Q&A: Do you rotate toys? (Family Minimalism 2019)

FAQ: Do you rotate toys?I know that rotating toys works well for some families, especially if they have a good way to manage it...today I'll share what we do!
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[@TheMinimalMom]

Thank you for watching!!!! We appreciate it :) You can find the playlist for Simplifying & Organizing Toys here: kzbin.info/aero/PLZ-AWUEixtg0_kCqOMGfC2f_KmP5xwQBK

[@alishatoler]

Our family has been rotating toys for over two years. The look on the kids face every week when the new toys come out makes it all worth it. How we manage it is we have a large plastic bin that everything fits into. We rotate books also. Every year after Christmas we take all the bins and replace new toys with new toys.

[@kafo9263]

I absolutely do not rotate toys. I have nine children and we are home all the time. Rotating and storing toys is a great idea for a headache for me haha! I think that things going into storage is one step before the grave and I also really want my kids to 'be bored' so their imaginations can soar. and soar they do!

[@shannontorrens1]

Great video, we don't rotate toys because I don't want to be managing toys. Plus my son has a photographic memory, he knows every toy and he would be asking for the missing ones lol.

[@danbobbizenner6959]

We rotate toys. I feel like it is a good balance of trying to minimize and yet still owning and using toys they enjoy (that are often gifts from family). To ease the brain space, I keep a written list of what is in each rotation (there are 3) and the paper is posted inside the closet where the toys are stored. I have two large bins that hold the toys that aren't in use right now. And my kids know that if they want something from a bin, I want them to ask me first, but we'll get it out and put it back when we're done. We usually rotate once a month (sometimes longer stretches). I love seeing what other families do and how it works for them. I learn so much. Thanks you for sharing!

[@lewista89]

I have 3 boys and we homeschool. I started rotating toys before I started a minimalist-type lifestyle journey. I stumbled upon and fine-tuned a system that really works for me and allows me to rotate toys in 10 min, and I can do it while the kids are helping me! I used to only do it while they were asleep so they wouldn’t see ALL of the extra toys). Now I have each rotation in a storage box (2 boxes, 3 rotations since one is out and being played with) and rotate every 1-2 months. I still went through Dawn’s toy series before Christmas and downsized each of my rotation boxes so that fewer toys would be out at a time. This has been working for me, for now.

[@Krisg611]

I love your videos and how the time is minimal too... you always get right to the point and explain yourself and keep the videos quick! Love them!

[@samanthaallen1856]

I used to rotate toys but my children would find the box that the "extra" toys were in and one by one they would make it into the playroom. It was exhausting and frustrating for them and for me. This last week my older girls and I went through the toys, creating a toy system similar to yours. It has changed our world. My children can find their favorite toys and I now have an extra box for storage. For me, rotating toys were stressful. It was inventory that I was failing to keep track of. I am so glad we changed. I admire people who rotate toys. It really is fantastic when it is done well.

[@SmuberryBanana]

We don’t really rotate toys but we have our toys split between our living room on the main level and a family room in the basement. Our kids don’t play in both spots everyday so when we get to play in the basement with those toys it’s exciting for them because they don’t see them everyday.

[@rocior3484]

Our area we don't have a lot of basements but when we get a house we'll do the same thing but in the living room and upstairs.

[@stephanieokkay]

I love hearing your thoughts on taking care of a home with children; you always have really unique and brilliant insights! I really relate to the value of knowing what your limits are when it comes to managing “inventory.” Unfortunately I do have a big container of stuffed animals that I can’t seem to minimize much - we do rotate those occasionally but I hope to change that someday. We also have some toys that the littlest ones can’t reach without help. They don’t play with those everyday, so it’s fun when we bring some down, and they no longer just dump them out of their bins each day as they did in the past! I agree that fewer toys is related to more creativity. ⭐️

[@janellegrace3460]

Love how you always say "another thing to manage"..I completely agree..I'm all about managing less, life is busy enough without adding another thing to the list😊

[@AidaJof]

I was a nanny/housekeeper back in the 70s. The children I used to look after were given so many toys yet they would stand in the middle of the playroom and could not decide what to play with. I started hiding the toys in bags at a time. After a few weeks I would bring that bag out of storage and replace them with the toys that were out ... lo and behold, new toys or they would remember fondly as to why they love them!!! It worked like magic.

