Who Has 20 Toys or Less for Their Child, Less Clothing Less Stuff?

No, frankly the toys take over :). I enjoy buying things for my children and I enjoy giving them away when they outgrow them!

I don't exactly count the number of toys, but i have narrowed them down to only 3 types of toys - balls, trucks and legos. I use books, flashcards and learning videos to keep their minds busy. The remainder of the time, they use their imagination (albeit with my towels, pots, pillows, chairs, etc) but at least they are being creative)...so if i had to simplify further, I could get rid of one or two of the categories and they probably would not even miss it.

As for the clothes, I got rid of the ones that didn't have an association - by that I mean, once I have about a dozen that matches each other or could alternate, I got rid of the extra and the ones that do not fit. Included in those are play, dress and school. I stick to a certain type and resist the urge to buy what they do not wear everyday. Go thru your child's clothing and only keep the ones you gravitate to wearing the most. Those are usually the ones you NEED.

I can't imagine that. I think it's just a little bit sad. We're not cluttered and we're not materialistic. But I'm not going to institute a limit that is that strict on what my children can have, keep, etc. Within reason. I guess reason is relative.

As for what to save for another child? What is not stained, broken, etc, if you're hoping to have another child. We knew we wanted another so I threw out what was not worth keeping, and put ages on the containers that had baby stuff (0-6 months, 6-12 months, etc). We knew our second child was our last, so we donated or threw away (depending on the condition) things as the baby grew out of it. We kept some things that were special. It's good to have something tangible from your youth. I know my brother and I appreciate a few childhood things we still have, and my husband sometimes gets sad or regretful that his parents threw out his stuff when he grew up. Try organizing instead of living "sparce".

I do! I do! And I have 4 children. I recently became a minimalist and gave away a ton of stuff. I'm not sure what to tell you to do because I've just started myself. My mind processes a certain way. I went room by room. Thought about what was actually getting used versus what was solely decorative and/or just taking up space. What was always in the way. What really wouldn't be missed.

I've saved my older daughter's clothes for the younger girls and that's it. I gave away baby stuff to friends and family along with clothes from my only son and the younger girls. The only keepsakes I have are a baby blanket, a onesie, a pair of booties from each child and each child's hospital bracelet. That stuff is small and fits in a gift box on my closet shelf.
The household stuff I got rid of I posted in an album on Facebook and label it "FREE STUFF!" I let people tag what they wanted and/or sent me lists. First come first served. Anything I had left or came across after that went to the Salvation Army and Goodwill. Best wishes. Happy "Friyay". :)

My three children have one box of toys each. When they have a birthday or Christmas, we usually donate older toys that will not be missed so much. They all share their clothes as they are so close together in age.

We're with you! Read Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne. We have 2 boys -3 and 6. We want more so we save toys/clothes they outgrow and are usable. We get most clothes from thrift stores/clearance racks and definitely have way too much because they're so cheap! I really need to simplify in this area.

But I started paring down toys because my boys are the kind who will dump toys out of a box to turn the box into a drum set, and leave the toys on the floor to step on. We divided the toys into 3 piles (keep, donate, garbage). We divided the keep pile again (playroom, closet, attic). Now we have them in a rotation. They have so much more fun playing since they can see all they favorite toys now, not just piles of pieces. And they never miss the toys out of rotation- When we bring them out, it's like new toys again!

The key is to enforce the organization-especially the 1 in-1 out rule when they get a new toy. Their gma once brought them home from an overnight with 3 grocery bags full of new toys!! We immediately went through them and decided what to keep, what to put away, and what to give away. It's a refreshing feeling!

I have 2 wicker toy boxes in my family room. All toys must fit in there although I do have shelves in my basements for board games and I have several bins for storing play doe/accessories, Legos, etc. Additionally my daughter has a doll play pen in her room that has her dolls and stuffed animals. I used to have more but I explained to my daughter that poor children would get so much enjoyment out of her toys she hadn't touched in months so she voluntarily donates her toys, dolls and stuffed animals she no longer plays with.

We only have one and will NOT be having another. (3 year old boy.) I think we have it easy, since we don't need to save. My son has very few toys. We like open-ended toys. The kind he can really use his imagination with, and last. He has a play kitchen. He has a train table with wooden trains, tracks, all that. He does have some balls, cars, trucks. We have a sandbox outside, and a kiddie pool. He has some of his own tools, to help me in our garden. We have books (not a toy, but they are entertainment) coming out our ears. I made him a house that looks like a little home in a tree stump, and also made him little wooden gnomes and furniture. That's it. He is PLENTY entertained. He has a very good imagination and has a lot of fun. We spend a lot of time outside, which is one gigantic toy :)

Clothes, he doesn't have too many. He likes to be naked, or just in a t-shirt when we are inside. We get the cheap packages of white t-shirts and $2.00 wal-mart shorts, for playing outside. He has one very nice outfit, 2 pairs each of nice pants and shorts, two dressier shirts, and a few out in public t-shirts. 2 pairs of swim trunks, and 2 rash guard tops. We don't have very cold winters, so we have minimal cold clothing. A coat, two sweaters, and a pair of heavy pants. (He didn't have to wear those once last winter.) He has two pairs of shoes, both crocs...he doesn't like anything else. We make do just fine!!

