I am taking a break from cleaning out the playroom!! Dd (age 10) was supposed to be doing this with me, but she got invited to go to the mall, out to dinner and driving around to look at holiday lights with a friend. I figured that would be more fun for her than this and I was in a good mood, so I let her go. LOL We took about a half an hour before she left and went for a quick run through of her playroom and she pulled lots of things out that she no longer plays with. She is actually pretty good about doing this. The thing we seem to be over run with is Barbie stuff and Polly Pocket stuff!! How do you go through stuff like this? Do you just keep all the barbie stuff in one big container or do you seperate each play set? She has GOT to get rid of some of this barbie stuff....... The polly pocket stuff is bad, but at least it is so little it doesn't take up as much room!!! The Good Will is going to love us in the morning!!!

By Breann on Friday, December 10, 2004 - 07:02 pm:

We do a big toy clean out just before Christmas too. We better get hoppin' because it's almost here!

We keep things in totes and those plastic rubbermaid drawer things. They have 3 drawers. Currently one is being used for Polly Pockets. One for Strawberry Shortcake and Friends and one for Leappad and books and cartridges.

The barbie stuff is in a regular tote labled "barbies" on the side. Dress up clothes are in another tote labled "dress-up clothes" and so on.

Your daughter is twice as old as my daughter, so you probably have twice as much stuff LOL

There is no way I would attempt to seperate each play set. (I think by this you mean that you seperate the doctor barbie stuff from the grocery shopping barbie stuff from the pool party barbie stuff?) It all seems to get mixed together while she is playing anyway. It's just all "barbie stuff" at our house.

It's hard to decide what to buy for Christmas when the playroom is already overflowing with toys. I need to get busy and do what you are doing! We'll have to take a trip to good will as well.

By Tink on Friday, December 10, 2004 - 07:11 pm:

We've also invested in several of the Rubbermaid 3 drawer stackers. Barbie stuff all gets dumped in one drawer and the Barbies are in another. We just did a big "go-through" but I try to ask the kids to do a 10 toy toss-out once a week or so. This keeps the Happy Meal toys and broken toys to a minimum. It also lets my dks control what we get rid of. I used to just do it while they were gone at school or out of the house but they started noticing that things were disappearing. How was I to know that that stuffed rooster was the prince in disguise of their fairytale play?! I also use an over the door shoeholder to contain all of those little toys.

By Vicki on Friday, December 10, 2004 - 07:41 pm:

Oh my gosh this child has way too much stuff. LOL I am sure that I got rid of a few things that she would have swore she still played with, but I am guessing that she will never notice!! We usually do this in November so that it gets to the Good Will in plenty of time for it to be out for Christmas, but we are sooo late this year in getting to it. She has never been rough on her toys, so they are all still like new with all the pieces!! I got everything done except Barbie stuff. Right now it is all piled in the middle of the room and we will do it tonight when she gets home or first thing in the morning and then take it right to the Good Will. She is actually still 9, her birthday is Monday, so on top of all the Christmas stuff that is coming, birthday stuff is here too!!! She is having 3 little friends spend the night tomorrow night, so I wanted to get this done before then. Less stuff for all of them to drag out! LOL Now, I am off to get her little Christmas tree and put it up in the playroom!! This is the one that used to be in her bedroom, but she got a bigger one this year!!

By Trina~moderator on Friday, December 10, 2004 - 07:59 pm:

I just cleaned out our playroom. I try to do it every year before Christmas. Threw out most of the Happy Meal toys and anything else that's cheap and won't be missed. Gave away all of DS's BIG trucks. He's 8 and no longer plays with them. Wow, what a difference that alone made in space! We also have the Rubbermaid plastic drawers. One drawer for all Barbie stuff and 2 drawers for horse stuff. We also have a shelf with bins where Matchbox cars, Polly Pocket, puzzles, etc. are organized.

Another approach I take is rotating toys. If I notice something hasn't been played with awhile (but I know they haven't grown out of) I'll put it in the basement. A few months later I'll trade it with something. Suddenly the toys that were gone for awhile become "new" again. LOL! This saves space in the playroom and also keeps the kids from getting bored with their toys.