Yesterday, while reading Lifehacker — a blog devoted to practical ways to make life a little easier — I came across something that I see everywhere, all the time, but had never once thought about before: Junk toys.

I bet most parents already know that I'm talking about fast food toys, birthday party trinkets, dentist doodads, Cracker Jack prizes, and all manner of kiddie swag that gets accrued on a regular basis.

Kids love that stuff... for about five seconds. After that, it becomes little more than household clutter. I don't even have kids, but I've got a stash of junk toys that the little people in my life have left behind.

Apparently, there's so much of it out there piling up in toy boxes across the land that parents have started to trade tips on how to deal with it. And there are tons of good ideas out there, posted on the Parent Hacks website. Here are some ways to manage the kiddie clutter:

• After kids have lost interest in the toys, save them and donate them to school fairs and children's charitites where they can be "re-goodied" as prizes.
• Dole out junk toys instead of candy at Halloween.
• Stash them away for your next garage sale, then let your kids be in charge of selling the items and keep the profits.
• Encourage your kids to just say no. (Even if it's likely to be as effective as it was during the Reagan years.)
  

My favorite solution, however, may be too unsafe to actually recommend. One parent posted a comment about their family's so-called Plastica Art Project, which involves heating up the toys, then sticking them to a board in their kids' room.

Unfortunately, it's probably a health hazard to heat most of those plastic toys (or even run them through a dishwasher.) A blow torch is probably out of the question too. Oh well, so much for art projects.

Meanwhile, I admit that I'm guilty of regularly buying junk toys for my nieces, nephews and other kids in my life. So, I hereby pledge to stop buying cheap toys and try to take them to the park instead.