To "clean" the car by filling a binliner with odd socks, Crazy Bones and children's "art", Lego men with no heads and Kinder egg contents and simply chuck it all away?

[TrickyTeenagersMum]

How does anyone else manage the relentless tide of plastic, paper and cardboard crap that small boys engender? The house, car, my handbag, their beds and all my pockets are full of worthless, mostly broken, brightly-coloured tat. Help me, I'm drowning!

Yep do it - bag it up, hide in the garage/car boot/attic and if they don't notice it's gone after a month then bin it

I'd like to clean my whole house like that, but I'd need way too many black bags.

Well, I'd rescue the lego. But that's because most of it (so far, DS is only 15 months and not allowed it yet) is mine (well, actually my big brother's but I "acquired" it in the way little sisters do ).
My MIL is currently sending boxes this way of my husband's childhood accumulation of stuff - I'm making him be ruthless, our house is already packed to the gunwales.

Someone did suggest getting the kids to take responsibility for their stuff and making them organise it all. Not a roaring success, i have to say. Smuggling it all out of the house seems to be the only solution but means the place is only really tidy once in a blue moon for a couple of days after the purge, then it all kicks off again.

aendr - yes, my neighbours sometimes used bring boxes of shit old toys for the kids - one even dumped them on the back step when we were out. I could barely bring myself to be civil, espcially as the kids saw it all before I had time to ship it to the tip - where it should have gone in the first place. And her kids were exactly the same age as my kids - so it wasn't even as if she could say "they've grown out of them"! Purely a case of evil fly tipping, if you ask me...

Like aendr I'd probably salvage the Lego. I don't even know what Crazy Bones are (oldie alert!) but if they're cheap tat then I'd bin them. My DS wouldn't have let anything he valued stay in the car overnight, so I'd say it's all fair game for the black bag and straight in the bin.

Apart from the lego, chuck the whole lot! It will give you an enormous sense of satisfaction.

YANBU at all. In fact when you finish, can you come and do mine???

YANBU do it, do it now, you know you want to!

Nothing more satisfying than a ruthless clear out. I am also becoming more harsh about allowing accumulation in the first place. DS very very rarely receives kinder eggs, or comics with toys, and I never buy him collector toys (ie crazy bones, trading cards, etc). He doesn't miss them, and means less to clear out.

I have one big box for lego so would put that in the box and everything else in the bin.

Well I did it, and feel much better. Did save one lego man, he was orange and kinda cute. The car is now 100% de-festered and looks (and smells) much better. Do wish someone hadn't left a half-full Brainlicker (if you don't know what that is, lucky you) with the lid off in the side pocket, though.

Agree perhaps we need a total ban on comics with crap stuck on the front, Kinder eggs, match attax cards, crazy bones etc. Maybe I can persuade everyone (Grandparents, dh, older sibs, etc) to stop buying them for the dcs? Perhaps the dcs would go for saving up the money in a box for something worth having instead of all this disposable junk? I wonder how mad they will go though when I pick em up for school and they find is all gone, ha ha. I bet they don't even notice...

Maybe get them to save up 50p coins in a clear sealed jar - they could have 50p instead of a kinder egg or comic? Not everytime they ask obviously!

My DS now just knows he will rarely get them, and when he does he is very excited. I have also cut down on how often I step into a shop with him - saves me a fortune.

I've been weeding stuff out for a couple of months now. DD has far too much stuff and hasn't noticed the 40% reduction in cuddly animals or the halving of her books. We are moving (albeit in June) and I really don't want the mad rush to get rid just before we go.
If I ask her to cull or even just sort things out, she prevaricates and doesn't. I find it easier to be ruthless. when she is at school.

Was going to say I put DSs long forgotten crazy bones on ebay and got about £20 for them !!

Well if UWBU then so was I, I didn't even save the crayons/pads (mine are too small for lego)
Car is about 20 stone lighter, will do wonders for fuel consumption

Laughed a lot, Essence of Jack. so that's my eco-conscience salved, even if I'm not recycling/reusing all the debris I've binned. Maybe I should go for a furry animals safari/ cull while I'm on a roll before school pick-up (grabs solar topee, puts knife between teeth, sets off into the wilderness of dcs bedroom...)

How about something like this they can keep a few bits and bobs in for journeys. Rule - if it won't fit in the organizer, it's not coming in the car.