Fox turned 3 in February and up until today, I had not done a major toy purge.

Call me sentimental, but everything he’s touched is hard to let go of.

In our old house, his playroom was constantly used, but here he has a closet filled with toys that he barely ever approaches making it blatantly obvious when he hasn’t played with something in months.

It was simply time to weed out the items that he’s outgrown or broken.

I grabbed a trash bag and started filling it up.

Here’s what I learned along the way.

Rotate Bins of Toys

Keep a few different assortments of toys to rotate in and out of where your child plays. If they aren’t requesting certain toys while they’re stashed away, it may be time to let them go.

Keep Current

Do keep age appropriateness in mind. Baby rattles and teethers aren’t necessary for an older toddler, so those were the first to go in our personal purge.

Don’t Involve Your Kids

Of course, this may not be the case based on age. With my 3-year-old, he will want to keep every single toy. On the other hand, if I remove them without asking him, he won’t realize they’re gone in the first place. 

I got the idea to purge toys when I was walking around Walmart in search of storage bins. To be totally honest, we just don’t have the extra space to keep storing so I grabbed a pack of Glad® Advanced Protection trash bags instead and embarked on a “Torture Test.” 

As you can see by the images, I mostly got rid of larger wooden boxes that so many of Fox’s toys came in and opted to swap them for baggies or smaller containers. Normally these items would absolutely shred trash bags, so I specifically chose the Glad® Advanced Protection trash bags that I remembered seeing in a recent viral video.

Have you seen it?

Each bag tackles heavy loads with RipGuard™ technology, preventing rips and tears. You never know what you’ll find in a child’s closet, so liquids in a toy dump are totally possible, but spills are not with LeakGuard® Technology and a reinforced bottom. There’s also a 7-day odor control guarantee with Febreze® odor control.

Are you hesitant to get rid of your kids’ toys or do you feel refreshed after a deep clean?