Post-Christmas Toy Management

Christmas was just twelve days ago and, if you children have been inundated with more new toys than you can count, your home may look more like a toy store that's been hit by a tornado than one that's organized and manageable. Don't let the excess of gifts lead to post-Christmas blues! If you want to reclaim order and sanity, here are a couple of tips that might help...

1. Out with the old, in with the new! There are many different approaches to this, so you'll need to pick the one that works for you.

The dramatic approach: I swept through our toy room with large garbage bags just hours after we returned home from our holiday travels and put almost all of the kids' old toys in them, leaving only a few of their favorites behind. I stuck the bags in the attic so that we can pull the old toys out periodically. For now we can focus on the new ones without being distracted and overwhelmed.

The less dramatic approach: For every new toy that you bring in, store one away or start a bag to be sent to Goodwill or another charity organization. Or you could consider donating some to your church's nursery.

The least dramatic approach: Keep all of the toys out for now, but be on the lookout for ones that have lost their appeal now that new toys are around. Gradually clear out as you see fit!

**Note that each of the options involves parting with some toys. Every birthday and holiday will bring more stuff with it and the longer you wait to declutter (which is not considered a word by Merriam-Webster, can you believe it??), the more difficult the task will be when you finally get around to it!

2. Bins, bins, bins! I do not like to spend money unnecessarily, but I've learned over the last few years that money well spent (i.e. on something that will help keep the home in order) is totally worth it! Try to find storage containers on sale or even on clearance and purchase what you need.* Having a "home" for the toys will be of great help come clean-up time and will reduce the appearance, and reality, of clutter.

3. Hand 'em down. Children go through stages and they grow out of certain toys. While the sentimental mom (I include myself here) has a hard time with this, it's a wonderful gift to pass toys down to others who might need/like them. You might want to wait until February or March to pass these down though so as not to overwhelm another mother who is probably in the midst of dealing with her own post-Christmas clutter issues!

*Get creative when thinking about storage space and choose containers accordingly. Consider odd spaces like under beds, under tall dressers, behind chairs, under sofas, in the garage, on the floor or top shelf of closets, etc.. You might even find an unused drawer in a desk or dresser that could be used to collect toys.