Do I dare Kon Marie the toys??

[Moxie]

I mentioned the KM method to DH. I told him I was tempted to put all the toys in one room and have the kids pick their favorites. He thought it was a good idea!! Do I dare?? We have soooo many toys!

[73349]

Go for it!

[MinivanMom]

I did it this summer, and it was great. I didn't do all of the toys at once, though. I went through one kid at a time so they felt like they had control over the process with *their* toys.

[Mergath]

Dd and I have been doing this even pre-Konmari, and it's always worked for us. We sit down by her toybox, I hand her each toy, and she tells me if she wants to keep or donate it. (Or toss it if it's broken beyond repair.) We'd be drowning in junk by now if we didn't do this at least once a year.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I did it with my 10yodd.  I explained the process, and we went through all the loose toys (those that didn't fit in the toy cabinet, and were sitting around in baskets and piles).  As she went through each item one by one, asking "Does this spark joy?" she was surprised that most of it just felt like "stuff."  She was happy to let it go out into the world to bring joy to someone else.  I'm happy to have my floor space back!

 

We haven't gone through the toys in the cabinet yet, mostly because I forget they're in there.  We will get to them soon, as soon as we're finished with robotics and soccer and drama and choir (mid-November).  :)

[TammyS]

Looking at your kid's ages, with the 2 and 4 year old, I would just do it for them.

 

For the older ones, depending on their temperments, I would either explain the process to them and let them pick their favorites, OR, if I would give them a space to keep their toys (one that is absolutely finite, like a box or shelf, not a room or area) and they can keep as much as they want, as long as fits in their space.

[Slache]

YES! They will appreciate it so much when it's done.

[KungFuPanda]

Yes. It'll work as long as you don't sabotage them by 'saving' the toys they 'should' have chosen. She's pretty clear that you only Konmari your own stuff AND you don't let your parents see what goes. It's an imperfect system with little kids, but any reduction is a win.

[Guest]

My fear is that when I pull all of the toys out if the basement (they never go down there to play with toys), it will be like Christmas and everything will be a favorite.

[Mom22ns]

My fear is that when I pull all of the toys out if the basement (they never go down there to play with toys), it will be like Christmas and everything will be a favorite.

 

At those ages, that was exactly how we kept toys fresh. We rotated them. I kept some put away and some out, so we were never swimming in toys. When those that were away came out, they were new favorites again. Each time I packed away, I eliminated anything broken or that hadn't been played with since it was brought out. 

 

I wouldn't hesitate to clean out or let your kids do some cleaning out, but you might do it in sections... those they currently play with first, then bring up a new batch let them play with them awhile before weeding. Keep repeating. It may take longer, but you are more likely to keep the real favorites instead of just those they haven't seen for awhile. If you have space in the basement, keep two sets and rotate. It is wonderful.

[HomeAgain]

We just had our 5yo do this about a month ago.  I got fed up with the toys being on the floor and swept it all away in a fit, and then a few hours later (after I calmed down) I explained that it was just too much, so he offered to get rid of some to keep some.  He went through his entire room and the bags I had taken, and with help, decided what he played with, what he didn't, and put a large stack to go to the thrift store.  He got rid of some of *my* favorites, but everything he kept is well loved!

[SnMomof7]

I did do the toys (not KonMarid technically). We have three shelves worth now. They are actually getting played with. I basically decided on a core collection and got rid of most of the fluff.

[Slache]

I did do the toys (not KonMarid technically). We have three shelves worth now. They are actually getting played with. I basically decided on a core collection and got rid of most of the fluff.

This is what I did, but some of the fluff is well loved so there's a bin of mismatched fluff.

 

We have a little people barn, a little people Noah's ark, hot wheels track, dress up doll set, kitchen, magnatiles, Lincoln logs, puzzles, art supplies, instruments, and a fluff bin.

[SnMomof7]

This is what I did, but some of the fluff is well loved so there's a bin of mismatched fluff.

 

We have a little people barn, a little people Noah's ark, hot wheels track, dress up doll set, kitchen, magnatiles, Lincoln logs, puzzles, art supplies, instruments, and a fluff bin.

Yep, we have some sentimental fluff. We use Rubbermaid tubs (the blue ones). We have in the smallest tub size on each of: baby toys, cars, dolls, plastic/wood animals, train track, stuffed animals (only the little ones passed the purge), play tools and food. In the shallowest larger size we have one each of duplo and wood blocks. In the tall large size we have play silks and dress ups. We had a few larger toys that live on the shelf (cash register, tractor, xylophone. This all lives on 3.5 shelves. Then we have some puzzles, pegs, math blocks, lacing cards, board games etc. I still need to trim this down a bit. Currently around two shelves of this stuff - I think I can reduce by half.

 

The kids managed to keep a few things as individuals that they are actually attached to. We have seven children from baby through twelve. I think we did okay, but it still feels like a bit much at times.

[Mommy to monkeys]

Yep, we have some sentimental fluff. We use Rubbermaid tubs (the blue ones). We have in the smallest tub size on each of: baby toys, cars, dolls, plastic/wood animals, train track, stuffed animals (only the little ones passed the purge), play tools and food. In the shallowest larger size we have one each of duplo and wood blocks. In the tall large size we have play silks and dress ups. We had a few larger toys that live on the shelf (cash register, tractor, xylophone. This all lives on 3.5 shelves. Then we have some puzzles, pegs, math blocks, lacing cards, board games etc. I still need to trim this down a bit. Currently around two shelves of this stuff - I think I can reduce by half.

