Please help I'm living in chaos! How many toys/games do you keep downstairs?

[Jemster]

My whole house is total chaos but the worst part is the living room. It's a fair size but our only living area & the amount of 'stuff' is stressing me out. I have a 7 yr old ds, most of his things are in his room but he keeps board games in the living room. Dd is 3 & has endless toys & books everywhere! Dolls pram, baby bath, babies clothes & babies etc as well as puzzle, games, doctors set & so on. She also has a toy kitchen. Her bedroom is tiny so it's mostly in the living room.
I just don't know how to organise it all, I've tried a few things but it never works out well.
On top of all this I have piles of paperwork & ds's homework that I need a 'home' for but where I do not know!!
Please can other people tell me what you do with 'stuff'? It's actually making me feel really overwhelmed & fed up. Thank you

[TeddyBear5]

Do you have any storage? How is it currently arranged? Could you post photos?

[Jemster]

Hi Teddy, we have a bookcase with 3 deep shelves crammed full of stuff. Smaller bits are in baskets on shelf. All dolls/babies bits are in a huge plastic storage box but it's so deep she can't reach stuff at the bottom or even see what's in it!
Craft stuff is shoved under stairs & as a result forgotten about. Also under there is a play tent with poles and other bits. It makes it hard to get to other things when we need them.
DS does bits of writing, drawing, cutting out & leaves it all behind him on the table which is also our dining table. It always looks a mess & is also used for playdough. I wish they could have their own table for this but I just don't think there's room.
The thing is I could hide everything upstairs but I think if they can't see what they have they won't ever play with it.

[RandomMess]

They have proved too many toys is actually bad for children. The way forward is rotation.

Yes store it all upstairs and have a small amount downstairs and rotate every few weeks.

[TeddyBear5]

You need a good clear out. Have a look in ikea for some storage to match your decor. We have Kallax with coloured boxes to match the room. Then when they go to bed it all goes away and it looks like a grown up space.

[BigSmilesCheesyPie]

I have 1 high book case for games, puzzles, felt tips, lego in neat plastic box things (there is quite a lot of it). 1 book case for childrens books. The rest is in their rooms. Ideally they take it all up at bedtime, if not I collect it up and take it up when they are asleep.

High/mid-sleepers are good as you can store stuff underneath, at 3 your DD could probably manage to get up and down ok...

I have also discovered that less is more when it comes to toys, I had a massive clear out a while ago and they play with far more now.

DD has a desk in her room for crafts, that works well, the others will be getting desks as they get older.

If stuff is done on the table (playdough or whatever) I have a rule that they can't eat until it is all cleared away. One of my things is that the table is clear by bedtime...

[RandomMess]

We had lots of tall trofast so you could switch boxes around easily and all the craft stuff lived near the dining table and like BigSmiles said had to be tidied up afterwards.

I also found that pudding being available after rooms were tidied engaged their 100% help