Are you overwhelmed with the amount of kids’ toys in the house? We found a way to declutter kids’ toys WITH our kids, as we work toward a common goal, which I’ll lay out in this blog post.
Overview
- There are too many toys in the house, you’re constantly tripping over them
- Your kids don’t want to let go of their old toys because they might use them someday or have sentimental value
- Secret Weapon: Turn decluttering into a goal-driven activity of earning money toward something they want!
- Get your FREE thermometer tracker chart to visually work toward your goal
Why Decluttering Toys is So Hard!
Decluttering toys is hard for kids and parents alike. Often, toys hold sentimental value to the parents and the children. Also, children often think they might use the toy in the future and don’t want to get rid of it for that reason.
I know my kids and I struggle with all of the above. I even struggle with the sentimental aspect, especially baby toys.
Even during the decluttering process, I suggest letting your kids keep some toys, even ones that are too young for them, if they’re very attached to them or if they actually play with them still. I’m surely not advocating for getting rid of all of their toys or causing trauma to your children in the process.
Note: Forcing kids to get rid of their beloved toys or just getting rid of them without them knowing is NOT a good idea. This can cause a deep sense of loss not only of their beloved toys but also of control of their own belongings.
It’s also ok to keep some toys for your possible future grandchildren, I know we have!
This all makes it hard though to balance the want of having a cleaner, less cluttered home, and also being sensitive to everyone’s feelings.
My oldest has the hardest time getting rid of toys he no longer plays with. It used to be impossible to convince him to get rid of anything. It was to the point that he was 7 years old and still hanging onto baby toys that he, nor his younger brothers, had played with in years!
This was until I figured out a way to get him on board with the rest of us.
A Shared Goal
Last year, my husband and I felt the walls of our decently sized home closing in on us as we headed into the Fall season. There were sooooo many children’s toys, most of which our kids don’t play with anymore, that were taking up so much of our home.
We knew our oldest had a hard time getting rid of anything so we had to think of a way to get him on board.
We had recently gone camping at a place where they had a ping pong table. Our boys fell in LOVE with the ping pong table and wanted one at home. They also wanted a bigger TV down there as we still had my 23″ from 15 years earlier.
In our basement, we technically had the room for a ping pong table…if we got rid of a LOT of toys.
Once we got home, we told the boys that we surely could get a ping pong table but we’d need to get rid of toys to make space AND to raise money for the ping pong table. They were soooooo excited! They loved the idea of raising money for what they wanted.
This was great!
We would get rid of some toy clutter, and they would raise money for something they want! We added in the TV later as we raised more than we thought. We actually ended up getting a small foosball table as well, and some accessories for our Wii.
Step-by-Step Process
1. Talk with your kids about the goal
– Sit down and have a conversation with them about how there are so many great toys they have that they don’t play with anymore.
– Tell them that they could choose to sell their toys to raise money for something that they all want, or individual things they want.
– Involve them in choosing the reward – or, if they don’t have anything in mind, that works too. The second year we did this, they were just raising money for Wii games, none in particular, but just more games.
– Keep the goal realistic – don’t plan on earning hundreds of dollars unless you have a lot, lot, lot of toys to get rid of. Recently, we did this with toys just in our living room and it was about 50 toys total, half of which sold that first weekend. They raised about $150 so far. They’ll raise more if/when the rest sell. Things of course won’t sell what you bought them for, many things people will just pay $5-$10 for, depending on the quality, toy collection, etc. Toys for younger kids tend to sell well and learning toys as well. Personally, we didn’t set a specific goal this time, we just knew we wanted to sell toys to raise money for Wii games.
2. Declutter Kids’ Toys Together
– Continue to have your kids involved with this as you want their input. As I said earlier, you don’t want to sell something out from under them, you need their buy in. This is the case for younger kids and older kids.
– The best way is to go through all the toys in one room to get started. Look at everything from board games, to open-ended toys, to action figures, to wooden blocks, and all unused toys. Even toys they use sometimes you can try to bring those up and see what they think!
– Make piles: Keep, Sell, Donate, and Trash…I also suggest having a Maybe pile.
– If you have multiple kids, like we do, hold up a toy and ask them “Can we sell this?” and ask them to raise a hand if that’s ok or give a thumbs up. Then put it in the to sell pile.
– If there are disagreements between children and it’s a shared toy, you can talk to the kid(s) who want to keep the toy and learn their reasoning.
From there, you can all decide whether this item is going to be sold or if the child who wants to keep the item will keep it in their room, another play area, or some other idea.
For the toys they want to keep, you could also set boundaries on where toys are going to be (such as not in the middle of the living room…goal of ours!), rotate toys on a regular basis, use a toy box or storage bin to help organize toys you keep, and so on. Either way, hopefully by the end of this, you’ll have fewer toys!
