It's Time For The Great Toy And Crap Clean Out of 2014!

My kid has WAY too many toys. He is two, and I am pretty sure he already has more toys than I had throughout my entire childhood. It's not that we spoil him--actually FTD does, but that's not the real reason Ollie owns a small toy store--it's because my sister spoiled the hell out of her two boys, and has passed the spoils on to my kid. Since free is free, I don't say no to the toys, but now that my house looks like Toys R' Us exploded in it, it's time to do a little clean out. It's time to dump the broken toys, donate the toys that are no longer loved, and clean up and fix the toys that he plays with.



It's Time For The Great Toy Clean Out of 2014!   
This is only a quarter of his bounty of toys.
SPOILED!
When Ollie turned one, my sister dropped off the complete, Thomas The Tank train set with tracks. There were so many tracks and engines that we could build the entire island of Sodor, including the structures, buses and Harold the helicopter. There was also a huge bag of every engine color, size and style, I think I counted four Thomas engines alone.  It was INSANE!  Ollie was is heaven and so was FTD.

Then, two days ago, she dropped the Hot Wheels motherlode at Ollie's feet. In two big tubs there were close to 250 cars, tracks and specialty sets. Ollie has not stopped playing with it all since it arrived. Which means, his four million other toys have sat unloved. That's what made me look around and see that my kid has WAY too many toys, and that it's time to give some away to kids who will play with them.

Now, before you start thinking I am the mom who gives all of her kid's toys away, I should also say, a large amount of the toys are no longer age appropriate for him. He still has teething toys that he continued to play with well after his teeth came in, but now, are no longer an interest. He also has doubles of toys, and lots of broken toys missing wheels. wings, heads, books with half the pages torn out... All of that stuff needs to be fixed or thrown out... most likely the latter.

I LOVE the toy and crap clean out! Unfortunately, FTD and Ollie HATE it. Since they both just complain and get in my way the entire time, I am throwing them out of the house Saturday morning so I can get the job done. My first try at a toy and crap clean out ended with them taking every toy back out of the boxes and swearing up and down the box was full of their favorite toys and they HAD to keep them. Yes, *THEY* FTD considers most of Ollie's toys his too.

I'm so excited to get the clutter, crap and toys Ollie no longer loves out of our house, and into someone's who will. I'll also take this opportunity to gather old clothes, blankets, hats and gloves to donate as well. I have a system where use three boxes and one BIG garbage bag, the bag of course is for the broken toys, then I designate each box as : Orphans, Church, Sell. I give the nicest toys to the orphanage, the well loved toys to the church since most are used in the daycare, and for stuff I spent too much on that Ollie barely used or played with, I'll have FTD try to sell it on Craig's list or at a yard sale.


This system works great because I can go through everything quickly and not think twice about it.  Once it goes in the box, it stays in the box. Then, I immediately throw it all in the car and drop it off at each place.  If those boxes sit in the house, and either FTD or Ollie finds them, I can kiss that box goodbye.

I am so stoked to get this clean out underway. Most of all, I can't wait to see my living room floor again! The toys have taken over, and it's time for me to fight back!



How do you deal with the toy explosion? Do you have a system for cleaning out toys and clutter?



April is an award-winning writer and blogger. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more on April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com