Garage Sale: Ideas to Help Weed Out That Overstuffed Toy Bin

Preparing your home for a garage sale is a great way to get the kids involved in cleaning out that overstuffed toy bin and the playroom.

Use this time to clear out the junk, create a more organized play space, and cut back on excess clutter. These simple organization tips can help you get started.

Making decisions

Allow your children to decide which toys they will sell, and which ones will stay with them. Before you begin sorting, decide what the rules are.

Choose a holiday or other memorable event that occurred in the past few months and agree that if a toy hasn’t been played with since then, it has to go. Once the rules are set, get to work.

Empty the bin and guide kids as they sort the contents into the following piles: “garbage” for broken toys, “sell” for toys that will join the yard sale, and “keep” for toys that they don’t want to part with.

Clean up and price the garage sale toys, and put them in an area that will not be tempting to your kids to get into until the day of the garage sale when they can help you display them.

Ideas for the rest

With the garage sale toys out of your way, you are ready to deal with the ones that are left. A nicely organized and uncluttered space where kids can play will ensure the toys that remain will actually be used.

Make sure you have plenty of storage space for the rest of the toys, and maybe even extra for new ones. Label shelves and boxes with where things are supposed to go, and have kids help find good places for the games and toys they use the most.

A wide, open bin would be a good choice for the most frequently used pieces so they can easily be taken in and out.

Storage smarts

One thing you can do to cut down on clutter is to put some toys away for a couple of months and rotate them back into the play area after some time has passed.

The toys your kids haven’t seen for a couple of months will seem new and exciting again and will give you some breathing room between garage sales. Organizing toys into groups according to type will help your child focus their play and clean up easier.

Grab some baskets or Quantum Storage heavy-duty plastic storage bins and label them according to what should go inside, then put the bins in places where they make sense. For instance, the doll and her clothes can be in a bin next to the cradle and stroller, to keep all items for doll play together.

Most importantly, organize toys in a way that makes sense to you and your child.

However you organize, you and your children should feel satisfied at the completion of this big job. Make it an experience where kids feel valued and important, and help them make the hard decisions. That way, the next time you need to cut back, they won’t feel like toys are being ripped away.