Comments on: Tightwad Tuesday: Simplifying Your Children’s Toy Stash

By: Dressed In Pink » Blog Archive » Weekend Link Roll

Dressed In Pink » Blog Archive » Weekend Link Roll — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:39:19 +0000

[...] at Being Frugal, guest poster Marci, talks about toy purging. This is something I really need to do before the holiday season, we have a birthday right before [...]

By: Dana

Dana — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:39:33 +0000

My children receive gifts year round due to grandparents and a great grandmother. For every new toy brought into the house, my daughter has to get rid/donate two toys. It’s amazing that we still never run out of toys. Sometimes it’s a toy from a kid’s meal she chooses but it’s still purging.

By: Christy

Christy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:20:00 +0000

I’ve purged and organized my whole life the last 10 months – -except for the kid’s toys in the basement which I haven’t had the courage to touch. A couple of times a year, we go through their rooms and secretly pitch stuff, but nothing serious that involves their stuff and it’s getting ridiculous. We have a Daughter who struggles with feeling out of control, so this would send her over the edge.

But after reading your post today, I decided to start small and told my 2 kids if they could each bring me 10 things to take to the thrift store, they’d get a bonus on their allowance.

My son schlepped down there and quickly came up with 10 discarded toys. My daughter came back up with a container of her brother’s often- used soccer stuff. *rolls eyes*

I finally managed to get 20 legit things out of them, but oy vey. It’s going to be a long process at this rate. I may have to resort to going through it when they’re at school. Less fuss and it would take them months to notice. ;)

By: Money Funk

Money Funk — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:43:27 +0000

I toy purge when my daughter is not around. Of course, not the prized possessions, but the ‘stuff’ that piles up in the night. She has yet to realize that anything is missing from her room. ;)

Then, we purge during a weekend, usually bi-annual. Goodwill or trash. I know it makes me feel better!

By: Mydailydollars

Mydailydollars — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:15:48 +0000

We only have my husband’s kids every other weekend, and toys can still get out of hand! I did the first purge by boxing things up and putting them in the basement. Then, a few months later, I told the girls that they would get the money from anything they sold in our garage sale. Since they hadn’t played with the boxed-up toys for a while, they were more than willing to part with lots!

By: Monroe on a budget

Monroe on a budget — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:54:29 +0000

I totally understand throwing out the broken pieces and used-up equipment.

But in my community, there are limited outlets for used toys. In fact, one of the thrift shops has on its front door “no toys.”

And the Christmas drives specifically ask for new, unwrapped toys; or for the specific toys on the child’s wish list.

So there really isn’t a practical way for a family in my area to purge toys through donations. It’s re-sale or the trash.

By: Connie Brooks

Connie Brooks — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:26:04 +0000

Oh my goodness yes, I do this about every six months with my daughter. Her birthday and Christmas fall right together, and she ends up with so much stuff that I HAVE to throw some of it out. We donate what we can, and get rid of the rest.

Teaching your children not to hang on to everything under the sun is one of the healthiest habits you can help them develop imo. For me it ranks right up there with cleanliness, exercise and eating right. It’s a basic life necessity.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:43:34 +0000

This is just what I need right now. Lately I’ve been thinking about the over-abundance of toys we have. I have an 8 month old and a 22 month old. I have toys ranging from newborn all the way up to two years in this house. Some of them I know we can do away with. I do have somewhat of a method however but it does not deal with getting rid of toys.

I have my daughter’s toys split in half. I change them out, I would say about every 3 weeks when they seem to be getting bored with the toys. When they start to get bored with the toys, they start messing with things that shouldn’t be playing with, like silverware haha. Though both sets of toys have been growing pretty big…I think it is time for a toy purge in my play room.

By: Anne Marie

Anne Marie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:20:38 +0000

Wow, I couldn’t have asked for a more timely post! Last Sunday I attempted this with our 7 Year old daughter. We were so overwhelmed with the stuff she had accumulated that i had no idea where to begin. Saturday morning, i will work on this by bringing everything out to our den and sorting.

Great information! Thanks so much!

By: tami

tami — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:34:29 +0000

we live in a small town and we have to bring our trash and recycling to the transfer station aka the dump…within the dump is a ‘store’….almost weekly we go through stuff that is insight and figure out if they want it or not….if not, off it goes to the dump store. if it’s too good for the store, we bring it to our little thrift store (which is on the way to the dump and has a garage little thing that you can put stuff in if it’s closed)

my kids do not have a lot of stuff. it’s easier on everyone.