Comments on: benefit #18 – room to add

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:50:09 +0000

Before or after a Birthday, or Christmas, we tell our 5 and 6 yr old boys that we only have {this particular space} for toys and that in order to have room for our new items we need to find homes for other toys that are no longer played with. We then donate, or sell. When we sell, the boys get to keep the money and put toward a single item (if there is room in their toy area),or they put it into a savings account. Just today we the boys made $97 and are buying a much approved lego set, a minimalist “must-have” with kids as they can make many different toys out of one set! Other times they choose to use the money for a super special activity. They really like to even treat mom and dad to the activity. They feel so important and proud. When we donate, the children feel great giving to those who may not have the blessings we do. We have found that this really works for us in keeping our home a minimalist one.

By: Nic

Nic — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:30:33 +0000

I started off with minimal content in a small flat.

5 years later, still have the small flat, now have a wife and we’re bursting at the seams; time for a huge clear out!

By: becoming minimalist

becoming minimalist — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:17:30 +0000

@kirwin – i can offer two ideas that we have tried successfully in the past.

1) i think it started when my son was three and we convinced him to give up his pacifier to “the new babies” at the hospital, but my 6-year old son has always responded well to “let’s find some toys to give to kids who don’t have any.” this, of course, only works if you actually have a place to take them because goodwill/salvation army won’t typically accept toys.

2) we have explained to our kids that we need to get rid of some toys because we are running out of space in their toy room. then, we asked them to each pick 5 toys (or 10 toys) that they would be able to get rid of. that gives them complete control of the situation. they will usually start small (little plastic animals), but hey, at least it’s a start.

all in all, we have always tried to include them in the maintaining process so they felt in control and part of the decision. i hope that one of those ideas will be helpful to you. our kids are 6 and 3 so pretty similar to yours.

By: kirwin

kirwin — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:20:12 +0000

I was wondering what your regular process for purging your children’s toy is? I TRY to do this, but my son always says, “But it’s my favorite…” I know it’s not really his favorite, but I don’t want to FORCE him to give up anything.

Any words of advice? (I have a 5 year old and an almost 3-year old.)