Clearing out the Toy Clutter

I'm not sure this was an extremely savvy move financially, but it sure bought me a whole lot of room in our house and some serious peace of mind. Any parent of young children knows the stuff just accumulates and appears to always be coming in the door, not out. I am constantly finding pieces of toys scattered absolutely everywhere. And in a small house, it takes so little to make the place look trashed.

I started removing some of the toys that I realized weren't being used much on a regular basis. Slowly, I'd add them to bins in the basement which were out of sight. It may be hard to see here, but there are HUNDREDS of little cars and plastic toys and random pieces within these bins.

This happened very slowly over the course of several months, and no one seemed to notice or ask for anything I had put into the bins. I tried at one point going through it with the kids, but of course, every single item was the most special to them and couldn't possibly leave the home (even if they didn't even realize it was there). So I let the toys continue to sit there - and yes, I'm sure you're thinking, "Why didn't you just bring them to Goodwill immediately?" but I once did that and my then 4 year old said in the sweetest, most respectful tone, "Mom, before you give anything away, can you please ask me first?" Which honestly, feels like a reasonable request for how to treat another human sharing a home with you.

I wanted them out of the house, but I also wanted the kids to have some autonomy over the decision, both out of respect and also as a tangible lesson in letting go of STUFF. So one snowy day when we were all home, we made a deal with them: they could pick out ANY item (under $20) in exchange for all the toys being donated. They were hesitant, looking through all the toys in the bins, but I could tell they were intrigued. We sat down at the computer together, looking online at things they might want to buy. They became so excited in the process that letting go of the toys felt like a very small price to pay. Alice wanted a "rainbow unicorn princess dress" and Otis wanted a Pokemon stuffed animal. 

Before we hit "purchase," we talked about it one more time: "So this means that if we buy these, all the items here will leave our house and go to other kids for them to play with. Do you agree?" Of course, the allure of the new things was so strong, that it was an easy yes. So we clicked, immediately brought the bins of toys out of the house and into the car, and we've heard no regrets since. It felt like a conscious family decision that everyone was actually excited about, the kids got a little lesson in prioritization and letting go, and $40 felt like a small price to pay for such a massive cleaning out.