Stop Filling My House With Crap!

xJKxOR

Is anyone else disgustingly annoyed with the plastic baby crap (aka toys) that is filling their house? Our house has NO storage (old farm house with literally only 2 closets) and I can't stand having every room filled with baby toys. My son is completly content playing with plastic cups and measuring spoons and what not; I don't think he "needs" 20 different teething toys. My inlaws buy him a new toy almost every week even though I've asked them not to (and explained my reasoning). They also buy toys for their house so I get nowhere when I suggest they keep toys for him there.

what do I do? Accept them then donate to others? I can't hoard all this stuff everywhere! 

jennahkross

I will say it's nice to have toys on hand that LO can grow into. And as your LO gets older being able to rotate toys can also be helpful. But that can be difficult without a lot of storage! Maybe compromise and ask them to only bring a toy once a month?

xJKxOR

I agree with the grow into part, I wouldn't mind holding onto things that I know he needs/will use. It's the duplicates: like 20 teething toys that is driving me bonkers. 

jen83mn

Two words: cube shelf. We got ours and totes for it from IKEA, one in the living room and one in his bedroom (the shelves and totes are larger than the Target ones). Our living room was cluttered with toys with nowhere to put them; the cube shelf and totes helps a ton, and you can put anything in them: toys, bibs, books, blankets, etc. 

I was actually thinking today that we need more toys, lol ... he has his favorites, but always gets excited to play with something new. Maybe you can send all the extras to me?

MW5280

My Achilles heel is clearance baby clothes. I can't pass up a bargain. Which is great. 

Except this is a genetic trait and my mom does it too! I try to at least buy bigger sizes but she always get stuff for right now. 

I get it. I have no advice to offer you other than get a toy bin? This is what we have:
if it doesn't fit, it doesn't stay!

xJKxOR

I like the cube shelf idea; functional yet still looks good! I like the idea of hiding everything so it's not in sight. My house is overflowing (not just toys; it's just so small with no storage) so I'm super tempted to just send it all your way! @jen83mn

xJKxOR

That toy bin is super cute; I love chevron. I like your policy, a line has to be drawn somewhere right? I'm not a materialistic person to begin with so the hoards of things bothers me. @MW5280

MW5280

Exactly! A few things don't fit (jumper, bumbo, etc.) but aren't toys so much as equipment. If got it at Home Goods if you have one near you - they have tons of stuff like this for cheap. I think it was about $25. 

Our older kids are absolute hoarders...they even keep empty boxes from toys they've opened. Ridonkulous. 

shelbydd

I have a toy chest that belonged to my husband when he was a kid that we put LOs toys in. I rotate them out every few days so he gets to experience new textures and stuff. 

ForeverEverAfter

I keep a rubbermaid tote upstairs and rotate them every week or so. I only keep a handful of toys out at a time, organized on open shelves. Looking forward-its easy for toddlers to tidy up when they only have a few toys that all have their own spaces.

I also no longer keep what I don't want. We do montessori at home, so I don't allow any electronic toys. I donated 3 toys still in packaging that LO was given for Christmas. Big things I take posed pics of the kids loving it and then it goes to the attic to be taken out when they visit, donated after a year. 

slp213psu

Ugh I am the same way. I hate clutter. I need everything hidden away at the end of the day. I have a 2.5 year old too and the collection just grows! But when I go to playgroups I realize we don't even have a lot! 
Anyway we just got a cube storage last month. It's from Costco. I like it because it goes with our decor, the cubes are bigger than others I've seen, and it fit the space. It has enough cubes for all 9 slots but I wanted the book space. I'll attach a pic. 
And then someday when my kids are finally old enough to play in the basement themselves and I have my space back, I have a nice place for my own books and tchotchkes. 

xJKxOR

Wow that looks awesome! @slp213psu

cuphalffull

 

Our older kids are absolute hoarders...they even keep empty boxes from toys they've opened. Ridonkulous. This is my 7 year old! Insane!

ElleMF728

Agree with the cube shelves.  We have floor to ceiling built ins and cube shelves in our playroom and they are filled with toys.  I like to have different colored bins so I can have DS1 help clean up, "this goes in the blue box" etc.  We have so many hand me down toys from our friends and family so it helps keeps things contained. Bins are an absolute must have with kids IMO.  The playroom can go from disaster area to clean within 15 minutes and the toys stay organized and in place. 

slp213psu

@xJKxOR thanks! Meant to add the top bins have stuff I don't feel like my 2 yo should be able to get on her own (finger paints, play-doh, stickers, etc) and they're out of sight/out of mind for her. She can't reach and she's not a climber (knock on wood) though the cabinet is mounted with furniture straps from BuyBuy Baby. 

mill1020

Ugh.  For us, this whole situation has only become worse over the years.

What we do is take a million trips to Goodwill.

wannabeamongoose

I've been very clear with family that if they get us something we don't want/need, it's being re-purposed as a donation. This is after I asked repeatedly that they refrain from buying more stuff only to receive big boxes full of stuff that we already had. I've gotten a couple "what happened to that thing I bought" and I've politely reminded them that we already said we didn't need it so we donated to someone who does need it. I know they get offended sometimes but at this point I couldn't care less.

dAsch14

Return! Return for store credit! I return stuff at least once a month and use the credit to buy diapers/wipes.

Also we love those storage totes that can slide under the bed.

The Christmas gifts that LO got this year that I couldn't return were put away with our Christmas decorations. I'll wrap them next year or save them for years after that.