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10 Toys Tribe

post #1 of 54
10/13/07 at 6:59pm
Thread Starter 
I am trying to implement a "10 Toy" rule in my house (For dh and I, as well as the kids!)

I can tell it is going to be a process and not nearly as easy as it sounds.

I wonder if I need to send a notice out to friends and family that we will be doing this so they dont buy too much for xmas...I can already tell I am going to have to get rid of 90% of what people buy for us. (Every single year. Christmas is so stressful-no one understands our desire for simplicity. They all think we are sticks in the mud.)

Does anyone else want to try to simplify?

Jenny

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post #2 of 54
10/13/07 at 7:04pm
Me! I'm in the process of giving away the toys they don't play with/don't need; this after getting rid of everything made in China. I'm right there with ya!
post #3 of 54
10/13/07 at 7:28pm
Thread Starter 
I am really struggling with books though-I wonder if that needss to be its own category.

I am pretty good at only having the really good ones around (and my MIL likes to buy me all kinds of terrible books all the time because she is a teacher and I think they come in and "sell" her books. LOL)

How do you keep books from getting out of hand?

Also, I have zero things in my ds's category and I dont feel bad about it because he is not a toy player. I just asked him what his favorite toys are and he held something up and said "this is!" It was a super sized M-F pill case my mother gave to him to play with.:

I hope no one buys him toys for xmas.

He needs a curtain rod and a cup of rice, and the running hose.

He'll figure out the rest!

post #4 of 54
10/13/07 at 8:13pm
I'm so in but I'm going to fudge it and say 30 toys for now, some were bought ahead by family and they are not age appropriate now but will be in a couple of years.(it doesn't count if he has never seen them and they are put away right?) I do plan to reduce DS toys by another 90%

I was given so many MIC hand me downs that I got excited when I found a made in USA I was crying happy tears. The only thing I am proud of is I have managed to keep his bath toys in a really small basket in the BR and the rest of his toys in a med size wicker basket in the bedroom.

So am I in?
post #5 of 54
10/13/07 at 8:19pm
my family is well trained LOL. they know that i only want clothes for the girls.
i have a 5 toy rule. so i only have 10 toys out at a time. i keep everything for rotation every two weeks i change them up. i'm a trift store junkie so they are always getting new toys. we go through all toys monthly and get rid of a few.
i don't consider books toys, they have 100's of books. mostly on the floor tho...
i remember only having like 4 toys most of my childhood, and i never felt cheated or anything.
post #6 of 54
10/13/07 at 8:27pm
I do! I have been trying for a while. I took so much stuff to GoodWill a few months ago. My kids have three sets of grandparents b/c DH's parents are divorced and both remarried. We have really tried to make our wishes known (my folks are better about it than DH's). DH's dad and his wife don't even ask us what the kids want/need, they just by something ridiculous, and half the time we end up giving those things away. We are also TTC, and with another one in the house, I don't want the piles to grow!
post #7 of 54
10/14/07 at 9:34am
I have no problem sending the family a list for DS. I just say "if you want to buy him something for the holidays, here's what he needs/ wants"

And it usually includes some inexpensive items like simple books I know he'd enjoy. As well as more expensive items like membership to the zoo/ aquarium/ children's museum. Tickets to those places for a day. Things to do rather than consumables. Usually they go by the list, and when they don't I just donate the stuff we don't need. It all comes by mail since family is far away, so "disappearing" the item before DS sees it is not a problem. I open the mail, make the call, and go from there. We write a thank you note, and tell DS that uncle or grandpa or whoever gave him one of the things we picked out for him.

We HAVE to keep toys down because we live on a boat and literally don't have the space. We've managed to do a decent job so far, but I always think we can thin down more.
post #8 of 54
10/14/07 at 1:47pm
oooo oooo me too me too!
anybody have good ideas for how to tactfully suggest gift ideas to in-laws et. al? ds's birthday is in 2 weeks and we usually end up with all this run of the mill fisher price/china/plastic crap. i've done the 'ole "have you seen the mom and pop toy store in foothill village?" during the "off season". they still seem to go to costco and toys r us. i'm fine with good, quality toys that inspire imagination (simple, wooden, etc.) heck, my kid loves a good cardboard box! and are you counting each individual toy or would say, the construction set count as one toy?
i would definitely put books in their own category. those are sacred things in our home. i would also put art supplies in their own category, another sacred thing in our home.
post #9 of 54
10/14/07 at 4:27pm
This is more of a parenting issue than a tribe, so I am moving you all over there. Please remember that FYT is for chit-chat and daily life rather than specific issues that are better hosted in forums that already exist.
post #10 of 54
10/14/07 at 4:28pm
Also, if you want to branch the conversation out into simplification beyond just the 10-toy rule and how to get families to comply, we have a whole forum dedicated to simplifying here. If that is more what you're looking for, I'd be happy to move the thread there. Just PM me.
post #11 of 54
10/14/07 at 9:35pm
Moved to decluttering, organizing, and simplifying at the OP's request
post #12 of 54
10/14/07 at 10:01pm
This sounds like a great plan! My DS hardly plays with the toys he has anyways. I do have a nice big garage so the nice, quality, wooden non wanted toys will be stored in there. I am opening a preschool next year so they will be well loved then.
post #13 of 54
10/14/07 at 10:07pm
Wow! 10 toys sounds so interesting to me... could we really get by with 10 toys per kid? My oldest would never miss any of his as long as he gets his legos, and I'm wondering if my 3yo ds would do fine as well. I might box the rest of his up, stick them in the garage and see how it goes. Maybe we could do the toy rotation I've always wanted to do.

