Saving toys for YDS - what to keep and what to get rid of

[busymama77]

My ODS's room is overflowing with toysand we currently have no extra space for a playroom. I'm afraid of going through the toys because I would like to save some for when my YDS is old enough to play with them, but something NEEDS to be done in the interim.

What do you all suggest? Get rid of the toys that no longer have matching pieces? Store away the stuff that my ODS no longer plays with? I have something like this that I can put in his closet (which is roughly 9 feet long and 3 to 4 feet wide): http://www.target.com/Whitmor-Kids%E..._com_brand-bin but do these work well? If you have one, do you like it?

Any and all suggestions are very much welcomed!!

[leigh09]

i have looked into buying one of those, but the one i seen was quite wobbly from side to side. it didn't seem like it would stand up to the abuse i know my kids would put it through.

anyways, what i have done with the toy overflow:
yes, get rid of anything broken, missing pieces, and that just has sat in the corner and never been played with.
i bought a number of clear, plastic bins and just sorted toys into there based on age, or what the toys where, etc.
i have also donated toys to grandparents homes, siblings/friends with new children and just starting their toy collections, charities, etc.

[mkksmom]

I have one of those and we love it. DD can take 1 bin to where ever she wants to play and I think she plays better when the toys are all sorted. My brother keeps his kids toys all together, and by the time the kids find all of the little people, they get bored/distracted and never get around to acting anything out.

I saved many of the older dd's toys, and my younger dd is now 9 months old. I'm glad I saved things because she really does play with them. I had set aside a bag full of stuffed cloth type of baby toys to donate to the playgroup at the local library, but I never got there. I was glad I didn't because I ended up using almost everything in the bag. I love that I have enough that I can throw things in the wash and rotate toys. I'll donate all of them once the LO is done with them.

[crunchy_mommy]

I am wondering the same thing, we only have one kid right now but plan on having more & I just don't know what to do with all the toys.

On the one hand, most of DS's toys are from yard sales, freecyle, etc. but then there are also a lot of gifts (mostly from my parents) that I feel bad getting rid of. I think what I'd like to do is get rid of anything broken, missing pieces, etc. Then get rid of toys *I* was never a fan of (too single-purpose, annoying music, etc.) Then make a pile of all the free/yard sale toys (except a couple favorites) and either sell or donate them. Sounds like a good plan to me but I have yet to execute it

I do like that bin system like the link you have -- the library has that & so does a friend, & DS seems to play well with that system, but I don't like everything being exposed... But I'm thinking of building one anyway (and using bins from the $ store as I'm super cheap....)

[busymama77]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy

I am wondering the same thing, we only have one kid right now but plan on having more & I just don't know what to do with all the toys.

On the one hand, most of DS's toys are from yard sales, freecyle, etc. but then there are also a lot of gifts (mostly from my parents) that I feel bad getting rid of. I think what I'd like to do is get rid of anything broken, missing pieces, etc. Then get rid of toys *I* was never a fan of (too single-purpose, annoying music, etc.) Then make a pile of all the free/yard sale toys (except a couple favorites) and either sell or donate them. Sounds like a good plan to me but I have yet to execute it

I do like that bin system like the link you have -- the library has that & so does a friend, & DS seems to play well with that system, but I don't like everything being exposed... But I'm thinking of building one anyway (and using bins from the $ store as I'm super cheap....)

Ugh, I know. It's on my list of things to do and since we don't have much going on this weekend, this may be my only chance to get it conquered - at least, somewhat. The rest of my weekends this month are packed full of things to do. Tis the season!

[crunchy_mommy]

I DID IT!!!
Yesterday I went through all DS's toys.

I have a vision of what I'd like our household to be like -- I would love for DS (and future kids) to have mostly nice wooden & cloth toys, and some plastic toys as appropriate but not in excess like we had. I wanted the toys to be diverse & prefer more open-ended toys. So that was my vision.

Most of what we have (had!) didn't fit that vision, because I didn't buy the toys, and didn't have that vision in mind when accepting free toys...

So I made a pile of toys DS outgrew... Most of them didn't fit the vision, so they went in the discard pile. I ended up with a very small pile of toys (smaller than a shoebox) to keep in the attic for baby #2.

Then I went through the toys DS never really played with, and put in the discard pile. I also added ones he did play with but I just didn't like or didn't fit my vision (he is young enough & plays with toys seldomly enough that this wouldn't upset him).

Upstairs in his playroom I kept the huge Little People set, a jack in the box, and his toddler sports center.

In our bedroom I kept the 2' mini kitchen, stacking rings, linking beads, a few stuffed toys, his noisy annoying helicopter that he loves, his see & say, a couple handmade puppets, and 1 or 2 other small things.

In the living room I kept the bead maze, the cloth animal bowling set, 6 or 7 trucks, a puzzle, a walk/ride toy he still enjoys, blocks, musical instruments, and a couple other odds and ends.

I listed at least 30 toys on craiglist last night & already sold some for $40 Hoping I can make at least $100 and then donate whatever doesn't sell (although there are 1 or 2 things I will have a hard time donating if they don't sell, so that will be my final obstacle!)