 

The kids managed to keep a few things as individuals that they are actually attached to. We have seven children from baby through twelve. I think we did okay, but it still feels like a bit much at times.

 This is what I want. I just don't know HOW to get there. Sigh.

My older boys have so many legos. Seriously, I should own stock or something.

I've downsized a ton, but still it seems like so much.

[Ausmumof3]

I've done some but with the kids input. Not much left the house though. A few things got passed to the youngest.

 

My oldest is getting quite good at parting with stuff.

[EmilyGF]

I was just at a consignment store. A lady there told me she lets get kids sorry out their own toys but that they get the money from consigning them. She said her kids now love decluttering.

 

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[Soror]

I just did this with the kids. I didn't ask the (almost) 3yo, I did clothes with her but not toys. With my 8 yo I did clothes with her as she wanted help and then I explained varoius categories with her and she did it herself. With my (almost)6 yo I went through her toys with her category by category, held it up, asked if she loved it and if not it went in the pile. It worked really well actually, as a pp mentioned the key was that I didn't rescue anything she picked, before she'd have ones she would want to save and I'd have some, nope whatever she wanted to get rid of we did. So, we didn't put all the toys together, but they did their own.

 

Now, we were already fairly slim with what we have and my kids are well versed in decluttering and quite enjoy it. I've never rotated toys or stored them. I also have another rule that goes with decluttering, if you can't keep your room (reasonably) clean then we need to go through them again. 

 

fwiw this is what toy storage looks like here:

 

I should say this isn't just toys but stuff in general, we don't have a toy room, 2 kids share a room and 2 have their own and they have their own toys in their rooms. We've always had things organized, the difference is now on the quantity, every shelf, tote or drawer is at most 2/3rds full and many are more like 1/4th full. As I mentioned on the Kon-Mari thread we had friends over, so 9 kids total for several hrs, it took less than 5 min for clean-up, they got out the musical instruments and played a bit and then dressed up some, there isn't a ton of either(only our favorites) so even if they are all out it doesn't take long to put away. Otherwise they played outside, played games, played the Wii, color and craft.

 

(nearly)6 and (nearly) 3yo room:

Desk with upper bookshelf w/ 2 shelves:

- 2 small baskets on her desk

- 1 for hair accesories, and 1 for things to take to town- wallets, phones(fake) and sunglasses

-cup for pencils and a few activity books; coloring and drawing books

-jewelry box

-bookshelves are about 2/3rds full and are a handful of picture books(I just picked the youngest's favorites) and culled the rest

 

Cabinet- 3 shelves, 1 drawer, cabinet bottom

shelf- 4 kid's games she picked out

shelf- duplo box and one gallon size tub of wooden blocks

shelf- keyboard

drawer- 1 floor puzzle and wooden doll

 

bottom

1 med tote- dolls and stuffed animals

1 med tote musical instruments

 

chest: dress-up clothes - inside of this is 2 baskets- 1 for necklaces- scarves etc; 1 for dr's supplies

 

None of the spaces are close to being full, the only toy on the floor is a wooden bumble bee ride on.

 

 

My dd8:

 

9 cubby shelf with some totes;

3 of those house books (not full though)

jewlery making supplies

legos box 

basket with hair supplies

picnic basket w/ plates and cups

empty

stuffed animals

 

on top of the cubby is a jewelry box, cd player and tray for a few trinkets

a bulletin board is for anything she wants to display

 

a small 3 drawer plastic pull-out drawers in closet

1- empty

1- bags of mementos

1- bags of collections- rocks, marbles

 

desk;

inside is coloring books; journals; fashion books

on top she has a couple of cups for markers and pencils

 

on top of her dresser is her ds and games

 

 

 

ds-11yo- He keeps the most stuff, he loves to collect random things, so he always has an odd assortment displayed!

 

2 bookshelves with doors on the bottom and a wider shelf in the middle;

middle shelves are misc; cd player; wallet; papers; pocket knife

bottom: 1 tote half-full of legos to build from

another tote misc

a few things in the bottom of his bookshelves but he cleared these out before so they are mostly empty

 

 

1 desk-

lego creations and other things he is proud of on it

 

toy box in the closet for outside toys-

rockets, frisbees, balls, bow and arrow

 

small 2 drawer plastic drawer with various odds and ends

 

 

[Laurie4b]

I mentioned the KM method to DH. I told him I was tempted to put all the toys in one room and have the kids pick their favorites. He thought it was a good idea!! Do I dare?? We have soooo many toys!

 

I would give them a voice in the process. When I was little, my mother decided that stuffed animals were for babies. My toys (some quite beloved) would just disappear. It wasn't a good thing. 

[arliemaria]

I have two cabinets like this:  http://www.costco.com/Colorful-Essentials-8-Compartment-Storage-Cabinet---High.product.100054968.html

 

All the toys are on those cabinets in baskets from Target.  I do not allow toys to stay in the their bedroom.  There is also a chalkboard, a basket of dress up clothes, a basket of stuffed animals, play kitchen, dollhouse, doll bed and nature corner.  I actually consolidated all the "toys" onto one cabinet and am planning on using one cabinet for just nature stuffs.

[fdrinca]

My fear is that when I pull all of the toys out if the basement (they never go down there to play with toys), it will be like Christmas and everything will be a favorite.

 

This happens, but it passes quickly. You can bring everything out, let them gorge on toys, and on day 2 ask them to sort what they really like vs. what they want to donate. 

 

The novelty of the toys wears off quickly.

 

(Do this on a rainy day!)