One question... I'm thinking with something like Playmobile, I would count a set as "1 toy" for example the castle/knight/accessories are one thing. Or do you mean 10 items total?
post #14 of 54
10/14/07 at 10:08pm
Do you all really have toys that the kids do not ever play with? I would love to get rid of some toys but then dd goes and plays with the ones I am eyeing. So, it would be disrespectful and mean for me to get rid of the ones she plays with. Also, I try to give family guidelines for gifts if they ask but if they don't ask I think it would be rude for me to tell them. And, to throw or give away their gifts would be really rude. So, I am stuck there. My dd has so many toys but she enjoys them all. Truly! I have tried putting some in a box in the garage but she will notice and ask for them even if she has not played with them for eons.

So, how would you handle all of that? I think we need to just try to have less and less for a long term goal and not try to get down to just a few items right away.
post #15 of 54
10/14/07 at 11:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by b&c'smama View Post
One question... I'm thinking with something like Playmobile, I would count a set as "1 toy" for example the castle/knight/accessories are one thing. Or do you mean 10 items total?
I think "tea set" for my dd, and then I am limiting "tea set" to like a service for 4. (BASIC service for 4)

or "play food" and then I picture enough play food to fill up her small grocery cart-which is part of that "game." kwim?

Thats what I am doing. I'll let you know how it works!

Yellowpansy-I am beginning to really want simplicity in my life and for me, thats getting rid of "stuff" and my attachments to it. I feel kind of guilty for thinking this still but I am beginning to actually resent my family for dumping toys, hand me downs, heirlooms, and stuff into my enviornment. Its so not peaceful. And I think they just want to stop "storing" some of this stuff in their own enviornments. I mean, I get some of it but my mil always offers me old stuff that she is decluttering out of her house and I dont know how to say no to her every single time. (She does it all the time.) My mom does too. My moms space is overflowing with boxes full of schoolwork we did 20 years ago!

We really want to downsize...and stay downsized...but I dont think its going to happen overnight. (Esoecially for me. Getting 4 boxes of junk out of my house the other day took up the whole rest of my big 'ol' pregnant energy for the day! I am spent!)

And I will have a newborn soon too, so not alot going to be happening at that time either. 'cept booby and snuggles.

I am just beginning a process....or actually elaborating on a process I had already begun in my head.

I dont know that that has anything to do with your post, LOL.
post #16 of 54
10/14/07 at 11:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by yellowpansy View Post
Do you all really have toys that the kids do not ever play with? I would love to get rid of some toys but then dd goes and plays with the ones I am eyeing. So, it would be disrespectful and mean for me to get rid of the ones she plays with. Also, I try to give family guidelines for gifts if they ask but if they don't ask I think it would be rude for me to tell them. And, to throw or give away their gifts would be really rude. So, I am stuck there. My dd has so many toys but she enjoys them all. Truly! I have tried putting some in a box in the garage but she will notice and ask for them even if she has not played with them for eons.

So, how would you handle all of that? I think we need to just try to have less and less for a long term goal and not try to get down to just a few items right away.
Ok it had nothing to do with your post, LOL...But I did want to comment!!!

I think my reasons for decluttering to 10 toys is that my kids are so overwhelmed and so am I, nothing gets played with a whole lot.!!!

If they played with all of them, I'd be totally content!

BTW-

I didnt just mean childrens toys. I would like to downsize myself to "10 toys" as well. (Like I live on a boat!!! I will have to figure out what my toys are. And the house gets 10 toys too. Like kitchenware.

I am challenging myself.

Not making dh do it though. Its not my place.
post #17 of 54
10/15/07 at 1:17am
I'm assuming you mean categories, right? Like Playmobil would be 1 and blocks would be 1 ? Off to go count...
Quote:
Originally Posted by yellowpansy View Post
And, to throw or give away their gifts would be really rude.
I would like to respectfully disagree . When you give someone a gift, do you consider it completely theirs to do with as they please? IMO, it would be rude to expect someone to keep a gift that I give them forever. I would loathe the idea that someone feels burdened by a gift that I give them. People give you gifts but they do not pay for your rent or mortgage or storage locker to store the gifts (which costs a lot more that the gifts usually). If people find that you are tossing the gifts, what's the worst that can happen? They might say "we are just not going to give gifts to those ungrateful people any more!" Problem solved
post #18 of 54
10/15/07 at 4:40am
Im right with ya sistah. My ds gets a lot of toys by well wishing people. Im not sure what to do b/c people pop by my house all the time of course they are going to ask where such and such I bought T is?

Its hard. Well my MIL stopped the gifts since she's a JW now. So we can count her out!
post #19 of 54
10/15/07 at 8:59am
Thread Starter 
It has changed my view of giving gifts actually.

I almost don't give very often because I don't want it to become someone elses clutter.

I dont think there are very many people in my life who "need" something. They have pretty much all they need....plus a swiffer, plus clothes from 20 years ago, plus plus plus plus plus
post #20 of 54
10/15/07 at 10:27am
I'll try to hop on the 10 toy bandwagon! But with 5 kids, that is still 50 toys - or types of toys if you think "blocks" or "playfood" or (ugh) Polly Pockets and all her clothes! It still adds up to a lot - too much. We live in a 1200 or so square ft house and that many toys/pieces really overruns the place. Maybe I'll knock it down to 5 a kid, with another 10 for "shared" toys or something...

We have a baptism coming up, and two birthdays (my oldest will turn 10 and 8) before Christmas ...plus Christmas...this should be interesting!!

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