Saving toys for the next child

ladylisalt · February 2014

We are having our second this summer and I have pretty much saved all of my sons toys in hopes to cut down on buying later. I am having a daughter and know that toys are pretty much unisex so that won't be the issue. My question is, how did you weed through what to keep/not to keep or did you just keep it all for next child? I know they will both get more at b-days/holidays but stink at knowing what to donate/what to keep. Looking for others experiences with this.

JENandJEH · February 2014

Anything that was broken or missing pieces (one of our old shape sorters for example), I got rid of. Other than that, I kept everything (partly because I was sentimental when packing it up from DS1 and couldn't bear to part with any of it) and then as I pulled it out, my sentimental goggles had worn off and I was able to weed out dinky stuff, stuff that I knew there was either a new version of or we remembered DS1 didn't really play with.

As a rule, we keep blocks, puzzles, shape sorters (if they have all of the pieces), pounding board, cars, ride on toys and trikes.

I will say that I have struggled with DS2 when it's come to people asking what to get him for birthdays and Christmas. I am thankful we have saved stuff but some people want to give a toy and not just money or books or clothes (which we also saved all of) so we've ended up with many duplicates or things that are very similar to each other. I will likely weed out a LOT more when we move this summer.

ladylisalt · February 2014

LalaMama81 said:

Unless it was broken or a really obnoxious toy, we kept it. I don't get why you wouldn't unless you had way, way too many.

I guess I didn't mention the part about us having so many toys now. So far they have been fine it the basement just started to feel like a hoarder. lol

ladylisalt · February 2014

JENandJEH said:

Anything that was broken or missing pieces (one of our old shape sorters for example), I got rid of. Other than that, I kept everything (partly because I was sentimental when packing it up from DS1 and couldn't bear to part with any of it) and then as I pulled it out, my sentimental goggles had worn off and I was able to weed out dinky stuff, stuff that I knew there was either a new version of or we remembered DS1 didn't really play with.

As a rule, we keep blocks, puzzles, shape sorters (if they have all of the pieces), pounding board, cars, ride on toys and trikes.

I will say that I have struggled with DS2 when it's come to people asking what to get him for birthdays and Christmas. I am thankful we have saved stuff but some people want to give a toy and not just money or books or clothes (which we also saved all of) so we've ended up with many duplicates or things that are very similar to each other. I will likely weed out a LOT more when we move this summer.

I agree, I feel like the sentimental goggles will wear off when the time comes also.

LC122 · February 2014

I agree with rotating the toys.
I disagree with getting rid of things one child didn't play with because every child is different.
If you are really looking to cut down, I would donate anything that has a duplicate function/skill. Like, if you have multiple shape sorters, you could choose a favorite and donate the other(s). I would also skew towards better quality toys. For example, I would prefer a wooden shape sorter to a plastic one.

dairygirl19 · February 2014

I kept anything that was spendy, a favorite or will last through a couple age ranges.

I donated rattles, crib toys and stuff like that. I didn't want to store stuff that little. I also feel like the 2nd is more okay with whatever the 1st has because they don't know what their missing.

We also have lots of family who loves to buy stuff and handmedowns in constant rotation so I had to minimize somewhere. I'm also the least sentimental person ever, so passing stuff on doesn't bother me at all.

ladylisalt · February 2014

SandAndsSea said:

I kept the favorites and pricier/bigger items. We're planning a 4 year gap, so they'll sit in the garage in storage bins for a while, but I still don't want to rebuy everything.

I got rid of little trinkets and anything broken or damaged. I also got rid of a couple of things in the $40 range that just took up a huge amount of space that I don't want to store for 4 years.

Definitely take out all batteries!

ooh good idea on the batteries, didnt think of that. Will anything happen to them if I did leave them in? I have seen batteries that have exploded but I am more curious if it damages the functioning of the toy.

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