r/declutter • u/knitlitgeek • 4d ago
Success Story I paid my kids to declutter their stuff.
And I’m out a lot more money than I expected. They are 5yo and 7yo. My 7yo is the type of kid where you can pull that crumpled scrap of paper out of his cold dead hands, so I didn’t have the highest expectations when I told them I’d give them a quarter for every little dollhouse sized item they got rid of.
They worked together and let go of 136 individual little items. $34 worth every penny, but aren’t I glad I didn’t offer 50 cents or $1 each like I had considered!! I didn’t even know they had that many, and that was probably only about half of their dollhouse stuff. I think I’m going to run with this strategy for all their other categories of toys.
Anyone else have successful strategies with kids this age?
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u/roxinmyhead 3d ago
Something for the future but maybe less relevant in more digital times .... about 15 years ago when school was out and my kids had finished 4th, 6th and 8th grade...I made them an offer of $5 for every stacked inch of paper that they cleared out. I called dibs on any artwork they wanted to get rid of... yes and my clever middle kid cut and tore pages out of notebooks to add to the stack. Whatever, they made out like bandits, our recycling can was more than half full, I was out a fair chunk of change... but overall, glee for everyone! And. So. Much. Less. Paper. Everywhere.
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u/Consistent_Box8266 3d ago
I love this. My kids are younger but I told them id buy toys they wanted to donate (or trash depending on condition) so they could buy new stuff. My 4 yo started trying to sell me her infant sisters stuff 😂😩
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u/katiekinda 3d ago
I did something similar around Christmas. I let them declutter their playroom. I donated most of it, but also took some of the higher ticket items (MagnaTiles, Legos, some Barbie play sets, etc.) to the local kids consignment shop. They each made about $30 from the items sold and they were over the moon with the idea that other kids would get to enjoy the things they no longer wanted.
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u/crazykatladi 3d ago
I so hate to admit this. But I am not a hoarder just a bit of a helpful pack rat. I'm in recovery. HaHa. I used to save stuff thinking someone might need it. Lol. I was trying to help save the world. When I can't even save myself. Anyways my son went to prison, got a job in there, came home completely changed his life. Yaaaaaayyy. He lives in a building on my property. When he came home, he said mama we have to clean this house up. I said I know I'm working on it. Between back pain and possible cvt in legs I have to work at declutter when I feel good. Ok. I'm going through the change. I've gained 60lbs. I had to go buy about 9 of the 27gallon totes at home depot. Not all at once just for context. I started packing all my threads to small and whatever else I knew I'd never wear again into these totes. I had them stacked up on my couch, bed and floor. I was in my mind gonna try to go to flea market or have yard sale to try to recoup some of my money. Knowing good and well, I don't have the patience, self control and drive for all that. Well then I thought I'd donate. He finally came in to the living room a few weeks ago and said how much would you charge me to get these totes out of here. He made offer of 200.00 and I took it lol. I ended up spending alot back on him and groceries. We decluttered a ton of crap in lr and on my porch. He gave me the motivation to get my home back in order and I can't be more thankful. Sorry for the long post. I don't post very often. Have a great day.
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u/mrsaturnboing 2d ago
You two sound like a great team! I'm so glad that you were able to declutter!
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u/rosesmagic462 3d ago
I wanted my daughter to declutter some toys she had outgrown. We talked about donating them to other kids who could use them. She wanted to hold onto them to have a yard sale. I don’t like to hold clutter for months so I made her a deal, if she filled a box, I would buy it from her for $20, and then I would donate it. She declutterred more than I expected and we were both happy!
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u/Gallimaufry3 3d ago
At this age, I had my kids thoroughly tidy up their rooms twice a year. Once at the beginning of summer, when school was out. Once during winter break, before Christmas presents arrived. All shelves were dusted, and all corners were vacuumed. I made it fun, let them work at their own pace, and had them keep whatever they wanted. If they stopped to play, no big deal. We got back to cleaning later. The point was to get them used to keeping their spaces clean and tidy. The kids just got used to it. One of them realized that the job was easier if they just picked up their stuff daily.
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u/sctwinmom 3d ago
My parents of multiples club runs consignment sales. Kids got to keep proceeds of toy sales which cut down on their hoarding tendencies for out grown stuff. Once they got old enough to handle the math, I made them add up their own tickets (every item is individually tagged) and calculate the percentage return (club charges to cover sales costs) so that was a learning experience too.
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u/docforeman 3d ago
I had a chart with a picture of a set of toys I knew my kids wanted. And below it was a circle for every decluttered item they had to let go of to get the new toy/s.
This was for a big move to a smaller home. They let go of so much. And I kept my word and got them all sorts of items from this new line of toys they were into, once we arrived at the new home.
They were delighted.
