'Granny's on berry duty: the genius way I'm cutting out the crap at home'

"The sheer amount of junk... Where does it come from? Not pointing any fingers at Grandparents but it’s Grandparents."

If you’re going to throw away your kids' toys, make sure you turn them off first because a dinosaur roaring from the bin is a dead giveaway!

Look I’m not judging, I too occasionally drink the kind of coffee that tastes like everything in my path should get chucked out.

The sheer amount of junk we accrue is mind boggling. Where does it come from? Not pointing any fingers at Grandparents but it’s Grandparents. The toys come from the Grandparents.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

RELATED: Mum rants about crap in party bag

"Then there's the party bags, Happy Meals..."

Plus the party bags, the Happy Meals, the kinder surprises, the cool things made from bottle caps and egg cartons at daycare. You get it.

But what if, like the above friend of mine, you find yourself with a legitimate reason to throw away a broken proper toy? Well you might want to remove the batteries first or at least turn it off.

Otherwise that relief you felt at finally binning that annoying tripping hazard will soon be replaced by an award winning attempt at coughing at exactly the right time to cover the sound of the roars. Funny for us- not so much for her as her child uncovers the betrayal.

Jokes aside though with most op shops refusing donations at the moment what are we to do with these bags of pre loved toys? You literally can’t give them away! Everyone else is sick of them too! You know there’s a problem when you post a free bags of toys of marketplace and all you get is crickets.

Emma Kenney. Image: supplied

RELATED: Please, stop buying your kids so many birthday gifts

"Granny's on berry duty"

I think the trick here is to never get the toys in the first place if I’m honest. So this is my plan.

To help minimise the influx stuff,  we’ve got Granny on berry duty! She absolutely loves to spoil our kids and they bloody love being spoiled so we’ve found punnets of berries to be a wonderful compromise.

I’m not paying $4 for a punnet of raspberries especially not at the rate our family of six go through them so rocking up here with a shopping bag filled with berries makes her ‘slay’, as our 6th grader says.

The 'junk' all belongs to the kids, does it, Emma? Image: Supplied

My other idea is to swap toys with a friend. Old toys become new if you’ve never seen them before- no matter how old they are. Swapping toys with a friend is a great way to share the love, annoyance and money savings.

Then there's this rogue idea: Involving your little ones in the process is also a great teaching moment. They can help decide which toys they don’t play with anymore.

The key here is letting them have one last play; if you try to swipe those toys without warning they’ll act like you’ve set their childhood alight. You can share age appropriate insights on sustainability, how a tidy home helps keep a clear mind, sharing with those less fortunate and gratitude for the things you have.

Worst case scenario tell them Santa might not come with any more toys this year because he might think there’s nowhere to keep them. If you do that I take no responsibility for the trauma.

And I’m not admitting to using this tactic but I bet it works. That’s what I hear anyway…

Originally published as 'Granny's on berry duty: the genius way I'm cutting out the crap at home'