Dealing with other people's (kid's) physical clutter

My house has been over run by stuffed animals, games, clothes, art supplies, you name it. My son's not so bad, but my daughter will hang on to every last crumb of anything she's ever received, and when I try to get her to cull some of the clutter, she doesn't want to give up anything. I've severely eliminated a lot of my own things this past year, but how do you go about getting other people to give up some of their stuff? I'm running out of physical space and it's interfering with my mental space. I long for the days of clean tabletops and floors that you can walk across without impaling your foot or tripping over something.

It's even difficult to clean it up because I have no place to put everything.

with my present state of mind, my house has suffered tremendously.. i looked around this morning and said this S**t has to be cleaned this weekend!!!!!! cant take it anymore!!!!!!!!

That's where I am too. The landfill is going to have to deal with the plastic and glass, because there's no way I'm going to clean it all out for recycling first. If I do that, it'll never get out of here.

Yep my kidsare going to either help clean their rooms..... or else!!!!! lol

I'm a bit of a packrat myself, but I have two sisters, and my mother has learned a couple of ways to get us to get rid of some of our stuff.

How old is your daughter? Depending on her age, you can "guilt" her into getting rid of some of it. (Donating it to a local charity, having a garage sale etc.) Or you could try getting rid of some of her stuff while she's not around. If you get rid of some of her stuff that she really doesn't like and is keeping it "just because", then even if she notices that its missing, I doubt she can be too upset. (And if she is, you COULD offer her something that she may want - thats cheapish but that she wants or would like). Yes, that is a form of bribery, but coming from a person who just finished being a teenager, it WORKS.

If this was me and my house the child would keep their things in their room or if I stepped on it it went in the garbage. that kind of thing in my house is a serious health problem because of my health problems stepping on things leads to my falling and possible broken bones and such. So from day one my child was raised knowing he got something out it needed to be taken care of or I threw it away if I stepped on it.

My rule is If children can crawl to the toy box to take the toys out they know and can put them away with help.

Its just a matter of the parent following through each and every time.

In my house my son also knew that his room had to be picked up by bedtime. That way yesterdays mees doesn't carry over into today mess making it harder for him to keep things together. If he couldn't find something I didn't go looking for it regardless of if it was a toy or homework. He soon learned that if he didn't want to take the consequenses of lost homework and not being able to find that favorite toy he kept his room clean.

He also knew I did straight through cleaning with the season changes. That way things used for summer - shorts and so on were not out during the winter. Part of that cleaning process is THROWING AWAY not putting away anything that was ripped, torn or broken.

With winter cleaning comes going through the toys and so on. if they are outgrown but in good condition they go to goodwill, st vincent du paul, and so on. depending on the item if it is a favorite it is kept or put away for instance my son has a box in the closet that right now holds his last glow worm (#5), two fire trucks that his father gave him (his father is dead) cards and letters he recieved over the years. Some pictures of toys he wanted to keep but he knew he never played with them and he was too old for them when we gave them away so he brought them to me to take a picture of first.

He also had a favorites box (a little bigger than a shoe box) for in his room. if it didn't fit in the box he either had to get rid of something in the box or get rid of what he was trying to keep.

And I also did once a week cleaning of his room which included my throwing out or removed things that were not in his favorites box.

Do the kid's have trouble cleaning up their space? What my step-mother did when we were little was gave us a time limit to pick up our stuff and whatever was left she threw away, no matter how much we wanted those things.

It's worth a try to eliminate some things, anyways.

I had to giggle at your comment about the landfill, because my place is a wreck also, and that's exactly where my plastic and glass are going, LOL. I don't have enough energy to recycle, not to mention not enough time to sort it. A friend is coming over to really scrub down the kitchen and bathroom tomorrow, since I don't have the stamina yet for thorough cleaning, and I have to pre-clean for my cleaning lady! LOL how pathetic is that?!?!?!?

Candy

Well, for one thing, I never asked them! I waited till they were asleep or away and boxed stuff up. Children have a natural tendency to keep all their toys, broken or not. Few families have room to keep it all out and available at once. Rotate their toys a month or two at a time. The ones you box up and put away for a while will seem like new all over to them.

OR teach the child to give to others more needy. Any items that are really clutter but in good shape should be given to charity. A good time to do this is right before a birthday, or the holidays, when you know they will be receiving new toys.

What do you think?