I want to throw out at leat 70% of the toys and games in this house

[Twiglett]

they don't play with them

they have an entire room filled with them, plus 2 bedrooms plus spill over into living room

I think that 2 children should be able to survive with toys and books in

1 toy chest (it's big and deep)
1 set of shelves (it's big, made up of 16 x 33cm(sq) cubes) and has 4 drawers at the bottom)
1 arts and crafts chest (4 drawers, 2 deep, 2 slim)

I am not counting a huge doll's house and 2 huge horses that need floor space btw

how do I get rid of the rest of the feckin' crap

Can I just add an appeal with my green hat on? When sorting into a chucking out bag can you try & see if any of the broken stuff is re-cyclable? We are lucky in that we have a huge recycling bin but I know a lot don't have thath service yet.
Our local tip has seperate huge skips for plastic/wood/etc so we have seperate bags for those as well as the charity shop/ebay pile.

oh yes, we do recycle what we can. but sadly most of the stuff is plastic and they wont take that except for general waste bin.

i spent the morning at the tip.

I've just finished going through the dc's old clothes and managed (with a heavy heart) to fill up a big bag for a charity shop (I have my favourite one). I can bring myself to get rid of the grobag though.

I wish I could stop DH buying yet more crate loads of stuff. Its not that I begrudge DS his toys but our house has been taken over and DS actually seems happier playing with his toys at grandmas as she only has 3 options rather than 3000.

i cull whilst DD1 is at nursery, because DD2 is only 23 months and doesn't realise what i'm doing.

later, i'll do it when they're at school.

if DD1 notices something's missing, i tell her i moved it up into the loft so that it'll be easier to move when our landlords get back.

i did it i sorted half the toys whilst dd 18mo had afternoon nap when she woke up she was non the wiser that lots of the baby toys had been boxed up!
i had her help pick up the teaset which went swiftly into toy box and dd has spent the afternoon chasing the dog playing with the pegs and brushing my hair! so she hasnt disturbed my nice tidy box yet
got box for loft and bin bag for my mom (if she doesnt want it will take it to charity shop)

I have had a big clearout of my children's playroom and they are playing much more happily.
I got rid of anything with even a little bit missing, all but one or two of the baby things and anything that was just plain tacky or rareley played with. I kept the best things of anything duplicated until they only had what will fit in their alcove storage unit.
I have moved a few things to their rooms (they are only 2 and 1 so we are downstairs most of the time)like their little selection of mega blocks, as they have a box of lego quattro in the playroom.

Interestingly, now my son has the mega blocks in his room, he always tidies them up, something he is not all that enthusiastic about in the playroom.

I think I could get rid of more.

I have asked people for a few particular things for them for christmas (mainly books)as my main problem has been gifts and hand-me-downs.

My dd (13months) has started walking now there is floor space!

In a few weeks I am going to have another clearout of anything that has not been played with since this cull.

I hate to see them just flit aimlessly from toy to toy, I much prefer to just get one or two things out of their toy cupboard each day.

I love a good de-clutter!

I cleared the girls toy room recently but need to do it again what is it with cuddly toys my mum and in laws seem to get them one each every time they see them thank god its only every few months!!! we have a bag for binning a bag for charity the rest gets sorted into boxes craft stuff, kitchen stuff etc

One thing I have learnt though dont hang on to stuff you are sentimental about because it was their favourite, mil and fil moved from the family home to a small house this year and presented dh with a huge box of his 'favourite' toys, books and stuff he had made at school he was really practically all of it went into the bin hard to imagine dh dragging round a fisher price dog on a lead

Yes, when dh's parents moved abroad 16 yeras ago, they gave him all of the crap treasures they had been keeping over the years. Ridiculous amounts of school stuff and newspaper clippings and stuff.

tidy away half the stuff. put into bags and leave in garage/car boot/loft/kitchen cupboard etc.
if after one week the kids havent asked after them, then either chuck, charity shop, car boot sale, or freeserve
repeat process until toys at a tlever you are comfortable with/ kids actually play with

Cargirl, thanks for taking the time to post that Guardian article, very interesting.

We are lucky to have a basement so I often hide toys in there and bring them out after a few months. Then when the kids are getting too old for certain toys, I hide toys in there for a month or so before giving to a home where they will be better appreciated.

Toys broken beyond repair get binned in front of the kids straight away in order to teach them to take more care.

Regarding artwork: we moved house when I was 8 and my mum didn't take any of our drawings with us. She really regretted it. So just in case I am keeping my favourites of DS's artwork. At least one a month now his pictures are obvious and about 10 with cute little hand or footprints or colourful scribbles from when he was younger. Pictures don't take up much space.
3-D artwork, hats and masks usually get played with until they fall apart in this house.

with those mum's throwing out collections, comics and stuff!!

