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?

Well, I do my best to avoid buying plastic things. My kids are grown now but other than lego they had barely any plastic toys. In this case there is just waaaay too many toys so they aren’t treasured or looked after so nobody has the time to sort through them but if they did I’m sure they will find the missing pieces and the toys can be used or given away again. The OP wants to chuck it out and buy new toys. It’s just very far from my reality and I personally couldn’t do that but I know some people doesn’t see a problem with that.

I go through our playroom every 6 months or so, any toys/puzzles/games that are missing pieces or broken etc get put in recycling! Don't know why people hold on to stuff that's missing bits in our case the dog eats puzzle bits left on the floor !

I would have a go at rough sorting.

All cars together
All animals together
All jigsaws together

etc

Then once you have done that it might look a bit better.

I wouldn't throw or get rid - your dc probably enjoys the toys even if bits are broken or missing or with the wrong toy.

And don't beat yourself up about this.

The children will likely know what goes with what! My DDs know each and every tiny piece by heart it seems, even though they have thousands of toys!
If they’re unsure, look the toy up online and you’ll see photos of what should go with what.

Sell it on Facebook marketplace. Tip it out of the box, take photos and list it for £10 as a job lot (box not included). People buy this stuff to split up and re-sell. I’ve had lots of success over the years.

If that fails, list it as free collection only. Honestly, someone will come get it.

When my son was younger he had loads of little toys and figures. I sorted them into different sets i.e. farm animals, dinosaurs, small cars, put them into different bags, labelled them and gave them to the charity shop. You could do that and also when the weather gets warmer put them at the end of the driveway for people to take. People will be more likely to take them if they're in sets.

Doesn’t look too bad at all from your pics. Categorise it all-
all the cars together, all the play food, all the duplo etc etc. If you’ve got too many fire engines keep the best ones and donate the rest. If a toy is broken, bin it. Organise the rest in drawers or boxes or shelves or whatever works for you. Don’t just Chuck it all.

OP, you can do what you like, you don’t need mumsnet approval.

I’m all for saving the planet, recycling, giving to the charity shop etc, but sometimes if you’re too overwhelmed and you can’t manage it, then throwing stuff away may be best. If you can spare a few hours going through and matching some things up then do so and anything you don’t have a clue on, won’t be missed, is random, just bin it.

Get some proper storage sorted, have a rule about how many toys at a time can be out and keep on top of it in future. Once it properly organised, it’ll all seem easier and you won’t be so overwhelmed. You throwing a few toys out that you’ve said your child won’t miss, isn’t the end of the world. No one is perfect, everyone harms the environment with holidays, driving cars, having kids...I do what I can, if there’s been times I’ve threw something out, I’m not going to feel guilty and neither should you OP. Life’s hard sometimes.

Do it bit by bit op, even 20 mins a night if you can manage. I try to do a sort out monthly so it doesn't have a chance to get too bad, we have a kallax unit downstairs and one upstairs full of toys so I sort two/three boxes a night for a week. Have a bag for bin, one for donation and one for storage, put the toys that are being kept into the kallax (or whatever you have) but try and minimise what you have out, so like 3/4 toys a box, and put the rest in storage. I swap out monthly and it keeps them interested too cos it's like they have new toys again.
I know the initial sorting is really really hard but if you can break it up nightly it will be easier (and worth it!).

I would categorise and then sort.

Categorise could be as simple as sending your DS out to find all the cuddly toys in the house. Work out what you are going to store them in, an ikea bag for example, then only keep what will fit in that bag.

Examples of categories we have; books, cars (things with wheels), arts and crafts, board games, balls, play kitchen, electronic toys, baby toys.

Each of the above could be an Ikea Kaplan box.

There is no point in keeping more than you can store or broken toys.

I also follow lots of home organisers on Instagram

I'd try and sort as much as possible to save it being thrown away.

Throw (or recycle if possible) anything that is really broken/definitely missing.

Of the stuff that is left streamline as much as possible. I'd at least half what he has if it's as much as you say.

Invest in good storage; this is key to stop it happening again. Have tubs/boxes for each thing, so one for train set, one for cats/trucks, one for animals, one for teddies etc. The supermarket veg bags as recommended by pp are great to differentiate with a tub e.g. you can have a bag of farm animals/bag of zoo animals/bag of dinosaurs etc. all together in one 'creatures' tub.

