Organizing Stuffed Animals

rona118

Hello ladies:

I think this has been talked about before. DD is stuffed animal obsessed. And my mother plays right into it. We have about 12 that sleep with her on her bed.... then probably 900 others that are on the floor, in the closet in bins, in the playroom etc. I have some taller dirty laundry like bins that some go in..... any other suggestions? I did look on pinterest. I need to purge some but she is also "attached" to so many. I even thought about the long skinny plastic totes that I could slide under her bed. Joy!!!

lala5507

Each of my dd's has a giant xxl ziploc bag plus some on their beds.  The deal is when the bag is full, they can't get any new ones unless they get rid of some.  Dd wants a stuffie for Christmas.  I told her she would need to clear room for it in her bag(it's full)....she chose to not ask for a stuffie. 

rona118

Nice..... we have 3 stuffies. See it is out of control. And again my mother does not help matters. I've had a talk with her many many times. We could open a Hallmark store with all the little beanie baby like stuffed animals we have!

Luckystar2

We also just started talking again about purging if she wants to get new stuff for Christmas. If there are things she doesn't want to get rid of but doesn't really play with we will store in the basement in the big plastic storage bins. Eventually those may get purged if she stops caring about them. Right now we have like 3 garbage bags full of stuffed animals in the garage that we want to purge but are letting them sit there for awhile to see if she misses any of them. If she truly remembers something and wants it back it will come back in.

As for storage of the ones she is keeping...we have a 9 cube organizer thing from target with 5 totes in it that have smaller stuffed animals. We just added a 6 cube organizer to her room with 4 totes. Also have 1 of those tall laundry like bins in her room. Her closet is a decent size and the place to hang clothes is a shelf so I put some fabric totes up there with some less used toys. We also have a bigger princess fabric tote bin that used to be in her room but is in the basement that stores a lot of stuff

I did just buy some plastic bins to put under her bed and am wondering why I never did that before! It's for her dress up clothes but would be good for toys. Although dd's bed is low so it was hard to find bins that weren't too tall.

Purging helps the most! I spent all weekend packing up stuff and purging from her room and as much as I hated doing it, it's so nice now!

billiburrows

not sure how much this would help but i've seen these bean bag chair covers that you can put the stuffed animals in so its then a chair for them...

rona118

thanks ladies.... all this is helpful!!

MrsAmers

Purging.
Once or twice a year I go through and remove the ones that got played with for a day or two, and then forgotten. Both my kids love stuffed animals and play with them a LOT. I purged all but one baby doll from DD's room and age didn't notice. If I did the same with stuffed animals or Barbie's there would be a riot. ;-)

Each kid has two tall hamper-type bins for stuffed animals. They always have some on their beds, too. If they don't all fit, it is time to purge.

Tons of empathy for your MIL situation. Mine is the same. Thinking about the excess that she causes in our house gives me hives. I'm trying to turn my dread about Christmas presents into motivation to purge ASAP.

rona118

Same here..... baby dolls she is not into..... I could pitch all of those and she would never notice. Heck she has her own living baby doll now with Julia. Haha. I am off tomorrow and when she goes to kinder it is GAME ON in the play room. haha.

kris356

I think Denine did the beanbag thing. I also believe that she would occassional empty the beanbag, donate, then refill. If the didn't miss them once in the beanbag, they were history.

amyjoy18

You can borrow my dog--he will have the collection purged in a few short minutes :-)  He is the only reason our stuffed animal collection is kept in check. 

Luckystar2

amyjoy18 said:

You can borrow my dog--he will have the collection purged in a few short minutes :-)  He is the only reason our stuffed animal collection is kept in check. 

Haha our dog was a great reason for dd to make sure things were put away! She used to eat everything but has gotten better so dd stopped being so good putting things away

AmandaJLewis

I am part of the out of site, out of mind camp.  Put 25% of them into storage. Ones you don't think she will miss as much. Then wait and see what happens. DONT LET HER FIND THE BAG! Or else it turns into a reunion with long lost friends. hahahaha.  then when you feel safe. Get rid of them for good.

I also like the "if you get one more another has to go" strategy. I am pretty ruthless with toy purging. Because I have to be (especially now that we will have two more!)

rona118

I have tried the get rid of one if you get a new one. Doesn't work so well. I have some great things to start with and try. Thanks again ladies.

I just purged 3 bags of baby girls clothes to Dena today. It felt sooooo good! And great to give to a greatful nestie that will put to good use.

denalea

And I am so happy!   :-D 

bride2003

I purge - with or without them knowing.  We have a basket that some "extras" go into (lala loopsy dolls that is in the corner of their room & about 10 that are on her bed.  Our nemesis = build a bears.  Other than that, I give them away and they may be upset initially but get over it pretty quick.  Its not like they play with them all the time.  Occasionally and thats about it.  And I'm the mom that will give them away without their knowing about it so I don't have to hear about it. 

Luckystar2

When everyone says they purge what do you do with them?

We had been doing good will but then I heard that they may not accept them so I was worried they were just getting tossed. So then I started looking into places that take them and really seems like nobody does. I did just look on my area's goodwill website and it says they accept toys with no small parts. Doesn't say stuffed animals aren't accepted. So maybe they do take them. I Don't want them thrown away and would rather do a dirt cheap garage sale to get rid of them but I would ultimately rather donate if I can. I guess I may need to call and ask. Just curious what everyone is doing

kris356

Google it, and look for things in your area. There are organization that take them for emergency situations. Some fire and police departments take them, local hospitals, women's shelters.

Luckystar2

kris356 said:

Google it, and look for things in your area. There are organization that take them for emergency situations. Some fire and police departments take them, local hospitals, women's shelters.

I've tried and I don't seem to find anything in my area. I saw the emergency situations but there didn't seem to be one in my area. Everywhere else seems to want new. I am trying again to search but last time I was kind of disappointed!

ETA: googling again. I keep getting directed to places but then when I look at their accepted items they want new toys. I think I may have found a place. Our local Ronald McDonald house does a yearly household sale fundraiser and it doesn't specify only new toys. I'm going to contact them.