great times, times I loved, times I miss!

I’d keep it all, even the broken stuff!
UP

By: Rita @ TesoroFino.com

Rita @ TesoroFino.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:52:16 +0000

Firstly, donate toys to homeless shelters. There are so many children without and A lot of shelters allow parents to come and get free used toys to wrap and give to their children.

Purging is good. But don’t go crazy and buy so much to just purge again. I allow my children 3 presents for Christmas. This allows them to be responsible in their choices. They will pick something they will want to use time and time again. I explain that Jesus only received 3 presents; why should we receive more.

With my little one. I use this type of system you have above with buckets. One bucket is filled with cars, one with soldiers, one with aquatic life, one with dinosaurs, etc. I teach him to put them away like that too. He is the only baby left and I get stuck doing it a lot. But if we don’t, they’ll never play with them or know where anything is. As they get older, they start to adapt and incorporate your organizational skills. Good luck.

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By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:51:43 +0000

I asked myself, “is he going to ask where said toy is in a week or two?” if no, it goes. We have quite a few boxes of toys stashed away that don’t get played with. Sometimes we will rotate the toys and it is like getting all new toys. My son’s birthday and Christmas are pretty close together, so really he only gets new ones to play with during one time period of the year, so rotating toys fixes the boredom issue.

By: Katie

Katie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:51:12 +0000

We also sort into categories! When we moved I threw things out (or sold/donated) that didn’t fit into “tried and true” categories. We place things into bins and clean everything up at the end of each day. It only takes a minute to clean when you have a place to put it!

My favorite bins are the Closet Maid “cloth” bins from Target. They are not super sturdy but we’ve been using them for things like dolls, doll accessories, doll clothes, play dough, pirate stuff, doctor stuff, purses and “fancy stuff” for three years now.

I like the fabric bins with internal metal frames from Walmart for heavier categories like fake food/dishes, Little People and doll house stuff. They are bigger and sturdier for larger “collections.”

All of the kids have stronger “wicker” type of baskets from Micheal’s next to their beds and on bookshelves for books. This makes books far more accessible for kids and easier to put away. It also gives them something to do when it is time to stay in bed but they can’t sleep.

We also use bins for things in bedrooms that don’t really fit into dressers, like dance clothes or extra backpacks/canvas totes.

Good luck and have fun!

By: threeboysandcounting

threeboysandcounting — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:32:28 +0000

so funny for me to read this post. we are in the EXACT same situation. Big wonderful basement, full of JUNK. the kids can’t even play because they have so much stuff. i acutally just purged a bunch of stuff. i had a friend come, and really help me think about what to keep. she would say things like “this toy looks loud and annoying.” and i would think about it and realize she is right.

i have really raised my standards for my kids toys and if it doesn’t encourage role playing or creativity (so if it is something they just push buttons on or beat on) then I am getting rid of it.

also if you haven’t seen them REALLY play with it in 3-6 months, pitch it. they are going to get tons of new stuff SOON. you can box the stuff your aren’t sure about and put it in the garage or somewhere out of site and if you haven’t opened it in 6 months, just donate it (without opening it back up).

I plan to do something similar as what you have pictured to organize our stuff.

By: Holly at Tropic of Mom

Holly at Tropic of Mom — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:21:43 +0000

I just cleared out a bunch of my preschooler’s toys last month, but you can’t really tell. His regular toys go in a laundry basket in his room. Most of the time, though, he just plays with his train table or little cars.

But Christmas is coming, and you can’t tell grandparents your children don’t need toys. Sigh….

By: Jana B.

Jana B. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:40:22 +0000

My advise….good luck! HA! I am now going to use some of those techniques myself, especially living in a very SMALL house! I would have to say do your purge AFTER Kate and Sam go to bed. I like the piece from IKEA, and I have a feeling you just want an excuse to go there!! Which by the way, I have YET to get down there!