Admittedly, I thought that once we went through the living room toys, we’d move on to the family room toys but the living room toys alone took me HOURS to get photos and post and manage all of the people wanting to come pick them up. Which is great, I was just exhausted. Don’t forget about your child’s bedroom as well, there might be toys there that they don’t want anymore.
3. Take Photos and List Toys for Sale
– Take photos of each of the toys you are listing for sale on a plain background, such as a countertop or floor, all at once. This way, when you’re listing the items for sale, you don’t have to go from taking photos to listing items and back and forth. It’s exhausting enough already and takes so much time to list so many items at once.
– You can always list similar items or toy sets together, or separate them. It’s up to you.
– As you’re taking photos of the toys, ensure that they don’t have any missing parts or missing pieces. If they do and will still work, you can note that. This especially goes for puzzle pieces and other small pieces.
– I listed my kids’ items on Facebook Marketplace for local pickup only, as well as in many swap and shop type groups that I’m part of in my area.
– Also include “see my other toy listings” or something to that effect in your listings so they know you’ve got a lot more they can pick up all at once. I had one lady buy 7 items at once which was amazing!!
– You could also choose to host a garage sale.
– When pricing, see what other toys are priced at where you are going to post them. For example, if you’re selling on Facebook marketplace, search for the item you are posting and see if anyone else has it for sale, and how much they are charging. This isn’t always the best way to find pricing as this just shows what is for sale, not what has sold, but it’s a jumping off point. You can also keep in mind the original price of the item, maybe posting it for half that price or less depending on if it’s in good condition or not, and going from there. In my postings, I tend to say what the retail price is so people realize they’re getting a good deal when I sell it for 1/4 of that.
4. Keeping Track of Money and Sales
– It’s important to keep track of what you’ve listed, how much you’ve listed it for, and who is going to pick it up. I just used a piece of notebook paper and wrote down the toy on the left and then the price all the way on the right. In the middle, I noted who was going to buy the item so I could keep track easily. Once they picked the item up and paid for it, I crossed it off.
– In terms of the money, I keep the cash in an envelope and also write down the money that’s in it, as well as who we got it from. If it’s a digital money transaction, such as on Venmo, I write that too, so we know that it’s the kids’ money at this point.
– If you want, and especially if you need the money, you could tell your kids that you’re going to take a commission off the top of what’s sold, so that you get some income as well. We choose not to do this but I understand if others want to.
– You could also create a visual tracker, we did that last year with a money thermometer chart, and they really loved that (see FREE printable below).
– Items that don’t sell, you could give away for free in a local Buy Nothing group, donate to charity, or throw away if it’s something that you don’t think others would use again.
5. Buy The Reward!
– Once you’ve raised enough money to purchase the reward you’ve been working toward, you can all buy it together! Obviously, this is more exciting if you get to go to a store and get it. We actually bought the ping pong table used from someone the next town over and so the kids at least got to see us bring it in the house. The TV we bought online so wasn’t like we went in a store and checked one out but they were part of measuring to see what would fit, etc.
– This way you get to show your kids their hard work paid off and hopefully your house has less clutter as well!
– Reinforce the lesson that less clutter = more of what they really want
Life Lessons and Tips
Life lessons that kids can learn from this include money management, the value of hard work, letting go of what they don’t use, as well as teamwork and family bonding through a shared activity. Hopefully, the thing that everyone is saving up for will also bring the family together, like our ping pong table did…you know…for the first couple months until it just sat there… Meh, I’d still rather have that big ping pong table than that slew of toys that weren’t getting used!
Tips to make decluttering smooth:
– Be patient with your kids, they need time to process through whether they are willing to let their prized possessions go. Don’t rush them, as much as you may want to. If they can’t decide on a toy, set it in the ‘maybe’ pile, and move on. Go back to it later.
– Try to make it fun as you work on this. You could put on some music, make the toys dance to their pile, etc. Or not…honestly…I didn’t because I just wanted to get it over with. Ha!
– Focus on the goal – when a kid is saying they aren’t wanting to get rid of a toy, remind them what you’re working toward and that they haven’t played with it in x amount of months/years.
– DON’T secretly undo their decisions later and sell things that they wanted to keep. Again, this will traumatize them. I say this as a former school psychologist, a mom of sensitive children, and as a sensitive person myself.
Moving Forward
Feel free to do this over and over again, as needed. We’ve done it two years in a row now and honestly, it’s probably a new tradition! You could even have a decluttering calendar and do this twice a year or even before birthdays or other gift-giving holidays to make more physical space for the influx of toys.
Whether you have a small space or a large space, it’ll feel so much better once you’re able to tame the toy chaos a bit and sell some toys. You, and your children, will feel accomplished by having an organized space and have worked toward a goal together!
We’ve found that this big clean up has helped a lot. We’re not tripping over kids’ toys as much, we have less stress, and even our cat is enjoying more space to walk around and nap in!
FREE Thermometer Visual Tracker
With this thermometer visual tracker you can mark off the overall goal and keep track of your progress!
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.