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Stuffed animal control
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So in our sorting and re-organizing, we have realized (again) the kids have WAY too many stuffed animals. The last time we sorted them, we gave them a number & they couldn’t go over. Let’s just say that didn’t go over well…. One kid was in tears and simply couldn’t give up enough to get down to that number, another I ended up giving away some that really should have been kept. We are in need of some new ideas for culling &/or keeping them under control. Keep in mind all 3 girls are in 1 room, which they must share with their clothes and toys, as well, so there’s not a lot of room for a lot of stuff. So – ideas, anyone?
I have 3 girls and at one time we had over 150 stuffed animals!
Counting little and big…so we separated them into 3 piles: LOVE AND CAN NEVER GIVE UP, play with sometimes, play with never. The play with never we donated. The played with sometimes, we took them to Nana’s house to play when we visit her. And the loves we kept. We have dust allergies so the girls are allowed to only sleep with 1 or 2 (They get frozen 1x per week to kill dust mites) and rest MUST stay in the basement in the stuffed animal toy box. Sometimes they sneak upstairs, so have to resend them down to the basement from time to time. lolYeah btdt with giving away some we should have kept, but I agree they can take over.
I would say just explain to the children that they need to sort through them and make piles as pinkballerina suggested. And then they can share them with other children who don’t have any stuffed animals.
I guess I’m not a softie on this, but I just can’t stand the stuffed animals everywhere.
Another option we use is when we find it discarded on the floor for multiple days (like they leave it in one place for days on end on the floor away from their room), it goes into a garbage bag in the garage. If it isn’t even asked for over a period of several weeks, we assume it isn’t wanted. And it goes.
We have garbage bags going in the garage all the time that are waiting for the next thrift store drop-off. My husband takes them out probably once a month. If I find clothes to small for our youngest son or youngest daughter, they go in the bag. Toys discarded and left just like the stuffed animal scenario above also go in the bag. We don’t have a lot of toys left, but even the ones they love–well if you can’t put it back where it goes, then you probably don’t want to keep it.
Controlling the clutter is an on-going task around here.
I had them sort about 4 to keep on the bed and the rest that we didn’t donate went into plastic tubs under their bed. They are available when they want them, but aren’t getting as dusty (allergies here too) and are available for playing. I frequently have to remind one dd to clear her bed. She loves them and will end up with them all over, and of course she is the allergic one. lol
One year I gave to many away and am still hearing about it! We keep some in a bag in the attic for them to switch out on occasion so that they aren’t all on the floor in their rooms!
@ thepinkballerina, I would love to hear more of your ways you help with dust allergies! My husband and oldest son have them and I hadn’t ever heard of freezing stuffed animals! I am going to do it now.
Thanks
My eldest had a zillion stuffed animals! (She’s 22 now, 🙂 ) DH put hooks in the four corners of her ceiling – the houseplant style. Then he strung clothesline, securing it on each hook all around the room. We had a very high ceiling house. If you have low ceilings, you will need to avoid the doors. Then, we suspended each animal from a clothespin. I imagine it could be color-coordinated with the decor, but we are usually more utilitarian. This kept dozens of animals up and out of the way.
We have to have firm limits here with 7 kids. At the last cleanout we set the number at 7 (remember, that is 49 still!). Each child’s stuffed animals went in a pile on their bed. They started tossing ones that weren’t their favorites into a bag. When they got as far as they could with that we switched tactics. They had to find their absolute favorite stuffed animal. And the next favorite. And so on until they had 7 lined up in a row. Then they put each of the others into the bag one by one. If at any point they wanted to trade an animal heading into the bag for one from their line of 7 they could, but they had to trade, there was no option to keep more.
It went really well overall. There were a few moments where one or two children held two animals and really debated which to keep, but they moved past it. Having only 7 each is working better, but I already see that some of the children will/would be content with even fewer, while there are two children who play with, snuggle, and love on all 7 of their remaining stuffed animals daily.
We made something similar to the zoo cage found here, but ours is twice as wide, taller, and made out of sturdy 2 X 4’s and bungee cords hooked on screw eyes. I think all the materials were around $40 and I already had some paint. It was a family project and the kids helped sand the wood and paint it. My dh did the cutting with the saw and we all helped measure and mark where to cut. It stores ALL of their stuffed animals in one place and you can easily reach the ones in the bottom or at the back, etc. but they don’t fall out.
Toy hammocks in the corners are nice too. You can fit a good bit of squishy stuffed animals in them and they are cute 🙂 I have one girl who loves stuffed animals. No one else has ever had a problem when I dump them all out and say choose 4…except her. They are her friends. Toy hammocks it is 🙂 Sometimes I send some I noticed she hasnt played with to the basement and if she doesn’t mention them for a while I toss them.
Tara
I love the suggestions. I have tried to weed out some animals…it is like I am making them part with their babies! One thing that has helped a little…we know a woman that takes the stuffed animals and gives them to nursing home residents. Donating animals to her and knowing they will be taken care of and loved seems to go over better with the kids than sending them to Goodwill.
We have allergy issues here as well. In the summer we “bake” the animals (pillows too) in the hot trunk of a car to kill off dustmites.
My girls can have 6 on their bed, the rest have to fit into a tote that has a lid in the basement. When they get/want to buy another one, something has to go from the tote to make room for the new one.
pinkchopsticks, I am stressed and probably easily emotional tonight, but the nursing home residents getting the stuffed animals made me cry! How sweet and thanks for sharing as I am going to check with the one my Granddaddy lived at here until his death. I do remember seeing some of the residents with animals, but it never occurred to me they might take donations. Some of ours are like new when we pass them on.
Counting little and big…so we separated them into 3 piles: LOVE AND CAN NEVER GIVE UP, play with sometimes, play with never. The play with never we donated. The played with sometimes, we took them to Nana’s house to play when we visit her. And the loves we kept. We have dust allergies so the girls are allowed to only sleep with 1 or 2 (They get frozen 1x per week to kill dust mites) and rest MUST stay in the basement in the stuffed animal toy box. Sometimes they sneak upstairs, so have to resend them down to the basement from time to time. lol
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