So nice to not have so much everywhere, and DH was totally on board with my decisions (especially when we started getting money from it ) What made it easier for me is I finally realized that since we acquired many of the toys for free/$1 or so, I could always do the same thing again with the next kid (and probably would want things that better suited his/her personality as well as my 'vision') -- plus anything I sell them for is a profit, not a loss, so that helps! A few gifts were the hardest things but we've gotten so many gift toys I just can't keep every gift... Most people wouldn't ask 'where's that XYZ I got him" anyway & if someone did I could just honestly say "I don't know, haven't seen it in a while, hmm..."

I want to institute a 1-in-1-out rule... I can get toys that better fit my vision as long as I remove another toy or pack it in storage. I'm so excited that I finally did it!!!!!!!!

Did you make any progress?

[busymama77]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy

I DID IT!!!
Yesterday I went through all DS's toys.

I have a vision of what I'd like our household to be like -- I would love for DS (and future kids) to have mostly nice wooden & cloth toys, and some plastic toys as appropriate but not in excess like we had. I wanted the toys to be diverse & prefer more open-ended toys. So that was my vision.

Most of what we have (had!) didn't fit that vision, because I didn't buy the toys, and didn't have that vision in mind when accepting free toys...

So I made a pile of toys DS outgrew... Most of them didn't fit the vision, so they went in the discard pile. I ended up with a very small pile of toys (smaller than a shoebox) to keep in the attic for baby #2.

Then I went through the toys DS never really played with, and put in the discard pile. I also added ones he did play with but I just didn't like or didn't fit my vision (he is young enough & plays with toys seldomly enough that this wouldn't upset him).

Upstairs in his playroom I kept the huge Little People set, a jack in the box, and his toddler sports center.

In our bedroom I kept the 2' mini kitchen, stacking rings, linking beads, a few stuffed toys, his noisy annoying helicopter that he loves, his see & say, a couple handmade puppets, and 1 or 2 other small things.

In the living room I kept the bead maze, the cloth animal bowling set, 6 or 7 trucks, a puzzle, a walk/ride toy he still enjoys, blocks, musical instruments, and a couple other odds and ends.

I listed at least 30 toys on craiglist last night & already sold some for $40 Hoping I can make at least $100 and then donate whatever doesn't sell (although there are 1 or 2 things I will have a hard time donating if they don't sell, so that will be my final obstacle!)

So nice to not have so much everywhere, and DH was totally on board with my decisions (especially when we started getting money from it ) What made it easier for me is I finally realized that since we acquired many of the toys for free/$1 or so, I could always do the same thing again with the next kid (and probably would want things that better suited his/her personality as well as my 'vision') -- plus anything I sell them for is a profit, not a loss, so that helps! A few gifts were the hardest things but we've gotten so many gift toys I just can't keep every gift... Most people wouldn't ask 'where's that XYZ I got him" anyway & if someone did I could just honestly say "I don't know, haven't seen it in a while, hmm..."

I want to institute a 1-in-1-out rule... I can get toys that better fit my vision as long as I remove another toy or pack it in storage. I'm so excited that I finally did it!!!!!!!!

Did you make any progress?

Awesome, mama!!! That is great progress!

I did!! I got the bug in me on Saturday night. I had DH bring up the storage unit that I posted in my OP, the little cubbies and everything. I went through all of DS's toys, pitched items that didn't have matching pieces, found toys that he no longer plays with but that DS#2 could play with in a few months, I put those in DS#2's room. All is organized! By cars/trucks/race cars, by superhero/action figures, play phones/cameras. DS loves it and it's so easy to access. I don't have anything to sell, well, at this point and until DS#2 grows out of his toys... maybe next year, I'll have a big garage sale or something.
We had family over yesterday - three older cousins were there, too. They all played with the toys but I noticed that after they had left, all of the toys that were taken out of the bins/cubbies were put back in their right spot! YAY for tidiness!!

[crunchy_mommy]

YAY!!! I still have to improve the toy organization (there were too many toys to even CONSIDER organizing ) but it's better & DS is playing with toys he didn't even know he had because they were buried under all the other toys!

I almost want to get rid of a few more but I don't want to go too far in the other direction either!

Glad we both made so much progress!!

[happyhats]

My daughter is only two so she hasn't really outgrown a lot of toys yet. We have saved a handful of things she really loved but slowly outgrew for other things though, like her musical table and rattles, etc. Things that she just never cared for I went ahead and got rid of-I figure that the toy floodgates will open with number two just as much as with dd, so why save a toy maybe someone else will love? I also bring a box of toys to my parent's home. We'll probably be going through it to make room for different toys come Christmas and birthday time ( dd was born a week before Christmas, and this one is due the same time!)

[Ruthla]

Some toys are simply not worth saving. You're not going to be able to stop the influx of toys for the baby's birth, winter holidays, birthdays, etc, no matter how many toys you have saved from the older ones. IME, clearing out the old means making more space for the new ones.

You also have no way of knowing whether the younger one(s) will even play with the same toys the big one(s) played with. IMO, it's worth saving a few classics, but donate the rest as the older DC outgrow them. I saved back some wooden building blocks from my daughters, that my son plays with. They saved a few stuffed animals that eventually got handed down to him (though most of the dolls and stuffed toys in our house are still "owned" by the teens.) Everything else was purchased especially for him (many from garage sales.)

I never passed toys down from DD1 to DD2 because they were so close in age. Some toys were "special" for each girl, but most were shared from the start.