Toy purgers- collections ?

[kristac]

Ok ladies- I'm slowly purging some toys but I'm stuck on "collections" of toys. How do you set limits on these?

Hotwheels- We have maybe 50 ? Most of them are different types of cars/trucks/vehicles. They will play with all of them, lining them up on the road rug, racing them on the blutrack, etc. They don't take up a ton of space. But do they need 50? No. How many do they need? Which ones go?

Dinosaurs- We have alot. But most are different types of dinosaurs and some are different sizes so the boys will pretend they are mommy and baby, etc.

Same issue with other small animals. We keep them all in a bin on the shelf in the family room. Even if I purge some of the dinos and animals there is still going to be a bin on the shelf- so am I really gaining anything by purging? I guess there will be less to step on when the bin is dumped all over the floor.

[Momof3Labs]

I tried purging hot wheels and such but didn't feel like I gained much, and that is one toy that my boys really, really enjoy and has stood the test of time. So I don't go there any more. I am more ruthless with hot wheels/matchbox playsets as those take up more room and they don't seem to reach for all the different ones as often.

Plastic dinosaurs and animals didn't get much playtime, so I got rid of those last year (except the very small ones, which I saved for future shoebox dioramas - do kids still do those in school, lol??).

I just got rid of all of our Thomas metal trains. I only kept the wooden tracks and trains. Drove me crazy to have the different sets that weren't compatible.

[niccig]

Only 50 hotwheels. We have so many more, I don't want to count to know how many. We also have bigger cars and then a 3rd bin of big trucks etc.

If something is played with, I'd keep them. DS has his bins for his cars, and that's all that we can have. If he gets more, and he will as he's verey into Hot Wheels Battle Force 5, then they have to fit in there.

I'm thinking of moving the dinosaurs on as DS does not play with them, and it will give me space for 2 more bins (I have plastic boxes that stack in the expedit collection), so maybe DS can get more cars.

[MolieMuts]

We are drowning in cars here. When the Cars movie came out DS1 was obsessed with it, so we have tons of those cars. He has moved on to Legos (a whole new mess), but now DS2 LOVES cars. I keep them in a storage box and try to limit him to about 5 at a time, but they ALL somehow make their way back to the living room. Neither one are interested in the trains right now, so I have them in a storage container in the garage. At one point we had the wooden tracks, plastic Thomas tracks and Geotrax sets. I have since sold the wooden tracks and I think the metal Thomas trains with plastic tracks will be next. I think DS2 will probably like the Geotrax when he is a little older.
I have purged toys a number of times and they just build back up. Maybe you could cycle some of them out and put half of each "collection" in a storage container for a while and see if they miss them.

[Ceepa]

I get hung up on collections too. If DC lose interest in a group of toys I try to pare it down and then store away the rest. That way of the interest rises again we still have some but fewer than the time before.

There are exceptions though, like we keep all Legos because those grow with DC.

[wellyes]

No need to purge what is being constantly actively played with!

[hellokitty]

I wouldn't purge toys that still get a lot of play time. If they play with them a lot, I feel like it's worth keeping them. I'd find some other toys that are just gathering dust and purge those instead. For matchbox cars too, you never know, your future grandchildren may end up loving the ones your kids are playing with now. I'm keeping all of our wooden trains/tracks for our grandkids. We have several rubbermaid bins full of them, but I think that it's a worthwhile toy to keep around, so far those are the only toys, other than some elec train sets that I am planning to keep even after my boys have outgrown them. What's neat too is your kids will remember those toys. My mil kept a few of my DH's toys and my boys LOVE those toys and my DH has very fond memories of those toys and likes seeing our kids play with the same stuff that he enjoyed too as a child.

[kristac]

If I didn't purge toys they play with then they would keep everything! Seriously, my boys love and use almost all of thier toys. There may be one or two getting a bit neglected but as soon as the thought crosses my mind to toss it, it is suddenly a favorite again. Anyway- I feel like the matchbox cars are too much BECAUSE they play with all of them at once most of the time which means that there is a 50+ (I tried counting- it's more in the 75+ range) car pile-up in the middle of the floor. Or DS1 is sleeping with 50+ cars in his bunk, etc.

Dinos/ animals are not as bad in this regard but there are still many times when they are all lined up around the train track waiting for a ride or all over the "race track" watching the race, etc. Don't get me started about the zoo they builth for them that literally covered the entire family room floor. And thier basket gets dumped out onto the floor "accidentally" more times a day then my nerves can handle.

So how do I thin the herd?

[Wondermom]

On the subject of purging, and it seems amongst moms of 2 boys, how far apart are your sons? And do you purge AFTER both boys have outgrown the toys?

Because of oour age spread (3 and 8 months), it seems we've keep gathering MORE in the house, and we've yet to purge any. DH is urging me to purge, but DS2 is not even 9 months and just now showing interest in some toys. Just because DS1 is too old for some doesn't mean that DS2 shouldn't get play out of them, right? Or am I just setting myself up for giant messes?

Also, we have at least 50 matchbox cars/planes, etc. from when DH was a boy that his mom kept. that DS1 adores. I don't even want to know how much LEAD or lead paint is in some of those. Should I worry?

[hellokitty]

If I didn't purge toys they play with then they would keep everything! Seriously, my boys love and use almost all of thier toys. There may be one or two getting a bit neglected but as soon as the thought crosses my mind to toss it, it is suddenly a favorite again. Anyway- I feel like the matchbox cars are too much BECAUSE they play with all of them at once most of the time which means that there is a 50+ (I tried counting- it's more in the 75+ range) car pile-up in the middle of the floor. Or DS1 is sleeping with 50+ cars in his bunk, etc.

Dinos/ animals are not as bad in this regard but there are still many times when they are all lined up around the train track waiting for a ride or all over the "race track" watching the race, etc. Don't get me started about the zoo they builth for them that literally covered the entire family room floor. And thier basket gets dumped out onto the floor "accidentally" more times a day then my nerves can handle.

So how do I thin the herd?

Do you visit your parents or in laws often? Maybe split the matchbox cars and dinos into 3 groups. Keep one group, stick one group at your in law's and the other group at your parent's and then when your kids visit the grandparents, they have something to play with. We have sent some toys to the grandparents house b/c I need to thin out toys, but they still liked it, and also b/c I got tired of dragging toys to the grandparents'.

[hellokitty]

Oh and I don't know about how much storage you have, we have a basement, so have extra storage space. I rotate out our toys, so not everything is out at the same time and when they get sick of something, another toy is, "all new" again.

[KrisM]

On the subject of purging, and it seems amongst moms of 2 boys, how far apart are your sons? And do you purge AFTER both boys have outgrown the toys?

Because of oour age spread (3 and 8 months), it seems we've keep gathering MORE in the house, and we've yet to purge any. DH is urging me to purge, but DS2 is not even 9 months and just now showing interest in some toys. Just because DS1 is too old for some doesn't mean that DS2 shouldn't get play out of them, right? Or am I just setting myself up for giant messes?

Also, we have at least 50 matchbox cars/planes, etc. from when DH was a boy that his mom kept. that DS1 adores. I don't even want to know how much LEAD or lead paint is in some of those. Should I worry?

My boys are 4 years apart. I pack the best things up when DS1 outgrows them and store them and regift to DS2. And, toys that were just "okay" and not favorites, get sold. If DS2 has that same interest, I'll rebuy it. I might be down money a bit, but up on space :). I don't have room to save it all for down the road.