[@frogleymom]

We had a toy rotation that worked really well for a few years. We had our toys sorted and categorized. We stored them in the garage, and brought in 1/4 of the bins each week. The bins stayed inside for a while week, then we put them back in the garage and got another set of bins. We eventually got rid of more and more toys and the rotation became obsolete. We now own fewer toys total than each of our rotations had previously. It works for us and we wouldn't go back.

[@hikegardentravel6546]

We do a check out system which is like rotating. It works so well. We have nine shoe boxes and that’s all. Simplifying toys is imperative, I agree.

[@TheMinimalMom]

LOVE this idea!

[@KatieMae1229]

No, I don’t rotate toys for six kids. “Managing” that is the opposite of simple living IMO. There’s a designated space for toys & everything has to fit there. They kids help decide what should go & stay.

[@ginamommy]

We are moving and packed up most of our stuff. It has made our house so much easier to clean up!

[@bluesouthpaw6326]

Take this as your chance to get rid of stuff. A new room and a new house will surely make young kids forget about half the stuff they had. Just set up what you want them to have. Hid the rest. And they will be so overwhelmed with the new room they will forget the toys you hid.😉

[@deniseg6880]

My kids each have a few shelves in their rooms with their toys and I have two buckets in the basement with other toys... the rule has been if they want a toy from storage then they have to swap it for something upstairs. That way it never gets cluttered in their rooms but they have a few extras they can take out on a rainy day 😁

[@Katy_living_simply]

We have thought about rotating but our daughter for example plays barbie kids visiting the zoo and she uses the plastic animals, barbies, blocks ans sometimes legos to make the enclosures... it never seems possible. BUT being an only child of 8 years and learning to play on her own... its definitely worth keeping them out.

[@marymitchell3792]

I keep mostly all the toys down stairs in our unfinished basement when the chores home work are done I bring up a bin of toys. Usually my best chore doer gets to pick what comes up. I do have the baby’s toys and books up stairs. I did down size the amount and types of toys we keep by categories that each of my kids play with most everything that didn’t fit into their top 3 most played with we donated.

[@jennymartin2278]

We rotate toys. We have a large attic space with access from inside the house. I keep all the toys up there except two or three options. When my boys decide they want something new to play with, they have to put one item back in the attic to get another item down. I have all boys and they are close in age, so this has worked really well for me. I never have to think about rotating the toys, they just come and ask to trade something out whenever they feel like something new. Sometimes it's weeks before we rotate anything and sometimes it's every few days.

[@keetz8490]

Not sure where u are in Minnesota but please stay warm and safe in this winter weather! -52*. (Wc). WOW!!!!

[@cynthiamantzouranis7134]

I am trying to purge toys! I have eight grandkids and we have more toys now than when we had our children at home. I also am an educator so I buy things for school, but I don't have my own classroom so storage and time to use all these things is a problem. I find awesome deals on educational, good quality toys at yard sales and keep buying them. No more! I told my husband we need to fish and picnic more and yard sale less. I love all the toy videos and will watch them again to keep my resolve.

[@karenm656]

I agree with you- I wouldn't manage rotating toys well. Although saying that, I have put some in storage from when I did a big purge and told the boys we could rotate them so may try it and see. Though I'm really only thinking of one category of toys(pirate ship stuff) from what I have stored that they would be excited to play with again. I think i could get rid of the rest.

[@iamsusankate]

I just recently found your videos, completely by accident! I do have a question: If it’s not too much trouble, could you please put all of your videos in one playlist, oldest to newest? I’d LOVE to watch ALL of them...in order... so that I can follow the progression of your systems. I LOVE your videos SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[@susanc3373]

I would love a home tour of your beautiful, simple farmhouse.

