To just throw out most of the toys and start over?

[Malteasercheesecake]

I know this is my own fault but we are in a toy nightmare. Countless jigsaws with missing pieces, toys that have several different pieces (eg toy car transporter with several different cars but all of them all over the place and don’t know how to find them amongst the several thousand other toy cars.)

Obviously some toys will survive the cull but is it really awful just to throw most of them away and start over?

Slightly wasteful to just bin things because you can’t be bothered to sort them out.

It isn’t so much that. I genuinely think some things have been lost or broken - we seem to have accumulated a lot, and it just feels an absolute mess. It’s probably a fair point but sorting through it properly would take days.

Buy a load of large plastic ziplock type bags. Set yourself a timer for an hour or whatever and find the pieces of as much as you can and put in the bags. Anything along the way that you find that is no longer played with or is broken then throw out or bag up to donate. It doesn't have to be a huge overwhelming task. Just do a chunk at a time.

I know its really hard, I am often in your shoes. Just try and do a bit at a time.

Maybe some of the puzzle pieces have been put in other boxes so just need sorting out. I would have a day of tidying up and going through toys and putting them in their correct places, otherwise it's just laziness to throw stuff away and won't the same just happen again?

Incomplete jigsaws can be recycled.

You just need to get some storage and gather similar things together. Then you can easily put sets back together.If there's really too much you can reduce quantity and get rid of incomplete things but most kids would probably be a bit traumatized if all their toys were
suddenly binned.

I must admit I find it odd you want to throw toys away becauee you can't be bothered looking for the pieces.

I try to go through ours every 6 months or so, sort out everything downstairs one time and upstairs another time. If you go through every box, you basket and the like as well as clean behind furniture you should find any spare pieces. If you do that then you should be able to identify any where you really are missing pieces and pull out any that are broken or DC no longer play with at the same time.

I usually have separate piles of ones to give away and sell and also rotate toys by putting some away that have been out a while and moving some from upstairs to downstairs and vice versa.

I genuinely don’t know what goes where with a lot of them. So for example as above the car transporter. I’ve no idea which cars are meant to go on it. Board game pieces are all over the place. Various toy animals that should fit in various places but I don’t know which ones go where.

I won’t do it if people think it’s unreasonable. Realistically though I’m just not going to get it done. I have a very needy baby and I struggle to even keep on top of very basic household tasks as it is.

Firstly, sort like with like. You can do this relatively quickly - big plastic box each for jigsaw, cars, dolls etc. Then stack up somewhere. Thoroughly clean their rooms so you know you've not missed anything. Then go through one a day - anything broken or missing pieces, set aside for recycling. Anything they don't play with donate or sell. Stuff they love put back in their rooms.

Do they still get played with? Does it matter that the car transporter has other cars in it?

It doesn’t I suppose but it just means there’s lots of little bits all over the place. I’ll take a photo so you can see what I mean.

Sounds like you just have too much stuff and could do with a Spring Cleaning Cull. I would try and organize and find parts as much as you can (if you have the time) and donate a lot, especially the non-favourite toys. This usually needs to be done when the kids are out of the house or under cover of darkness. They won't even notice unless they spot you and then will decide its an absolutely necessary toy and hang onto your ankles.

Just have a sort out, and give it away. How impossible can it be? Get the kids to help.

Bin it all or rather recycle it all then sort a system for storage and try not to have anything in the house that doesn't have a home. Implement tidy time at night for 15 minutes with the kids.

Maybe it’s because I work in a Nursery where we are always crying out for more toys that the thought of just throwing stuff out makes me sad.
Also we soon learn which 3 year olds help tidy up at home!

Rather than starting all over (and accumulating too many toys that will become a giant mess), pack the existing toys away once sorted and rotate them every 3 months - this will ensure they get played with as your dc gets to rediscover old toys. Most kids have too many toys anyway.

Right one thing that helps me is to stop looking at the whole task and thinking it needs to be completed all at once.

Sounds like it’s overwhelming and you have a small baby also.

You could chip away at it instead. Get yourself a huge box or two, start sorting a few bits each day and keep the good stuff in the boxes to be sorted out properly later. If you come across anything, broken or never played with add it to a bin bag to recycle or donate and leave the bin bag in a cupboard so you can add to it when you have time.

You could cherry pick all the stuff you know you want to keep and put that to one side.

I put everything in boxes and put them in the loft. The kids don't miss them, surprisingly. I'd give them to a nursery or charity shop. Or on a good day you can put them outside and let people take them

Try to do 15 minutes' sorting a day for a fortnight, see how you get on.

YAB massively U to throw away and rebuy when you could sort.

Ask yourself how you would feel if someone went through all YOUR possessions and chucked most away. You also say you have a needy baby. Often in such cases older children get a bit less attention and get unsettled. Is your older child or children going to feel even more upset if things they play with just disappear. My mum threw out a load of my 'junk' once. I've never forgotten how I felt and my mum remembers how upset I was. The next time she helped me have a clear up and we did it together. Please don't do it just because you think you will feel better, believe me, you wont.

Not my experience or that of a friend who tried a similar thing. The very day after she put stuff in the attic, her son came in upset asking where a particular toy was. At first my friend tried to deny all knowedge but withing minutes realised her son didn't believe a word she was saying. She had to get the stuff down and promise her son she would not do it again. You've been lucky but that doesn't mean it's the best thing to do.

I know it's bad but honestly I would just do a massive cull. Chuck it all.

It is awful to throw away perfectly good toys but it sounds like that's your plan as any resolutions you've had thur far on this thread have had an excuse thrown at them.

Throw them away and be done with it.

How do you look the kids in the eye if you throw out something that means a lot to them but you consider junk? I've no problem sitting with kids and going through stuff but I really hate the idea of parents considering that children have no right to decide what toys they have

Do it! Does your child really need all of those toys. I’ve been binning so much as we have birthdays after Xmas too. I’m sick of the daft little cheap toys and books that get chucked. I’ve found toys chucked all over the bedroom these past few days so everything is being organised and binned. Your child/children need space to play and they can get so overwhelmed by all of these toys. Minimalist options are the way forward. Start with the toys and you will find you have the same approach to your whole house which in turn will make it so much easier to keep on top of the housework