Kids’ Toys Taking Over Your Life? Read This
The End-of-Day Toy DILEMMA (You’re Not Alone)
It’s the end of the day and you’ve kept the kids alive, driven them around, managed tantrums, refereed sibling fights, done 3 loads of laundry, picked up after everyone, shopped at two different grocery stores, made dinner, cleaned your kitchen, and tried your hardest to be “present” and patient. You’ve done so much. You’re tired.
But then—you look around and can’t even see your floors. Toys are everywhere. Your house still looks like a mess…despite all your hard work.
You don’t bother picking them all up because there are just too many. Anytime you ask your kids to clean up, they’re overwhelmed too.
But kids need lots of toys… right?
You keep them, thinking more toys will mean more entertainment. Maybe fewer complaints of boredom. Fewer requests for screens. Plus, most of these toys were gifts from grandparents and friends—you couldn’t possibly get rid of them.
Then, you stub your toe on a Lego for the third time that day, and let out a cry mixed with an inappropriate amount of anger.
the Problem
They dump out bins to find one toy—and leave the rest
Young kids can only manage a small amount of toys on their own
Deep cleaning certain rooms is impossible with toys covering the surfaces
You’ve spent so much money on toys
Your kids are bored after five minutes of playing, and lose interest in brand new toys after a couple of days
The experiment That Changed Everything
One day, I finally admitted something to myself that I’d been feeling for awhile: our toys weren’t serving our family, we were serving them. So I decided to try a little experiment.
While my kids were at preschool, I packed up nearly every toy and stored them in a closet. I only left out the few toys they actually played with consistently:
1 set of Magnatile blocks
1 set of Lincoln Logs
2 action figures
2 stuffed animals
2 sketchpads
2 coloring books
1 box of crayons
1 watercolor set
2 small boxes of books (one in each of their rooms)
1 ball
Their splash pad in the backyard (it was warm out)
For context, I have two kids—ages 5 and 3—and these were the toys I left available for both of them.
The rest? I packed up into four huge bins and tucked them away.
I braced myself. I expected whining, maybe even tears, when they came home and saw what was missing. I had planned to let them “earn back” any toys they truly missed—if they could keep their remaining toys tidy.
But something shocking happened.
They didn’t even notice.
Not one complaint. Not even about the toys my son had received that week in his Easter eggs. They haven’t asked where one of the missing toys went.
The Results
Here’s what I noticed immediately after getting rid of probably 90% of their toys:
They play for longer stretches and stay focused
They go outside more often
They spend more time reading and coloring
They get creative with everyday items—Tupperware, sticks, cardboard boxes, stones
My son builds Paw Patrol cars out of Magnatiles—and hasn’t missed the actual ones
He can clean his room in under 5 minutes
I no longer clean up toys—they do it themselves
My long term plan? I’ll probably keep this amount of toys and just replace the toys we have with different ones as the kid’s interests change.
Try It!
If this inspired you, give it a shot! You truly have nothing to lose. You can always bring the toys back out of storage.
Comment below with the results of your own toy purge—I’d love to hear how it goes and so would other moms!