It is a little too easy to accumulate more pet toys than you and your pets may want, need or have time to play with in any given day, week or month. With online shopping, it’s become even easier for many people to acquire pet toys at very low prices. It may sneak up on you, but pet toy hoarding may actually be a real problem for you. How can you tell?
– Do you actually have a monthly budget worked out for buying toys for your pet?
– Do you have an entire closet, cabinet or corner of a room dedicated to pet toys?
– When friends and family ask you what you want for your birthday or a holiday, do you set up a pet gift registry online or at a local store?
These may be signs that you need to rein it in just a bit. However, it’s not a bad thing to have multiple types of toys for different pets in your home since they often have very different personalities and preferences. There are some steps to take that help keep things a little more under control.
First, gather all the pet toys together into one spot. Begin going through each of them while looking for specific factors and have four bins at the ready to toss each toy into their respective bins:
Bin 1 – Broken toys
Bin 2 – Favorite toys
Bin 3 – Toys that are played with sometimes or rarely
Bin 4 – Toys that are never played with or were rejected by your pet
It’s important to address any and all broken toys or ones that are missing pieces. Jagged edges from areas that are broken may harm your pet, so those should be tossed in the first bin without question.
Next, be very honest about which toys have been played with often, rarely or never at all. More than likely, your fullest bin will be the one that have toys that are rarely touched. Find toys that are closely related to the type or style of some of your pet’s favorite toys and add them to the second bin. The others should be placed back into the “Rarely” bin.
Once you’ve gone through all the toys to assess their use and condition, the bins should be treated in this way:
* Bin 1 should be thrown away
* Bin 2 are definite keepers
* Bin 3 and 4 should be donated to a shelter or rescue
This helps you to thin out the avalanche of pet toys while also thinking of the needs of other pets who are waiting to be adopted.
After the sorting is complete, take the time to clean all the keepers with some gentle soap and water. If you know that your pet loves a toy, do what you can to keep it clean and ready for the next play session. It’s also a good idea to create a new and streamlined organizational strategy for the toys that are staying. Find a large bin or container that will hold everything neatly and in one location. Tiered plastic carts are great for homes with multiple types of pets in them in order to keep cat toys separate from dog toys. Take all these steps and you’ll see your pet toy hoarding problem diminish, even if only for a season.
