Christmas is coming! If you’ve got children, I’m sure they’re counting the sleeps until Santa’s arrival. This is a great time of year for decluttering toys and games. Not only will you free up some space for those new items, but it’s a good time to donate toys to charity shops, or try to sell them, as parents may be looking for bargains.
When your kids are small, it’s hard to contain the toys and keep them from taking over your house. Decluttering toys is a task that needs to be done often—especially as birthdays and Christmas approach. My kids are grown up now and we’ve done a good job of decluttering toys and games in the past. Even so, I’m sure there are still some we can get rid of.
Are you ready for week 48? Let’s get decluttering!
What is the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge?
In this year-long journey, we’re tackling one task at a time with the goal of cleaning up and organizing our homes. If you’ve just joined us, no worries. You can jump right in with this week’s challenge. Just check out the first two posts in the series to download your free checklists.
You can get easy access to all previous weekly posts on the main Decluttering page.
Week 48 – Decluttering toys and games
As my kids were growing up, we were pretty good at getting rid of toys they no longer played with. When they were small, I would sell their old toys on our Buy & Sell page at work. The girls loved it when I’d take their old toys to work and come home with money for them.
As the girls got older, we decided to give they money we made from selling their toys to charity. We would save the money up donate it to their school’s Terry Fox Run. It was an easy way to introduce the girls to the value of giving.
My daughters are 18 and 21 now, so we don’t have a lot of toys left. We do still have a large collection of board games, puzzles and stuffed animals.
This week’s decluttering and organizing tips
Before we get to what I got rid of, here are my tips for organizing and decluttering toys.
Use shelves to organize board games and puzzles
My younger daughter loves to do puzzles. We’ve already decluttered the easy ones but she still has quite a large collection. We recently bought a tall metal shelving unit so she can keep them organized. She likes to sort them by theme and season so she can easily find what she’s looking for. These shelves give her the space to do that.
Make toy rotation a habit
I had never heard of toy rotation until about a year ago. It’s a brilliant idea that I wish I had known about when my girls were small.
If you’re not familiar with toy rotation, it means storing away some of your kids’ toys and limiting the number of toys they play with. After a few weeks or months, store the rest of the toys away and bring out the ones you stored earlier.
Toy rotation is a great way to control toy clutter. When you bring out old toys, your kids will feel like it’s Christmas all over again as they rediscover old toys.
Find new homes for your toys
If you’re not sure what to do with the toys you no longer need, here are a few ideas:
- Donate them. My daughter loves her stuffed animals and she really wanted them to go to a good home. Some of them were like new, so we looked for a children’s charity to donate them too. Sadly, most charities only want brand new toys so we ended up donating them to the charity shop. We looked for a charity shop that supports causes that are meaningful to us.
- Sell them. Our girls were really good at looking after their toys so their used toys were like new. At this time of year, many parents may not have a lot of money to spend on toys for Christmas, so they’re looking for bargains. It’s a good time to put toys on Buy & Sell sites.
- Consider regifting them. When our great-niece was born earlier this year, the girls chose one of their old books and a stuffed animal to give to the baby. We included it with our shower gift. If your toys are in good condition, and you’ve got kids on your list who would like them, regifting may be a good option.
Resist the urge to go overboard at Christmas
Finally, the best way to avoid clutter is to stop it before it starts. It’s hard, but try to resist the urge to go overboard at Christmas. I admit to being guilty of that when the kids were small.
I recently read this great article My Holiday Reminder by Nikki Cox. Nikki reminds us that the things we remember about Christmases past are not about the actual toys we receive, but about the experiences we had together.
If you’ve already gone overboard on shopping, it’s not too late to return some items. Chances are your kids won’t notice!
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What I got rid of
Here’s what I got rid of this week. A total of 43 items—36 stuffed animals, and 7 other toys. A productive week and it makes me feel good that these items can put smiles on the faces of other children as Christmas approaches.
It’s hard to believe but we only have one task left on our 52-Week Decluttering Challenge checklist. We’ll tackle it next weekend so we can wrap up before Christmas.
Do you have tips for decluttering toys and games? Tell us your ideas below.
Rotating toys & games is such a genius idea! I have one big bag of cuddly toys still which I should probably go through and see if I can reduce it down to my favourites. Giving them away in the family is such a lovely idea x
Toy rotation is genius! I could have saved myself a lot of mess if I had discovered it sooner.
Great post! I like to go through the toys and games right before birthdays and Christmas. It is a great way to make space and to also get gift ideas. 🙂 We keep Christmas pretty simple at our house. I was worried about it at first because I remember how exciting it was at Christmas to get what seemed like piles of gifts, but my girls have still been super excited Christmas morning despite only getting a small number of things. They look forward to seeing our extended family, having a yummy meal, and watching a Christmas movie.
I think it’s awesome that you’re keeping things simple for your daughters and teaching them to appreciate what really matters. When I was young, Christmas was fairly simple at our house too. We were only allowed to ask for one toy, and that’s what we got along with other small items like colouring books. I used to think I was missing out but now I realize my parents had it right all along.
Luckily my kids haven’t felt like they are missing out. I’m not entirely sure how I will handle that if/when they do. I’m hoping that since it is what they have always known they will be fine with it and just consider it normal.
That’s awesome. I think it’s important to teach kids about priorities and choices. I know my girls are very appreciative these days that we prioritized saving for their education over other things.
That’s good to hear.
We had a massive clear out in the summer and a bit tidy last weekend ahead of large boy’s birthday and Christmas. They refuse to get rid of some surprising junk tho.
It is funny what they will get rid of and what they want to hang on to. My younger daughter is still very attached to her stuffed animals. We did clear out a lot but there were a lot more she wouldn’t part with, usually because she remembers who gave them to her and they are meaningful to her.