As I watched my 2-year-old dig through the small basket of toys we keep in our living room, I realized that he had outgrown a number of them. No longer a baby, his motor skills have developed enough that toys that he used to find interesting no longer capture his attention. In addition, there were some items that he simply never played with. It was time to clean out the toy box.

My specific toy box clean out:

I began by removing two push-along toys on sticks, a simple gear puzzle, a cloth stacking toy, and a cloth block/rattle that he seems to have outgrown. I also ended up pulling out items that may be developmentally appropriate, but weren’t great for inside our small space or that we had more than one of. For example, my young one threw those wooden balls far too many times to count (Ouch! He can throw hard). Also, we seem to have two sets of lacing cards as well as two sets of nesting blocks, and we definitely don’t need both. So I kept the nicer of the sets, and will pass on the other one.

The items I removed are now placed in a bag, which I will pass along to friends who have younger children; or, if none of our friends want them, I will post the items on Freecycle. In their place, I put items that my 2-year-old is more likely to play with and that will challenge him now.

This little project enabled me to get rid of some things we no longer need, as well as to make our space more developmentally appropriate for our little guy.

How this can help you to Simplify your Life:

Whether or not you have a child, you probably have things in your life that you’ve outgrown. I know I do. While outgrown items might seem more obvious as a child’s needs and interests change and grow, we all likely have things around that we’ve outgrown due to changes in our lifestyles or in our interests over the years. Do you have items in your house that you’ve outgrown?

I’m planning to use this perspective to help me approach some of the other areas of our house that could use simplification.

Are you doing any decluttering this week? What are you getting rid of?