[@ld8503]

I started doing that a few months

[@hollykornegay3556]

I'm like you, the less stuff I have to manage, the better off I'll be. Less toys!

[@mnmo4bb]

I put away half our toys once and then forgot about them and we accrued more... than put away half again. See where I'm going with this? When we moved they had ALL the toys in the basement... it's been a 3 year struggle to figure out a balance... here when they get stored away the kids can get into them and pull them out ... There are some things (like the trains) that come out only when the floor is picked up and then get stored back away when they are done with them. I finally put Duplos away from a few months too. Today is the big toy purge, my last huge category before we start school in Sept! The living room will have books and magnatiles. We do school in this room. Also the marble run is stored there but not played with often... Now to go deal with the toys in the basement!

[@OneMillionSpenders]

We have been rotating toys for 7 months and are about to do a rotation this weekend. I’m going to let my 3-year old twins do it this time instead of me.

[@TS-sh8xo]

How do you handle gifts? My kids are the only grandkids on my side and when they were growing up, I was the only one married so I had single siblings who bought toys and gifts just because. It turned our house into a “toy store”. They’re older now and don’t receive things as much as cash or gift cards but I just wondered if you had any conversations with your family about this. I always tell my family NOT TO BUY ME ANYTHING! I would much rather if they wanted to gift me something to bring me food. That’s what I love to bring to people. Does anyone else do this?

[@LivingTheJoyousLife]

I'm curious to know if you keep/kept baby clothes and gear for future babies. I have a baby boy and am planning on having another in about 3years, but I don't know if it will be a boy anyway. So if my next child after that happened to be a boy. It could be 6 years (maybe more if it's another girl) before the boy clothes get used again (with 3yr spacing between kids) . Is that just crazy? I tend to reorganize the baby clothes from time to time too which takes up time.

[@keylalipo7778]

I never did. My child always played well and always played with ALL her toys. Never had any issues so I didn’t feel the need to 🙂

[@TheLuzy18]

Do ur girls have American dolls? I want to get second hand any ideas where?

[@erinl7930]

Luz Posada someone posted in the comments that they were just given way too much AG stuff - maybe she will pass some on to you?!

[@TheMinimalMom]

Our girls have the My Generation dolls from Target (generic version of American Girl dolls). I'm guessing you could find them on Facebook market or Craigslist?

[@TheLuzy18]

Erin Linquata thanks for pointing this out will swift now ty

[@heatherlaufersweiler237]

Not toy related but where are your children’s bed frames from?

[@TheMinimalMom]

Ikea :)

[@TheMinimalMom]

(They come unpainted, we painted them gray!)

[@heatherlaufersweiler237]

Do the slats stay nicely?

[@Yullada]

I tried rotating for a while but in the end came to the conclusion that putting away half of toys limits my child’s creativity - she might want to combine toys from different groups in her games. So I am just minimising but it might take a while - still selling the kitchen (anyone wants one?)

[@bluesouthpaw6326]

We don't because we don't have enough to rotate 😁. I don't have much storage space which is one of the reasons we don't rotate toys. But i did try it before and i noticed i would just put toys away they didn't care about or play with. So i just got rid of them. Problem solved.

[@kyleeaguilar8892]

Do you guys have a tv? 📺

[@TheMinimalMom]

Good question: Yes! I'll talk about screen time and how we use it coming up soon!

[@kyleeaguilar8892]

Can’t wait. 🤗

[@susanc3373]

@@TheMinimalMom I'm interested too! We want to redo our living room and family room. I'm thinking to just move the TV to our family room and leave the living room TV free! The family room will be in the basement, so hoping that will decrease the amount of time spent in front of the TV.

[@sesil0060]

I tried to rotate toys and it ended up being a mess. I also have 9 Ikea bins and it's more then enough

[@sondrasix5503]

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