As we are foster parents, we keep a rather large age-range of toys on-hand. We have, in the span of a year, had children ages birth through 12 years old and all of the entertainment items that keep them relatively busy.

I will preface this with saying that in our house, we don’t watch much television nor do we allow any significant amount of video game or computer time. The kids get MAYBE a total of an hour of electronics and TV daily—usually only 30 minutes. If there’s a school project that requires the computer, it’s carefully monitored. So “other stuff” is a big deal in our house.

Part of containing toys and their related clutter has to do with prioritizing their worth. Look at the toys your children play with the most: are these the toys you WANT them to be playing with the most? Or would you rather they start expanding their horizons a bit? Is this even a toy you want them to own?

Take stock of the toys and materials for play that you have in your home. Ditch the stuff that’s broken or missing pieces. If it’s something your family treasures or values, call the manufacturer to see if you can get replacement pieces.

Once you have those toys removed, sort the rest by age appropriateness (if this applies in your home).

Then look around your home. Where do the kids actually play with their toys? Where do you WANT them to play with their toys? What storage spaces do you have in these areas? How many toys will they comfortably fit? Can the room accommodate another storage container? If not, you either have to reduce the number of toys, or put the toys “on rotation”. By “rotation” I mean that you store the toys that don’t fit and exchange them with the toys that do fit every few months. This way, all of the toys are stored nicely and in a way that keeps them from breaking; and your kids get “new” toys once in a while without it costing you a dime.

In our house, the little kids congregate in the kitchen (under my feet) and the bigger kids are either at the kitchen counter or at the dining room table. The little ones have been given a bottom drawer of my cabinetry and the older kids were given a storage area in the dining room furniture. After all, I didn’t really need to store the Christmas tablecloths there all year—right?

Our kids have a combination of “toys” and “materials” (a supply of crayons and blank paper, for example). Every 3-5 months, I rotate the toys with others that are in a box in the attic (carefully labeled in case I need them beforehand). The things that require them to think creatively (like the crayons, etc.) are never on rotation.

So far, fewer toys are broken, the kids are less likely to be overstimulated with a mess of “every toy available is on the floor” and the daunting task of cleaning all of that up, and they’re happy with getting “new” toys again every few months. The few that they ask about when toys are put back up into the attic are forgotten within the week. Things they truly pine for after that, I will swap back in with something else.

But the house remains clear of toy mess a lot better this way!