We live simply mostly by default. I I HATE being surrounded by clutter and "things." My husband does, as well. We are just kind of like that. I'm sorry I don't have any tips, it's just who we have always been.

ETA: Legos, forgot about those!! My husband kept all his legos from growing up. We have SO many, it's really silly. Oh, and art supplies. I consider that essentials, rather then toys.

We knew we would only have 1 child so I get rid of old clothes and toys and books twice a year. For clothes, we just buy what we need at the thrift store because my son is really hard on clothes. He just has 1 dresser for his clothes and I don't bother with dressy clothes unless he needs a blazer for a particular reason and then we just buy 1 at the thrift store.

Toys---hmm how do you count toys. So many of his toys have multiple pieces which we sort into bins. And of course at 8 he is into Legos now. I just try to define the space available for his toys and if it grows past that point it is time to get rid of unused stuff.

So I guess my main point is if there is not a place to put something then you have too much and should get rid of stuff until it fits in the space available.

A mom from my daughter's school made a statement that her child has only 1 pair of shoes. I was jealous. I wish I could say the same thing.

Were you listening to my husband and I? Hes trying to minimalize me. Haha. I do see his point but not to his extreme. He would like each person to gave 5 outfits to wear mon-Fri, Saturday outfit and 2 or 3 things to wear to church. I think this is ridiculous. He says I won't have near tbe laundry to do....which makes no sense to me. my sil gave me a bag of toys for tbe baby which he had a fit over. I do like the idea of smaller bins of them to rotate. I am downsizing drastically clothes and toys. I think well just meet in the middle.

We have a ton of toys!
I keep them in bins in the living room that's his playroom as well.
He plays w/everything.
If I notice, he does not play w/something, I donate it.
Toys in this house have been an evolution. They come in like a lazy susan.....some come in and a few no longer played with toys have found their way out.
I make sure not to donate anything that he still cherishes or uses.
Just donate what they absolutely ignore, will not play with, do not use.
Keep their absolute deal breaker favorites.
They outgrow certain things & are more willing to part with those.
I go through clothes regularly. As soon as I notice something is doesn't fit
right, I start a donate pile.
I have to as we have been handed down (thankfully) a lot of clothes.
It's cyclical. I go through them often.
I saved everything (high chair, crib etc) that I knew another child of ours would use (we kept them a LONG time). Now that we are done, when my child is done w/them......out they go.
I keep several types of different shoes (sneakers, one dress up pair, flip flops, sandles....2 pairs of each.....the rest get donated.).
Donate doubles, excess, things definitely no longer even noticed.
Like I said.....it's a cycle.
Just continue to work with it.
As for clothes: I keep several casual/play clothes (we go through a lot of those per day), jeans, shorts, about 3 swim items, a couple of dress outfits for weddings etc.....the rest gets donated or passed along as soon as it's a little small or worn out.

Updated

We have a ton of toys!
I keep them in bins in the living room that's his playroom as well.
He plays w/everything.
If I notice, he does not play w/something, I donate it.
Toys in this house have been an evolution. They come in like a lazy susan.....some come in and a few no longer played with toys have found their way out.
I make sure not to donate anything that he still cherishes or uses.
Just donate what they absolutely ignore, will not play with, do not use.
Keep their absolute deal breaker favorites.
They outgrow certain things & are more willing to part with those.
I go through clothes regularly. As soon as I notice something is doesn't fit
right, I start a donate pile.
I have to as we have been handed down (thankfully) a lot of clothes.
It's cyclical. I go through them often.
I saved everything (high chair, crib etc) that I knew another child of ours would use (we kept them a LONG time). Now that we are done, when my child is done w/them......out they go.
I keep several types of different shoes (sneakers, one dress up pair, flip flops, sandles....2 pairs of each.....the rest get donated.).
Donate doubles, excess, things definitely no longer even noticed.
Like I said.....it's a cycle.
Just continue to work with it.
As for clothes: I keep several casual/play clothes (we go through a lot of those per day), jeans, shorts, about 3 swim items, a couple of dress outfits for weddings etc.....the rest gets donated or passed along as soon as it's a little small or worn out.

I'm curious to know more about why having too much stuff is stressful for you and your daughter. Is that because the stuff ends up in a mess?

You certainly can get rid of most of it; sounds like lots of other people live simply, too. But you could also learn how to organize your stuff so that your home feels calm, and not cluttered.

My children are older. When they were young, they each had a pair of sneakers and a pair of sandals in summer, and in winter they had sneakers and boots. We rotated their toys instead of having everything out. But the main thing was we had (and still have) a neat, organized home.

We go through our things regularly and give a lot of things to charity. It is necessary to continually give stuff away, or recycle, or throw it away. You can't do it once and be done.

The other big thing to remember when organizing is to have a place for everything. EVERY single little thing in your house has to have a designated spot, so it can be put away. For example, we had a cheap Ikea basket that slid under the kitchen bookshelf which we used for party favors and happy meal toys. (Although the boys didn't know that a bunch of that stuff went straight to the garbage!) In the kitchen, they'd slide it out, play with a bunch of stuff, then put it back in the basket and slide it back into place. Quick and easy.