DH had all of his 2000 AD comics chucked when he went into the army and he was devestated!!

we have a 'gallery', a piece of string, two tacks and pegs and we hang all the ids drawings on that. every so often it's someone's bithday and we take them all down to put cards up etc.

the best piccies i keep, scan and put on the computer, then binned.

regarding broken toys, they go in the bin straight away (or you bound to step on it in the middle of the night), as do torn books etc

it's liberating getting rid of stuff, all old clothes get passed on or charity shop'd.

good plastic toys go to local surgery, fo rkids in the waiting room.

anything worn out/broken, goes in clothes bank to be recycled or thrown.

some stuff goes to toy service at church.

Please don't do what my mum used to do - persuade me to agree to getting rid of things I did really want, (she used to use a bit of guilt "it can be sold in the church jumble sale to raise money for "), then a few days/weeks later when I wanted xxx tell me it's my own fault ("you said it could go"). I still very much miss a red toy dog and a teddy bear I used to have Similarly, don't say it's being stored in the loft to save space in the bedroom and then secretly bin it, hoping they won't remember - they will, I did anyway.

I take photos of 3d artwork and keep in a file then bin the object. DD2 (3.8) is happy with this.

I had a good session at the recent NCT sale - I hated a present that ds got last Christmas - not constructive play - once it was out of the box, that was it, and it was a nightmare to get back in. Sorted it into its original box, marked as very good condition and all pieces - sold, as did some other large toys that were not worth keeping. Despite buying a couple of jigsaws and some clothes (for next year), came out with more money back than spent.

Our local NCT sale is great - you do have to lable things up with your seller number and the price etc. However, if you don't want things back if they don't sell, you can mark this on the ticket to and they will be taken to a charity shop (well, lots of different ones as people take bags back to their own most local shops). NCT takes 30% of sale price - so you're doing them some good, which is great eg for bf support etc - they do all the hassle of selling and send you a cheque a little later. This way you get some money back, help a charity, and if it doesn't sell (and you don't want it back whatever) it goes to a different charity.

Ds has asked for one of the things that was sold (not the big toy - a horrid 'musical' disney book that was out of tune and had all the wrong words to the songs) - but he has so many books and we do lots of singing that he wasn't overly worried when I said I didn't know where it was

Message withdrawn

I cull quite frequently, but also, if I am uncertain, I have shelves

If I think there will be recriminations if I get rid of something, it goes up on a high shelf (in view)

If the kids don't ask for it down within a month or two, it goes to the charity shop.

BUT a question.

What do you do about stuff given by relatives?

And especially-what about stuff MADE by relatives? I ask becuase my MIL is capable of churning out more knitted toys than is decent. We have 3 bin liners of the things in the loft (and a rotating display downstairs). They are NOT to my taste and as a knitter I am always a bit worried that people will think they are my doing...

We have just thrown out/given away several boxes of jigsaws, beads, etc. It was very liberating.

We culled a lot of toys 2 years ago when we moved (we still have a lot too). Then we took a long time to unpack totally so the dds knew that some toys were still packed.

Even now sometimes the dds ask wistfully whether such-and-such an old favourite has been unpacked yet. And I feel a bit bad. I also feel a bit guilty that I gave away loads of the toddler toys and now dd3, 3, is in a jigsaw phase but I gave lots of them away.

I'm not helping here am I?

CandLMummy, I know just what you mean!

My MIL always buys the DDs loads of bits of tat - more resin angel memorabilia than is decent. FIL when he was alive was even worse (they were separated, so competition was fierce). Consequently DD1 especially regards anything gifted from ILs as sacred, and I would be a pariah in my own household if I dared to touch anything they have given.

Don't even get me started on the 'shrine' to FIL (including the watch he was wearing when he died) DD1 has on her dressing table.... (FIL was not my favourite person - different thread, though)

I have clear outs all the time BUT I do it WITH my children (5 and 3)

I explain that they are very lucky and some people are not, po faced but why not?

Children in Need, Comic Relief, School Fairs, etc etc

In August, October and round about now (before birthdays and Christmas)

if you do it with them, they make the decision what to get rid of and they learn something at the same time

bit mean to throw things away behind their back imo

I would bung everything mumsnet Free For Postage.
Usually gets a stampede

I can recommend the book "Simplicity Parenting" by Kim John Paine. Excellent strategies for thinning out toys. Have a look at www.simplicityparenting.com/