My son has way too many toys! We are expecting another boy soon, so I'm not sure what to keep and what to get rid of. He honestly plays with 90% of it, but we have so much stuff! I have tried to tell grandparents and other relatives to give consumables(art stuff), clothes, or theater gift cards, but he still gets a toy store every birthday or Christmas. How have you cut down on your kids' stuff?

You didn't say how old your DS is, that would help to know.

oops...just read the other post that says he is 5.

Well, i have 3 boys ,so LOTS of Boy toys. when I first decided to downsize our toys I first realized that not only did we have lots of different toys, we had tons of the "same toys". Dinosaurs, for instance. Big ones ,little one, real looking ones, cheap plastic ones, you name it! I sat down with my DS with all his Dinosaurs and asked him witch one was him favorite. It was a small/tiny realish looking one. Then I held up two more. one tiny one big....picked tiny. Then one real looking and more kiddish....realish won out. I realized he was totally satisfied with 10 tiny realish looking dinosaurs, instead of 30 dinos of all different kinds.

For me, weeding out was all about listening to exactly what my DS liked. Not just dinosaurs, but what kind. I didn't feel bad at all when i sent 20 dinos packing, and eaither did DS. We did this over a week or so with all sorts of things. Play food...he likes wooden the best, the rest went bye bye. Cars....small and metal.....goodbye plastic, big or remote control. I was amazed how this helped HIM realize that more wasn't better and it was more important to REALLY like something...me too.

My son who is 6 cannot get a new toy unless we sell another. He is into Power Rangers and luckily they sell well on eBay. Also, if he is gifted with new toys (during Christmas, birthdays), I do not allow him to open all of them at once. We "save" them to regift...And yet we still have tons of toys. I just cannot part with his baby/toddler toys. Luckily he has a younger cousin and thus, my sister does not need to spend for toys for her son anymore. She can go shopping in our basement anytime.

I am constantly downsizing the toys in my house. I just pay attention to what toys my DS actually plays with and get rid of the rest. I have kept a bunch of the baby toys for my 9 month old DD, but I know in a short amount of time (like 3 months when she turns 1), she will get a bunch of toys just for her.

Sometimes I have DS sort them with me. I explain to him that they toys that he doesn't want will go to another little boy who doesn't have any toys, then we drop them off at Salvation Army. But since he is just turning 3, I mostly go through when he naps. He never misses what I have taken.

I must say though, that our house isn't nearly as cluttered with toys as all of our friends homes. DS's toys all fit into 4 of those IKEA square rolling bins and on his 3 book shelves.

Sandra

I have this same problem - too many toys!

I have 3 boys... 4 1/2, 2 1/2 & 5 months. For Christmas & Birthdays they automatically get gifts from 8 different sets of familys JUST in the family. Thats A LOT of gifts. My parents always ask for ideas and this past Christmas I suggested things that can be folded up and fit under the couch - pop up soccer goal, pop up soccer tent, etc. One of my sister always asks for ideas too and last year she got the boys OU jerseys! One grandma got them OU hats one year. They LOVED these types of things! They have WAY too many toys and since they just got a bunch of new toys I find myself already getting rid of a ton of perfectly fine toys from last year!

I do occasionally have my 4 1/2 year old go thru and pick out some toys for a garage sale. He found about 5 items for the last sale after I'd gone thru and pulled out a bunch of the toys I wanted to get rid of. I agreed with all his choices but had left them in there because I paid full price for them, or they were a gift from someone else, etc.

I also plan on taking some toys to my parents house. We go there every Sunday after church and although they have some toys there, some of them were mine & my sisters when we were kids. I've talked my mom into making one of the bedrooms into a playroom so that the adults will get 2 tv rooms and we'll put a TV upstairs for the kids. I plan on taking some there so all the kids will have toys to play with.

I also have tubs in the attic. It started because we had thought of selling the house and I cleared out a TON of toys so that there was less to clean so the house would be ready to show faster. I got used to having less toys and actually like it. Occasionally my son will ask for a toy up there so I'll get up and get it down, and come spring we'll probably go thru the tubs again to get rid of anything they don't want. We'll probably do a switch too so that they get new toys to play with!

Anyway, not a lot of help I know - I'm bad about getting rid of toys - although I'm DYING too, I'm actually pretty attached to a lot of them so it's hard!

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Stay at home mom to my 3 boys... ages 5, 3 & 1!

I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

How is it that WE get attached to THEIR toys? I have ONE child and he already has too many toys. He has THREE SETS of grandparents.....and one set especially thinks that EVERYTIME they come over they have to bring a toy. They are nice toys, but I'm going crazy! I can't really say anything, because they are my in laws....if it were my parents I would plead for them to stop!

I had a garage sale this past weekend and was able to get rid of a few....but again, I kept thinking....what about when we have another, etc. I guess what I need to realize is that if my DS now gets toys ALL the time....then I'm sure the 2nd child will be bombarded with toys too....so I could probably get rid of all my DS has out grown now...

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Mom to Ryan ('06)

My husbands family rarely buys her toys but my family goes crazy with it. I don't know why. Half of the stuff she doesn't even like.
My mom also bought her a ton of books... and we are not just talking baby books! She has enough for a library!
The one good thing that has come out of this is that my husband and I don't feel the need to buy her toys or books so it saves us money... most of which goes into her savings account!

My advice would be to pitch or sell what doesn't get played with very often or never. Saving it for the next child is pointless because they will get a ton of their own.

That is something that I need to recommend to the in laws....books! They are easy to store, and as a teacher (now SAHM) I LOVE books for my son. I just haven't ever thought about suggesting that instead of the toys. I have put them on Christmas wish list that they ask for though...and they weren't too enthused. Maybe that will work for the every time they come over and think they have to have something for him....

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Mom to Ryan ('06)

I was thinking the same thing. It's not only that they don't want to get rid of them, I have a hard time letting go also! As the toys continue to pile up, I am getting better at getting rid of them because I am tired of constantly reminding them to puck them up and getting down on my knees to help my 2yr old pick his up!!

As far as getting rid of them, I do a combonation of donating and selling and the kids (well only dd right now) help me choose the toys to donate.

One idea that my Dad came up with is for families to give them/you money for activities. For DD's Bday he paid for 6 weeks of gymnastics and gave her a leotard. I also like the idea of people giving them subscriptions for kids magazines like NickJR or the Cricket series. They love to get mail!