How to reduce the amount of toys

I was amazed when I overheard a parent say

"I do not keep any more toys than will fit in my child's toy box."


It wasn't a situation where I could ask them how they do that.


Does anybody know how a parent could actually do that?


I assume probably bikes and board games wouldn't be included but it
still seems like an incredibly unrealistic goal. Please, someone,
enlighten me!


Thanks

autonut843 wrote in

oups.com:

I was amazed when I overheard a parent say
"I do not keep any more toys than will fit in my child's
toy box."
It wasn't a situation where I could ask them how they do
that.

Does anybody know how a parent could actually do that?

limit the number of toys you buy. give older toys away to
younger relatives or friends when new toys come into the
house.

I assume probably bikes and board games wouldn't be
included but it still seems like an incredibly unrealistic
goal. Please, someone, enlighten me!

it's not unrealistic, but it is highly unlikely in a
consumerist society.
truthfully, it's actually better for children to have fewer,
but more open-ended, toys (such as wood blocks, Legos, craft
supplies) to play with than a lot of whizzbang, lights &
sounds, no input required toys.
take a good honest look at what toys your kids really play
with. get rid of all the rest (box them up & store them for 6
months. if the kids don't ask about them in that time, off
they go).
i was amazed at how simple it really was to cut down on the
toys around here.
lee

On Dec 20, 11:39 am, autonut843 wrote:
I was amazed when I overheard a parent say

"I do not keep any more toys than will fit in my child's toy box."

It wasn't a situation where I could ask them how they do that.

Does anybody know how a parent could actually do that?

I assume probably bikes and board games wouldn't be included but it
still seems like an incredibly unrealistic goal. Please, someone,
enlighten me!

Thanks

Donate. Involve your kid in arranging toys into "love to play with
these" or "willing to part" categories. Kids love to share/donate toys
especially if you explain to them that there are kids that don't have
these many toys. I don't like to fill my house with toys so I follow
this process quite regularly.

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:39:06 -0800 (PST), autonut843 wrote:

I was amazed when I overheard a parent say

"I do not keep any more toys than will fit in my child's toy box."


It wasn't a situation where I could ask them how they do that.


Does anybody know how a parent could actually do that?


I assume probably bikes and board games wouldn't be included but it
still seems like an incredibly unrealistic goal. Please, someone,
enlighten me!


Thanks

Before every Christmas and birthday, I weed everything out and donate to
charity. I try to get rid of enough toys so that I am down to two large
buckets of toys. Of course, the board games and very large toys don't
count.

Thanks! This is great input.
We're actually pretty good at keeping the numbers down and giving
excess to others in need. The thing I'm challenged by is, at the end
of the day (even *after* Christmas/Birthday), *only* having one toy
box worth of toys. (again, obviously excluding larger items.)
I appreciate all the good input!

autonut843 wrote:
Thanks! This is great input.
We're actually pretty good at keeping the numbers down and giving
excess to others in need. The thing I'm challenged by is, at the end
of the day (even *after* Christmas/Birthday), *only* having one toy
box worth of toys. (again, obviously excluding larger items.)
I appreciate all the good input!

Perhaps it depends on the size of the toy box? A portable toy box can
hold a lot less then a furniture sized toy box. (I'm thinking of
prehaps 4' long by 2'x 2' at the end.)

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

On Dec 20, 8:01�pm, autonut843 wrote:
Thanks! �This is great input.
We're actually pretty good at keeping the numbers down and giving
excess to others in need. �The thing I'm challenged by is, at the end
of the day (even *after* Christmas/Birthday), *only* having one toy
box worth of toys. �(again, obviously excluding larger items.)
I appreciate all the good input!

LOL. That is how it is here too. Toyboxes for my kids only mean the
toys that are in it do not get played with. They don't hold much, and
when you do pack them full, it is too much hassle for them to get in
and wade through it themselves. I think they avoid it due to the
cleanup involved afterward too. lol. We built closet organizers in
their closets and since there are now shelves that go up both sides
where that wasted space is, ALL of their toys fit there and are easily
accessible. They are even categorized. lol. I can't even believe that
everything fit in there. It all looked like so much when crammed into
a toybox, but not at all when on the shelves. I'm also a stickler for
keeping things together, especially things with multiple parts. I
bought a ton of those cheap disposable tupperware containers, and
others not so cheap, and put pictures of the toys on them for them
before they could read, and everything is so neat and tidy again.
Everytime we try to weed through toys, they come in with me and start
playing with long lost toys that were in the bottom. I can't sort fast
enough. We donate big things, but for the little ones, we make 3 piles
-- 1 for keeping, 1 for going down to basement to play with on rainy
days, and 1 for garage sale. My son wants to keep pretty much
everything and my daughter wants to pretty much sell everything, even
if she likes it. The incentive of earning money is a bit much for her
I think. lol. I've recently pulled out a ton of their old toys for my
younger one, and they can't quit playing with that stuff again, and
like some that they never did touch more, so there is something to
putting toys into rotation I think.

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:59:32 -0800 (PST), Chris wrote:

I think. lol. I've recently pulled out a ton of their old toys for my
younger one, and they can't quit playing with that stuff again, and
like some that they never did touch more, so there is something to
putting toys into rotation I think.

I know the rotation works, but I've given up on that; because the kids have
so many toys, I don't need more. I normally don't buy them toys except for
Christmas and birthdays. Even then, it is just one gift. However, I have
a MIL who believes in multiple presents, so they get tons from her and then
the rest of the relatives and friends. It is too much. I save some of
those toys to introduce later in the year.

"autonut843" wrote in message
...
Thanks! This is great input.
We're actually pretty good at keeping the numbers down and giving
excess to others in need. The thing I'm challenged by is, at the end
of the day (even *after* Christmas/Birthday), *only* having one toy
box worth of toys. (again, obviously excluding larger items.)
I appreciate all the good input!


I sort them by type into bins. They have 2 bins out of the storage room at a
time. If they want a new bin out of the storage room, they put on of the out
ones back.

I don't have limiting to one toy box as a goal since we have some big toys.
We have those cardboard blocks that are quite large, for instance. And a big
toy kitchen... For me it is about being neat and organized. And the toys are
like new again after they have been away for a bit.

"Stephanie" wrote in message
. ..

"autonut843" wrote in message
...
Thanks! This is great input.
We're actually pretty good at keeping the numbers down and giving
excess to others in need. The thing I'm challenged by is, at the end
of the day (even *after* Christmas/Birthday), *only* having one toy
box worth of toys. (again, obviously excluding larger items.)
I appreciate all the good input!


I sort them by type into bins. They have 2 bins out of the storage room at
a time. If they want a new bin out of the storage room, they put on of the
out ones back.

I don't have limiting to one toy box as a goal since we have some big
toys. We have those cardboard blocks that are quite large, for instance.
And a big toy kitchen... For me it is about being neat and organized. And
the toys are like new again after they have been away for a bit.
I used to periodically do a sweep and put about half the toys away and get
another set out.

I never really had a toy box either. Even in those days, I thought they
were too disorganized and possibly dangerous (lids closing on little kids).
We had shelves in their room (sometimes a pretty small room with two girls
sharing in bunk beds).

We had a lot of puzzles with larger pieces, and one trick I used was to put
them together, turn them over and draw patterns on them with magic marker.
That way I could tell which piece went to which puzzle without actually
putting them together to see if a piece was missing. And I put the pattern
also on the box, so the kids could tell where the pieces went.