The 7 Stages of Cleaning Out the Kids Toys

Today I cleaned out the kids toys. All them. Every single one of them. Starting by piling everything they own into washing baskets and then dumping it on the living room floor to thoroughly sort through and tidy up. That was the plan at least – I ended up experiencing a full range of emotions.

You’re probably familiar with “The 7 Stages of Grief”. They apply to cleaning as well. They’re the “7 Stages of cleaning out the kids toys.”

Shock or Disblief

I don’t understand how it got this bad! I swear I only just cleaned all this up recently. How did this even happen…?

before

Denial

If I just put it all back in the cupboard and pretend I never did this everything will be okay.

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Anger

I kid you not I said “Fuck you kerplunk, I hate you” when I dropped out some of the marbles on the ground.

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Bargaining

Come on, you don’t NEED a broken dragon thingy. I’ll let you keep all your dollies if you just let me throw this thing out.

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Guilt

Oh god this is all my fault. Why did I even do this? I’m only making more mess. I should have just taken it all out in the middle of the night and burned it.

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Depression

This is never going to end. This is my life now. A sea of tiny pieces of plastic.

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Acceptance

Okay. The only way I’m going to get through this if is if I just keep going. I can’t stop now. And look! the pile is getting smaller.

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Hope

Well – now everything is sorted out and packed away beautifully, from now on the kids will only get one thing out at a time and it’ll never get this bad ever again.

after

How often do you sort out your kids stuff? 

Rachel Stewart

Rachel is the founder of Parenting Central. She is raising two children, boy and girl, with her partner. Rachel is obsessed prams, car seats, carriers and all things baby. She has worked in the baby industry for several years, for both suppliers and also in a retail setting and has developed a passion for connecting parents with the right products to make their lives easier. When Rachel isn't playing with prams she's enjoys crocheting, drinking coffee (sometimes wine) and spending a little too much time on Facebook.

13 Comments

    1. I know – its so much stuff! We buy them very little (except books, I often buy them new books), but between birthdays, Christmases, hand-me-down toys, stuff just continually piles up. I did sneak out two washing baskets full… I’m sure they wont notice!

    2. About the time our tree goes out, I start to clean out the broken, unused stuff, to make room for the new stuff.
      Our boys are champion toy breakers.

  1. I have all of braydens toys. All of them. His room has so much in it already and that’s not including the 6 LARGE boxes out in the garage That we just collexted from Qld with the rest of our stuff.

    We move into a bigger home in two weeks, il be sorting and throwing away things then

    My goodness. So. Much. Stuff

  2. i did a clean out a few of weeks ago to make room in the toy box for new birthday things and pass along some baby stuff for my sister in law. i think working in day care, and having to sort through multiple store rooms several times a year (cause i was one of the anal ones who was good at sorting so always got stuck with it) really instilled in me to have containers for everything. like toys with like toys, and (we have a play room) only have a few area’s out at a time and everything else packed away, in containers in the toy box or cupboards. it really does help contain the chaos and turns what could have been an all day event into a half hour or so once every few months (in saying that though, the toys i have out right now, look like they have been strewn around the play room by a tornado. who happens to be a 2 y/o boy.)

  3. i did a clean out a few of weeks ago to make room in the toy box for new birthday things and pass along some baby stuff for my sister in law. i think working in day care, and having to sort through multiple store rooms several times a year (cause i was one of the anal ones who was good at sorting so always got stuck with it) really instilled in me to have containers for everything. like toys with like toys, and (we have a play room) only have a few area’s out at a time and everything else packed away, in containers in the toy box or cupboards. it really does help contain the chaos and turns what could have been an all day event into a half hour or so once every few months (in saying that though, the toys i have out right now, look like they have been strewn around the play room by a tornado. who happens to be a 2 y/o boy.)

  4. i did a clean out a few of weeks ago to make room in the toy box for new birthday things and pass along some baby stuff for my sister in law. i think working in day care, and having to sort through multiple store rooms several times a year (cause i was one of the anal ones who was good at sorting so always got stuck with it) really instilled in me to have containers for everything. like toys with like toys, and (we have a play room) only have a few area’s out at a time and everything else packed away, in containers in the toy box or cupboards. it really does help contain the chaos and turns what could have been an all day event into a half hour or so once every few months (in saying that though, the toys i have out right now, look like they have been strewn around the play room by a tornado. who happens to be a 2 y/o boy.)

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