The toys have taken over!

[dejagerw]

Someone please help! Toys have taken over my house and I don't know what to do!! Someone must have some system that works. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Both have recently had birthdays, and add that to the ridiculous amounts of things they got for Christmas... I really just want to get rid of it all. I feel like such a Scrooge :( I used to keep a lot of toys for them to play with out, and in different locations around the house. I'd keep the excess toys in a spare bedroom closet and occasionally DS1 would "trade" something for something out of the closet. The problem with that "system" is that DH would constantly be bringing more things out for DS1 to play with making more and more toys out. And now there are so many toys that I need to find some better way to organize them rather than just putting the extra in a spare rubbermaid container in the closet. There are too many toys now to do this. Some are too big, some have a ton of pieces.

Please give me your suggestions! Thanks!

[K1329]

We got a shelving unit that contained bins. Also got several rubber bins & toyboxes to loosely sort the toys. The kids can help pick up and throw all blocks, for example, in it's bin.
But really, we never were able to conquer the toy beast. The good news is, now, at 5 & 8, my kids have their favorite toy collections & have been willing to part with the stuff they outgrew and/or no longer use. As they've gotten older, we seem to have fewer toys in the house.

[meetoo]

Purge out anything they don't really play with or has little play value.

I keep at least 50% of our toys in storage and rotate. Favorite toys/special toys stay in the kids bedrooms. The toys in living areas are communal. I try to keep out a variety of things but not a ton. right now we have out Kitchen set (always out), dolls/doll stuff, a play house, about 6 puzzles, abc blocks, small plastic animals, duplo, and lego. When they get bored I switch out what ever isn't getting played with. Less is more with littles. :) 

[Ally Nathaniel]

Donate donate donate :-)

I just did it, couldn't stand it any more, too much clutter  and mess.

I believe that there are kids out there who would be happy to get our *used* toys, as long as they are in good shape. someone would love to have it.

I schedule with the VVA to pick it up.

If you feel like you have too much, you probably do. we all do :-)

Ally