Yesterday I talked about creating a strict budget for Christmas gifts.  That got me thinking about the toys in our house.  Spending money on more toys when the toy room is already full-to-overflowing seems rather foolish.  When I stop to think about it, some of those toys never see the light of day anymore.  Because I’m starting my gift list, I thought this would be the perfect time to reassess the toys in the house.

Before you start making your gift budget and list, it seems wise to figure out what toys you have that your child is not playing with, and question why the toy is not being used.  The following are general categories that I find most toys fall into.  Start in the toy room by sorting all the toys into these four categories:

Broken Toys – It can be difficult to fix or repurpose broken toys.  However, if you have the creativity to use the leftover pieces of a long lost game or puzzle, then by all means go ahead and create!  You can make very cute picture frames out of puzzle pieces, for instance.

Batteries Missing – This is a common reason that a toy may be discarded, especially if a child is not old enough to know that the toy quit working because it needs a battery.  As you clear out the clutter in the toy room, check each battery operated toy that is in good condition and see if it needs fresh batteries.

Ignored Toys – If a toy is in good condition but has lost its appeal it could be for several reasons.  The child may have outgrown the toy, the child may have changed interests, or, if the clutter in the toy room has gotten out of hand, the child may simply not be able to find the toy.  In this case, clearing out the clutter in the toy room can reap some real rewards!  New toys… well at least newly discovered.

Unopened Toys – These somehow got missed during gift giving time I presume.  For whatever reason, you have just hit the jackpot, as long as your children have not outgrown them entirely.  Hide them away safely and you’ve got some extra gifts.

Once you’ve sorted the toys into these groups, grab some boxes.

Starting with the broken toys, make a decision about whether you want to save any of the pieces for craft projects, etc., and discard the rest in an appropriate manner.  Broken toys are not welcome by charities as they can be dangerous and, basically, no fun.

The toys that are battery operated should be sorted to see which ones you want to keep, and which ones should be sold or donated.  For the toys you keep, add up the batteries you need, listed by the type of battery, and add that to your shopping list for the next time you run an errand.  Keep in mind that if you’re going to be selling any of the toys either at a garage sale or on an auction site, you may need to buy new batteries to guarantee the toy works.  Depending on where you donate your toys, you may need to prove the toy works before they take it.  In that case you’ll need fresh batteries for those donated toys.  In other circumstances, you may be able to donate toys without proving they work, in which case you would just want to be sure you remove the dead batteries from those donated toys.

The ignored toys need to be sorted as to whether they were outgrown, lost interest, or couldn’t find.  You can simply reintroduce the child to the toys that were just buried among the clutter.  If the toys have been outgrown they should be boxed up and either sold or donated.  You may want to set the toys aside that your child has lost interest in and bring them out again in a couple months.  If the child still has no interest, then box up those toys and get rid of them.

Unopened toys should be hidden away quickly.  This is your secret toy stash to use for Christmas time or anytime you need a gift for your child.  You can also re-gift if you’re careful and don’t give it back to the person who gave it to you.  This may be touchy, so just keep that in mind.  If your child has outgrown the toy that is unopened, you may consider selling it on an auction site or donating it to a hospital or other charity.

Now that you have a good idea of what is actually in your child’s toy room, you can help Santa plan for his Christmas shopping!  Clearing out the toy clutter before Christmas may produce some pleasant surprises, saving you a lot of money and headaches by eliminating those duplicate toy purchases.

I hope this project not only helps you clear out the toy clutter you’ve been accumulating, but also helps you with your gift list, and budget, for Christmas.

Tags: Christmas toy clutter, clear toy clutter, toy clutter, toy room

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 6:45 am and is filed under Tidy Tuesday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.