do your kids have too much stuff??

i just cleaned out the kids room to find about 5 huge trash bags of stuff they dont need, some of the stuff they never even played with, other stuff they ruined and hid in the closet...
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I have a bunch of clothes Noah can't wear anymore and I don't know what to do with them. All my friends are having girls. It's mostly my crap that is taking over... I'm a messy momma....

 

YES!!! I found a good thing to do with them. I posted them on freecycle, and this lady is coming by Monday to pick them up!! You probably have a freecycle in your area, funkphresh. It's wonderful way to get rid of stuff that other people might want. And, you can get free stuff, too. I got a toaster oven not too long ago.

 

Freecycle is a great thing. It can be tricky to schedule with people, though. As for kids having too much stuff, my daughter is the worst. Her room is full of toys. Our pantry has become a toy closet and they are strewn about the house all the time. I don't buy toys for her, if she wants something, she asks her grandparents. This year, at Christmas time, we are going to ask relatives to give her money and/or supplies to build a playhouse. Maybe that will cut down on the toys.

 

i'm too poor to give things away, lol.

i took a car load of stuff to a childrens consignment store a couple of weeks ago; made over $200 in store credit; i spent half of it on winter coats and clothes the kids needed, and the rest won't expire until the store goes out of business (it's been there 20 years, so i'm not worried). If you plan to do that, call around; most stores only want to give you 40% of the price that the items sell for, after they're sold; the one i went to gave me 50% up front; i just had to wait for them to look through the stuff.

 

Freecycle is ok, but I prefer to take my sons unused clothes/toys to the woman's shelter or St.Vinnies. Gets rid of the stuff ya don't need and hooks someone up who needs it

 

If you live in a large-ish city or metropolitan area, there's also craigslist.org. You can list stuff for free, sale, or barter, and (in the SF Bay Area) I've found that there is almost always someone who is willing to drive 30 miles to pick up free stuff, or trade you for something, or even pay you for it! We got rid of a crappy futon for $100, because some guy had just moved down here, and didn't want to buy a bed until he was settled in. My husband also sells old electronic gear, and claims that it's much more effective than e-bay, mostly because 1.) there's no middleman (craig's list doesn't take a cut) and 2.) it's localized, so there are rarely shipping charges/hassles involved.

 

My kids definitely have too much! I take a lot of their stuff and sell it on ebay. I have made a lot of money and have got rid of a lot of stuff as well!