Declutter the Chaos: A Pre-Christmas Toy Purge Guide
Discover practical tips and tricks for decluttering the toy room before Santa arrives.
For the last month, I have been utterly obsessed with decluttering the house. Why? Because come Monday, I will be doing yet another international house move.
This will be my third time and whilst we are returning home this time, it never ceases to amaze me just how much ‘stuff’ we accumulate - even when I intentionally declutter once every season.
The very reason I declutter every season as part of our regular family rhythm is to help us avoid situations where we are overwhelmed by stuff and I honestly cannot imagine how much more stressful our current move would be if I hadn’t decluttered as part of our regular rhythm.
On Monday, I realised my Christmas Gift Guide for 2023, but before you go ahead and make your purchases, it’s a good ideas to take stock of what you already have. This 7 day declutter challenge will help you to do that. One of the best things I've ever done for my sanity is to declutter and organize before Christmas. This may seem counterintuitive, but it's actually a lifesaver.
The whole point of How I drink my Coffee Hot is to help give you my strategies on making parenthood in the early years and middle years of childhood just that little bit easier. Decluttering and organising before Christmas will help minimise those feelings of overwhelm that can often come post holiday season.
Why Declutter Before Christmas?
The holiday season is a time for joy and celebration, but it can also be a time of stress and overwhelm. Between shopping, decorating, cooking, and entertaining, it's easy to feel like you're drowning. And when the holidays are over, you're often left with a mountain of clutter to deal with.
Decluttering before Christmas can help you avoid this post-holiday meltdown. By taking the time to get organised now, you'll be less stressed during the holidays - hopefully!
Before I really got into a rhythm of decluttering and organising every season, I would often end up with duplicate or even triplicate items. Once, when clearing out my art supplies, I realised that I had bought several packs of googly eyes. Fast-forward five years and I’m still making my way through that collection but I know for sure that I do not need to buy anymore!
Set yourself a daily reminder to complete the challenge
Whilst this is a seven day challenge, you won’t receive seven emails from me during that time frame because I don’t want to bombard you with emails. Instead, set yourself a calendar reminder on your phone so that you don’t forget.
Starting this week is ideal because there’s still plenty of time before the Christmas season truly begins. Additionally, this will allow you to really review what you already have and still have time to order presents.
After that, make decluttering part of your seasonal rhythm. You can still use the same seven day challenge approach or set aside one day each season to get things done.
How long will this take each day?
It will really depend on how much stuff you have! If you are already pretty minimalist, you might be able to tackle everything in a day.
If you don’t have much time or you have a lot of belongings to sort through, doing one task each day will make the challenge feel less overwhelming.
Day One: Play Space
Gather all toys in the space together.
Remove any broken toys and bin/recycle.
Sort any duplicate items ready to donate.
Remove outgrown items to donate or store away for younger siblings.
Organise remaining toys by type - e.g. all puzzles together.
Note down items that might be missing from your toy collection that would help to encourage independent, engaged play.
Take a look at the This Playful Home Gift Guide or the Toys 101 Workshop series for more ideas.
Day Two: Children's Bedrooms (toys)
Repeat the steps from day one
Decide on a limit for items like cuddly toys and dolls - e.g. 10 of each. Get your child to decide which toys they are keeping.
Place items with special meaning in a labelled box and store away.
Day Three: Children’s Bedrooms (clothing)
Remove clothing from drawers and cupboards.
Place outgrown clothes in one box ready to donate, sell or keep for a younger sibling.
Put out of season clothes in another box. Label it clearly and store away.
Organise clothing by type and place back in the cupboards.
Take note of items that your child needs.
Day Four: Art Resources
Gather all art resources together.
Throw away old playdough, dried up markers and items that don't work properly.
Organise items by type - e.g. all crayons together in a jar.
Take note of items that need to be replaced.
Day Five: Books
Gather all of the children's books together.
Place all outgrown books in one pile for donation / storage.
Donate or sell any duplicate books
Remove any old or broken books and recycle where possible.
Organise books by type, alphabetic order or use the rainbow method.
Day Six: Organise
Place out of season clothing in a clearly labelled box and store.
Organise skills-based toys to keep by developmental stage or skill type (e.g. all 'number' resources together)
Store outgrown items (that you intend to keep for younger siblings) in clearly labelled boxes.
Day Seven: Remove items from the house
Don't let any of the items you have organised remain in your house / garage / boot of the car.
Donate or sell items that are in good condition.
Throw or recycle other items
Trust me when I say, it is so so easy to organise items ready for donation, then leave them to gather dust in your house or car for weeks or months on end. Once you’ve made your decisions on what to donate, you need to do it fast!
When it comes to selling items, be discerning. I tend to sell ‘big ticket’ items (our stroller, baby carrier, outgrown bike) and donate the rest. Otherwise, you can often end up with too many timewasters on selling sites who promise to turn up at your house, then ghost you!
Because we are doing an international house move, I recently decided to host a ‘giveaway’ event at my home. I invited friends over to the house to take as many toys, books and puzzles as they could carry.
The event worked really well because people could simply take what they wanted without me forcing our outgrown toys and books onto them. I’m sure we’ve all been in situations where we have been given items that we don’t really want or need, but been too polite to decline!
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