Have you loft or storage space?

I would pick out a selection of things. Bag the rest up into storage and then in a few years when you have more time you can sort through them and pass on/charity shop/sell.

@RandomMess why not just get rid instead of hoarding it as a future problem? Some people don’t have the space to keep mounds of unused toys

@BootsByTheBed this is spot on. Sometimes you don’t have the time and energy even if you have good intentions and you’ve got to do what makes life a bit easier.

I really don’t get all this putting in the box under the bed. Just get rid!

It just tidying. Get a couple of plastic boxes and put all thr jigsaws and puzzles in there.

Then your partner can sort them out in the evening whilst watching TV.

Then one box for cars

One for trains.

One for kitchen bits.

One for toy tools.

If anything is actually broken just chuck it out but photos aren't that bad, it just needs sorting into categories

@ladybossmum the OP has a baby, some of the toys could be used by them when they are older

As someone who has been through three kids and all that mess, I can honestly advise you to just get rid of it...and what's more, stop buying it.
The vast majority of toys ours had were simply ignored.

@crumblingschools they could or they may not. My children have different interests and like to play with different things.
I think if the environment is stressful to the OP to take charge and clear out some of the mess for good. I’ve been there myself and used to feel a lot of guilt by other family members telling me to keep things “just in case”. The result was a messy overcrowded house that they didn’t have to live in.

@pictoosh yes!

The lost/broken components - especially the “this was vacuumed up”/“we KNOW this broke”/“that piece was last seen in the park” type things - simply hold up the fun and result in never enjoying what DOES work in your toy collection. Getting rid of what will never, ever be used is the most freeing thing and enables your children to play with what they do have.

If you have partial sets, I’d encourage you to donate the partial pieces in neat bags to a thrift/charity shop. YOU might be missing a key car in that set, thus ruining it for its original purpose for your child… but the cars you DO have could be the ones someone else’s child lost!

Read Hunt, Gather, Parent, throw away 90% of it and see how wonderfully your life improves.

Sort into groups then get rid of any duplicates of the same type of toy (if he goes to nursery, my nursery are often very happy to take donations of toys or things like lift the flap books that have the odd flap missing).

I go through my kids stuff every few months and if it's not played with or duplicated then it goes. We have a finite amount of storage and if it doesn't fit then either it doesn't come in or something has to go first (in total, between a 2yo and 3yo they have 14 kallax squares worth of toys and craft stuff but excluding books and outside toys and it is more than enough!).

Chuck it.

Your hands are full.

If its incomplete then bin it. Just sort the rest if you can.

Most councils will recycle what you chuck ( have spent some lovely time at recycling centres.. it's quite amazing actually!)

Start afresh. Then move forward and organise!

I agree you need to categorise stuff and then sort it however I do think I’d probably get rid of a fair bit of stuff and there are particular toys that are bad for ending up like those shown in your photos. They tend to be plastic things that have multiple small parts that only go with that specific toy and once you lose what goes with what it’s a nightmare to put back together again.

For preschoolers I think you just need:

• a craft box (kept out of reach so they can’t help themselves and decorate your sofa while you’re cooking dinner) with paints, crayons, paper, stickers, playdoh
• a train set, just one type eg Brio or whatever so all the pieces go together. Not multiple different sets that can’t interchange
• A few small cars or vehicles plus a garage or road playmat type thing
• some building blocks or Magnatiles
• cuddlies
• animal figures
• couple of dolls and maybe a little pram if they like that sort of thing
• some small world play items, again all the same brand or type so it can all be interchanged and used together. Something like Happyland or Playmobil 123. Or just a wooden dolls house with some little figures.
• a few puzzles, I have maybe 5-6 at a time then donate to the charity shop and buy 5-6 more from there.
• maybe a play kitchen with food if you have space.

i think that’s all you need. Nothing else. If they’re into particular characters then they can have the little play figure sets and they can be used either with the vehicles/trains or with the small world stuff. I don’t get drawn into buying the branded specific toys like Blueys treehouse etc as they don’t work with anything else and the pieces get lost or broken too easily. Also special characters can feature on cups/plates/backpacks etc if the obsession is strong. Buy on Vinted to keep costs down.

Oh I obviously forgot books, again I try to stick to classics rather than character branded ones which you can borrow from the library if needed.