Holiday time is on the way again, and for those of us with children this means another round of presents to add to our already overloaded space at home.

Now is a great time for you and the kids to make room for those new items coming your way this season. By doing this together you’ll be teaching them to take responsibility for their space and belongings. They’ll also learn basic organising strategies that will help them throughout the rest of their lives.

Here are some tips to make your pre-holiday sort-and-purge a success:

Make it an Annual Household Event

Having the children sort through their old toys each year in preparation for new ones is a great way to ease the pain of letting go. In homes where this is done yearly, the event is another signal for the children that the holiday season is nearly here. Knowing that they are making room for new toys adds to the excitement

Getting Started

Ask the kids to take everything out that needs to be sorted, and put it on the floor. Be prepared for some mess!  Make sure you have some boxes and shopping bags handy for items to go out, and then start sorting.

Sort the toys into 3 piles:

• To Stay
• To Go
• Not Sure (Keep this one small!)

Don’t stress too much if the ‘To Stay’ or the ‘Not Sure’ piles are bigger the first time round! Decision making can be a hard skill for many of us to learn.

Talk About Giving

Talk with your child about the value of recycling items and giving unused toys to children who will use and appreciate them. Many schools sponsor orphanages or children’s charities and have collection drives for toys and other items at various times of the year.

Create Objective Guidelines

Establish rule-of-thumb guidelines to make the sorting go smoothly. For example, you might agree that if an item hasn’t been played with since last Christmas, you’ll let it go.

Have a ‘Cooling Off Spot’ for Difficult Items

Box up any items left in the ‘Not Sure’ pile and put them in a cooling off spot that is accessible to the kids. Agree on a time frame for a final decision, e.g. “If it hasn’t come out of the box in 2 weeks or 1 month, we’ll pass it on.”

Take a Photo

Sentimental items are particularly difficult to let go of, but space limitations can push the issue. Suggest taking a photo of your child with the special toy, and then feature it in your family photo collection.

Have a Mini Garage Sale

A fun way to help kids move toys along can be to have a mini garage sale so they can sell any unwanted items to their friends. It can be a really enjoyable event, and they’ll have a great time making the ‘For Sale’ signs to put up around the neighbourhood. Another option is to join a community Car Boot sale where you can set up a small stall to sell your items.

Filed under: Family