I am very thankful and blessed to have a friend that passes down her children’s outgrown clothes and toys.  The problem with this though is that it doesn’t take long for my house to become cluttered with toys. 

To help with the toy clutter, I try to get rid of toys every few months.  I have taken some to the church nursery, to the consignment store, sold some in the local classifieds paper (it’s free), and given a bunch away.  Still, there is still a clutter problem. 

Right now I am going through the toys again.  I heard there is a family that doesn’t have money for Christmas presents.  My children have too many toys, so I am going to pass some to this other family.  Their children are small like mine, so they won’t know the difference if the toys are new or not.

Every few months I try to purge through the toys.  I especially do this around Christmas and birthdays.  I always explain to my daughter that in order to get new toys for special occasions, she has to give up some of her older toys.  She doesn’t have a problem with that.  It is helpful to teach your children this at a young age, so that they understand they cannot keep everything.  Still, sometimes I have to clean things out when they’re not around. 

Here is a short video with more tips on organization. Well, I need to get back to decluttering.