Too many toys!!!

I have been feeling very inundated with toys lately so have started to cull a heap. I have gotten rid of lots already but there is still too much and with another birthday around the corner I wanted to cut down more.

SO I was wondering what do your kids have? I have 2 and 3 year old boy. I look at some of their things and think oh maybe I should keep this but then they dont really use it and it serves no purpose! We don't just play with toys each day we do other activities that keep them entertained but good to have them there! I would like to store and rotate as I have heard others too but it is impossible with our limited space.
Anyway just wanting to know what toys you find useful for your kids and how many they have!!??

My sons have way too many toys too! i am home all day with them so we do need some toys to play with.

What I have done is gone to Kmart and bought plastic tubs with lids. I have bundled up the toys in types of items (ie a superhero bucket, a baby toy bucket, jigsaws, trucks etc). I have packed them in my garage (labeled)and every 2 or 3 weeks I get a fresh bucket out for the boys to play with. I then take notice of which toys in the bucket they love and go for first and which ones they dont even touch. The toys that they dont touch I give away (unless I think they will like them when they are older).

I dont bundle away their fav toys though, they always have a small tub each in their room of their best/most played with toys!

Hope that helps!

^^^ agree with ejane. I also bought the plastic tubs from Kmart. I wish i was that organised though, they just get thrown in whatever order and i use the excuse they're see through plastic so if i NEED something i should hopefully find it quickly. I also rotate the favourites on the shelves in their rooms, so they're always handy.

I find that there are days i find a reason to keep everything, but i use those days where you have no time for anyone's butterschnaps and throw things into the donation pile like there's no tomorrow. So far, i dont think ive thrown out anything i shouldnt have...except CLOTHES of mine that i now would fit back into *SOB*

My DD has way too many toys, although luckily for us we do have the storage space for them, but she doesn't play with them all so I don't see the point in keeping them. My mother recently cleaned out her garage and found loads of old toys belonging to my siblings and me which she then dumped on DD, despite the fact that most of them were ready for the bin (although the Barbies went down well with DD, and I was pleased to see my first teddy!). I mean hello, we did not need a 20-year-old bucket of Play Doh.

Right now I'm culling the baby toys - stuff that she has definitely grown out of. I will only keep anything of particular sentimental value - something that was a favourite or that was given to her by someone of importance.

Teddy bears and other soft toys is another good thing to get rid of. You don't need many - they don't do anything anyway and they're all the same! And they take up loads of space. My DD is only into toys that she can do things with.

I actually find that DD could manage quite happily with very few toys at all, provided she still had her art/craft activities (defo need the crayons and the colouring books) and her outside toys (trike, ball, golf set, sand pit and buckets/spades/etc). Her favourite inside toys are Lego/blocks, Let's Rock Elmo, her Barbies and a tea set. She's really into books and jigsaw puzzles as well. Aside from that though, I reckon I could give the whole lot away and she wouldn't care!!!

..... every 2 or 3 weeks I get a fresh bucket out for the boys to play with. I then take notice of which toys in the bucket they love and go for first and which ones they dont even touch. The toys that they dont touch I give away (unless I think they will like them when they are older)...

love this idea- now I just need to get organised!! tongue
My biggest problem is holding onto things, just in case!!

So I will be watching like a hawk to see what they play with and what they ignore, then I can start to make some space.

Put them on ebay, If they no longer play with them or they arnt suited to there age group, if your not having anymore kids.sell them then you can buy more newer toys lol i do this all the time with everything if i dont use it i sell it and buy more things i will use.

sometimes i think my daughter has too many toys too, but then i think about all the toys her cousins have & she's poor in the toy department compared to them...
when she turned 1, i took away all the baby toys & stored them for the next bub. she is nearly 2, so soon i will be taking away the younger toys to store as well.
i also don't have all her toys out at once. i leave out her dolls (as she's obsessed with them), her musical instruments, her books (not all, as they end up everywhere & i also like to rotate them) & her educational toys. i have recently rotated her toys, as i had noticed she'd lost interest in somethings, so they are away for a while. they seem to forget they exist & then love them again whenever you bring them back.
we told all the family not to buy toys for xmas. instead we requested arts & crafts, books & puzzles. that helped. we will do the same when it's her b'day.
it's easy, as parents to get excited about toys and buy them all the time & buy too much for xmas & b'days, but we believe that children need to use their imaginations & i also don't like clutter, so we don't buy a lot of toys. the best toys are usually the freebees (handmedowns) from friends/relatives or the recycling bin...

i'm currently in the process of going through dd1's room, it's a clean up and clear out. some things i will keep for her, some i will keep for dd2 and the rest will be sold. i have been through dd2's clothes as she is growing quickly and need to keep her next size up handy and i have set aside a box for a friend and a box to sell. The stuff that i'm getting rid of will be macca's toys, and other stuff that dd1 hasn't really played with in the last year.

I have a cull twice every year, before DD's birthday & after christmas. DH's family tend to only buy cheap & nasty toys that DD plays with for 5 minutes and then they sit in the bottom of the toy box forever - I donate all her old toys to charity and throw out the crappy/broken ones.

Ive insisted to family members that they stop buying big toys - she doesnt play with them and im sick of finding somewhere to store it all!

Culling and putting toys on rotation, just like at Playcentre and Kindy. I cull three times a year (two birthdays and Christmas.) We make toys plus the grandparents are incessant gift-givers so my kids have everything. I have two big plastic storage containers that I keep themes of toys in and they rotate into the playroom about every two months so they all get fairly played with (Buzz and Woody would be so proud.) The kids have a gigantic toy box, a play kitchen, play garage, two desks, two prams, a bookshelf and another storage unit in the playroom. I think the key is getting everything picked up every night - start 'em young! and having a no toy area for adults. Those two things make you feel less insane once the ratbags are in bed.

I am a hoarder, does that count smile

I need to cull DS toys.. But sm such a hoarder and hate throwing things away!!! Don't know how to get myself to do it