

If they want to help you and join in, encourage them by making it fun and give them a treat or reward if they do really well, perhaps a trip to the playground or a biscuit and screen time. Encourage them to work with you on this and enable them to make well thought-out decisions for themselves. Older children can also feel really upset if you just go through their stuff without them being involved. It may be that you can encourage your children to donate these too. Ask them to really consider what they want to do with the toys they only use sometimes. Explain that they’ll still have plenty of toys and opportunities for games and fun.Įxplain to your kids that there are children who don’t have so many toys and encourage your kids to donate the toys they never use to them. You’ll need to figure out the language you use so it’s appropriate to their level of understanding and age.Įxplain what you’re trying to do in words that they’ll understand. They can benefit from a minimalist, simpler life just like you can. I feel that you should include your children in the decluttering process whenever possible. The first thing to decide, and you need to decide this before you start otherwise you’ll be met with anger, resistance and maybe tears, is whether you want to get your children involved?
#Declutter toys how to
Here are some tips that I learnt through trial and error and ideas on how to declutter toys that might work for you!ĭO YOU WANT TO GET YOUR CHILDREN INVOLVED? Once I’d read up on some of the benefits for children having fewer toys, I soon found courage to tackle their toy boxes and bedrooms. Let alone my kids’ toys! I feared that taking toys away from my children would harm their development and make me a bad parent. I felt I needed to practice and feel the benefits of simplifying my own belongings before daring to move on to declutter anybody else’s stuff. I was new to the decluttering experience and hadn’t yet found my feet. I began decluttering my own stuff, my clothes in fact, way before I decluttered the toys. I’d hit my pillow on Sunday night drained but needing to be work-ready and on top form for Monday and the start of the working week. It was also down to me to do a final tidy and there were always a few left-over toys. Kids come with clutter but I was exhausted at the end of every weekend, coping with my children and tidying up after them (even though I encouraged them to help tidy up too). Charity shops were also a good source of cheap and cheerful toys. Not all of them were bought new, we made the most of second-hand toys passed down from older siblings and friends. We had girls, boys, older kids, younger kids and toys for every occasion.
#Declutter toys full
The home was full of noise, movement and… toys. When my own children were little, we also had my step-kids come to stay every other weekend. In this article I’d like to share some tips and ideas on how to declutter toys… It can help you enjoy watching your kids play, and even take part yourself if and when you can, without worrying about how long it will take you to restore peace, calm and order to your home afterwards! You’ll need less storage if you have less toys and your evenings can be spent doing other things than clearing away toys strewn around the home from a day’s playing.ĭecluttering your home, and particularly the toys if you have small kids, can be a huge relief and ease the strain on your time and energy levels. That means more time and less stress for you! There’s less to clear up at the end of the day, less for your kids to leave lying around the home and less stuff taking up space in your home. There are also some very obvious benefits to parents of having less toys for their children. There are many other reasons why having fewer toys can benefit children and you can read about them here. Once again, studies indicate that children play for longer and more creatively if they have fewer toys to play with. Research has shown that I’m not alone and that clutter raises our cortisol levels (a stress hormone) and we become less efficient, less focused and less happy with life.

Think about when you’re confronted by a busy schedule, too much choice in the shops, an overloaded, messy desk or too many tabs open on your computer, I know I can certainly feel overwhelmed, confused and distracted.