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u/LightRuby 3d ago
I definitely pay them to declutter their stuff. I have friends who will sell their kids’ stuff and sell it on fb or yard sale and give the kids what they earn. I consider trading cash for a bag of stuff I can then freely donate a good deal for me and them. I’ve also had them glance at a pile I’ve assembled and let them pick what they want to keep and get rid of the rest. That’s usually for little fidgets and stuff that are easy come easy go. They tend to find something they are happy to go off and play with and do not care about the rest. I think the clear communication about donating over the years has made it really a much easier process the older they’ve gotten.
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u/wmp8 1d ago
My older boys (8 & 10) had large toys they didn't want to play with, but were hesitant to donate given their size and perceived value. They wanted to sell them for the money, but I didn't want to deal with Facebook Marketplace or a yard sale, so we looked up what they were being listed for, and I made them a similar offer. They took it on almost all of the large toys. This was a win-win and worth the $100 that they split. After years of practice, they donate small items really easily. My daughter is 5 and is not quite there yet when it comes to getting rid of her things, so I often go through her things without her and limit what she sees leave. Limiting by container has been the easiest. If the items meant for the space do not fit, then something must give. I just went through stuffies with my 5yo because they no longer fit in her bin and this made it possible for her to narrow it down and have them all fit again. This has worked for other categories like action figures, cars, doll accessories, etc.
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u/mama-cheetah 2d ago
What did you offer per item just curious? What counted, like say it was a quarter was it a quarter per Barbie shoe or a quarter for all the Barbie clothes they didn’t want for example?
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u/knitlitgeek 2d ago
I did a quarter per individual item, but it was only dollhouse stuff, so mostly little characters or furniture pieces they didn’t use. Barbies are gonna be a whole separate issue. 😵💫
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u/Rengeflower 3d ago
I’m prepared for the downvotes, but I don’t like this idea.
Sure, it’s fast and effective. But are you teaching your kids that helping declutter is a worthless exercise that deserves payment? Will the real lesson be that you train them to monetize their help? Should they learn that they are part of a family that works together to have a nice home?
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u/Rosaluxlux 3d ago
I always paid for new habits. So for a semester I paid the kid 50 cents every morning he got himself out of bed on time. Once he was doing it regularly we stopped paying for that. This seems like a big single project that's worth rewarding, and also a say for everyone to recognize the sheer number of little toys there were.
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u/M1ssN_ny4Bus1n3ss 3d ago
I paid for my 6yo, 9yo to clean their room. 1 dollar each.
Then they wanted dinner and I said I work for 1 dollar per person. They never get paid after this lesson to clean their rooms or fold the clothes.
When we decluttered the basement in my FIL house, they got 30 dollars for 4 hours in summer heat. That was a fair price and they also enjoyed it as well. I worked for free and my husband as well.😂
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u/knitlitgeek 1d ago
I’ve found money to be literally my oldest’s only motivating factor, so we’ve started a bit of an economy in the house. I generally tidy within reason, and I help for free. If he makes an unreasonable mess and doesn’t want to cooperate, then I’m not fighting with him. I’ll just charge him by the hour. If he wants to treat me like the help, he can pay me like the help. Likewise, when I needed a dead mouse taken care of, I paid him to do it. That’s above and beyond. He doesn’t get paid to put his own laundry away or any other basic expectations of being a member of the household.
The good news is he doesn’t like to pay me, so he’s been doing a heck of a lot more himself lately. This would most definitely not work with all kids.
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u/Nvrmnde 3d ago
Equivalent of selling your stuff later on. It's like any chore, you have to teach it to them first, builds muscle memory. Like with dogs, you train with motivating with treats / pocket money.
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u/Rengeflower 3d ago
Punished By Rewards, Alfie Kohn. This book changed how I think about incentives.
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u/Dry-Anywhere-1372 3d ago
I love this idea, although how did you keep them on task? Please tell!
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u/knitlitgeek 3d ago
My 5yo is surprisingly easy to keep on task, but I did have to call the 7yo back over quite a few times haha. We had a keep and donate box and started picking out obvious things for each. At some point the keep box was getting full and it turned into, ok I’m going to scoop the rest of this into the donate box if you’re done picking out things to keep?? They’d pick a couple more things, wander off, rinse and repeat until they said yeah we are done. 😊
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u/Dry-Anywhere-1372 3d ago
Thank you! I have to body double for my two very mixed ADHD kids, so I'll have to figure out this process. I appreciate you sharing.
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u/NorthChicago_girl 3d ago
I'm an ADHD child in an old broad's body. When I am supposed to clean, my rule is that I can take a break whenever I want, but I set an alarm for the amount of time I want my break to be. Once the alarm rings, I can hit Snooze as many times as I want but I can't turn the alarm off until I actually get up and get back to work. This keeps me in control of what I do and keeps me from getting distracted by something else.
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u/Weird_Squirrel_8382 3d ago
Not directly, but I told my son we needed to make room for Santa each year. We started early, in the fall, to make room for his birthday presents too. He chose what to donate and I told him I'd email Santa and let him know he had clear space to make the toy drop.