Swimming in Stuffed Anmials

We also had a large hamper in daughters room to keep all of her stuffed animals. I did go through there every once in a while I donate the ones, she never was actually attached to. Right before she left for college, I had her really go through and decide what to keep and what to donate.. She kept more than I thought necessary. Each summer I drag that storage bin out and have her take more out.. She is down to a very small number maybe 6? But I am going to remind her, wherever she ends up once she is on her own, that is the FIRST thing I am shipping to her.. hee, hee..

You could donate some to your police department. Our police department accepts donations of stuffed animals so they can give them to children to help comfort them in difficult situations. Maybe your kids would be more willing to get rid of some if you explain that you are going to donate them to your police department so other children who are scared and don't have much can be comforted by them. You can even specify how many they need to give up or how many they are allowed to keep. Maybe you could start with getting rid of 5 each and then in a few months maybe you could get them to give more.

My daughter is 4 1/2 and I just go through her stuffed animals every so often and take some out. She's got so many that she doesn't remember most of them anyway. We also have a limit of 5 that she's allowed to keep on her bed. We had to set a limit because she would get into bed at night and realize one of them wasn't there and then we'd have to go on a hunt and then 5 minutes later we'd have to do it again. I hate it when people give her stuffed animals. She's got a few that she's pretty attached to but other than that she'll play with a new one for a day or two then she's pretty much done with it.

you might try boxing all but a reasonable number (say 5 creatures for each child). You can keep the rest in a storage bin in the basement/ garage etc. On a pre-set interval, every Sunday for instance, or upon returning from school, or whatever, they can swap out the stuffies, but never having more than 5 on the go at any time.

This will keep the clutter out of your hair. They will get acclimated to not having quite so many stuffies around, and in a month or so your little ones will be ready to part with even more for charity.

Meanwhile, you might want to consider how many toys of any sort you want available/ underfoot at any time. Don't buy quite so many, if you receive them as gifts, either politely decline, or institute a keep one give one to charity policy before they are even opened and played with. Or use the same bin technique to keep new stuff out of the mix and have only say a total of 20 toys of any variety on the go at any time.

Good luck. And have fun reclaiming your house and reclaiming your life.

My kids were the saaame way. First, tell friends and relatives never to buy another stuffed animal ever again. That helped TONS! Next, ask your kids how they feel about other kids who don't have anything. Makes them sad, right? Well let's make those kids happy! Pick 3 stuffed animals each to KEEP, and donate the rest (no exceptions!) to children in need. I had a hard time letting go of some of those stuffed animals, things they've had since birth, but within a week of the millions of 'pets' being gone, I felt 100% better and their room was managable again!

I would suggest taking a few away (one or two) at a time, ones that you notice that your kids dont particularly show a real interest in and hide them in a closet for a week or two and if they dont even notice that they are gone then I would say that it is safe to donate them. Just make sure to hold on to ones that have some sort of sentimental value to them and donate the rest.
Good Luck

My daughter has always had one large basket in the closet. If it starts to overflow, I weed out ones she's never really gotten attached to. I just kind of sneak them out and she never notices. If they have not sentimental value, or if they were not a special gift, etc, just get rid of them. they don't sell well, and not sure too many people take them as donations, but if they're new enough, they may. Remember mom, you're in control. Kids will rarely volunteer to give up their stuff, not matter how nice of kids they are! however, they will not likely notice if a few go "missing" once in a while.

Also wanted to mention - if you do find it possible to get rid of some, check with your local animal shelter for donating. Many of those dogs need toys too!

What I did with ours is.... I went to the carpet store near me and got some of the empty carpet rolls, painted them with the mistint paints from the hardware store, then I put the small cup hooks all over it, wedged it between the floor and ceiling, tied ribbon around the stuffed animals necks and hung them all up from there. (this cost less then $10 to do and looked great) You can also do a chain from ceiling to floor and basically do the same thing, but I didnt care much for it.

As for as the nets go, my sister had just crochetted her out and it matched the kids rooms. I am not that talented so the carpet roll worked best for us.

Good luck!!

We are drowning in them too but they are confined to the attic and the kids' bedroom so I don't make a fuss. I feel that this too shall pass as they get older. On occassion I will go through them and ask them which ones we can get rid of and which ones can get moved to the attic. The stuffies life cycle typically goes from the bed, to the closet, to the attic, and then out the door. I know some are not negotiable and that is fine.

We also have a tall bookcase for their Build a Bears which are a whole another group of stuffies. This gives them easy access to them.

Amazing how this gets out of control FAST! In one of my kid's rooms I put a shelf all around the top of the room, about a foot down from the ceiling. I have all the stuffed animals lined up around the whole room and a few other odds and ends. In my room growing up I had the net on the wall. I never liked it because it looked messy but I have seen it look cute in other people's homes. You can get that netting at some of the bigger fabric stores. Two of my other children keeps their stuffed animals in a plastic box under their bed. My last child has her stuffed animals on corner shelves in her room. And last but not least, when I only had one child, I hung a plastic chain from his ceiling with plastic clips on it and hung all the stuffed animals from the clips. I think this solution is my favorite.

Good luck!

P.S. Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you that I do a sweep through the untouched toys and stuffed animals once a year when the kids are not home. They do not get rid of anything and I am not attached. I do keep them in a bag hidden for about a month just in case someone freaks out about a missing item, but this is very rare, they usually never miss them.

rotate them. Fill a garbage bag and put them in t he attic. In 6 mos to a year, bring them down, and put the current ones up.

Ikea has a hanging net thing which is great to store stuffed animals in. I think you can order it online. I, too, am drowning in the darn things, but my kids have a very hard time parting with toys they've given names and imaginary personalities to. So I declared a moratorium on stuffies coming into out house. There have been no new ones for two years. And as old ones spend more time in storage and less time in the children's hands, we negotiate their departure from the house. The kids seem to be okay with donating them to people they know or to the church nursery, because then they know where their "friends" are. I cannot get them to just hand them over blindly, though, because they are afraid they won't be taken care of.