Is anyone else panicking?

[Cooki3Monst3r]

About where all the new toys are going to go??

My little 3 bed cottage is already full to the brim. I'm desperately trying to tidy/reorganise/empty the playroom to find more space.

It's giving me palpitations. I'm already forever putting toys in and out of the loft to swap round what they play with as we just don't have room for everything.

We've not bought as much as usual this year, but I have stupidly bought v big presents (dolls house and farm).

I feel very bah-hum-bug!

Yes! My younger girls room is absolutely jam packed full and I literally have no idea what to do with stuff. They don't want to get rid if anything old but haven't got space for anything new! I think I need a bigger house!

Get them cared for elsewhere for a chunk of time and have a cull.

Those step thing storage from ikea holds a surprising large amount of stuff.

Yes, a bit.

DD1 is 13 and gets smaller things, has a bigger room and will put away her gifts in the places she wants them before bedtime on Christmas day.

DD2 is 10, still has lots of cuddly toys and some bigger things, has the boxroom as her bedroom and the use of a huge built in cupboard downstairs as a toy cupboard.

We've done the toy cupboard clearout and have a boot full of stuff for the skip/charity shop.

And I've gone through her room too. Getting rid of broken stuff or rubbish.

She will manage to put awy her Christmas gifts (after playing with them for a while) but THEN we go to see MIL on the 28th and she will give both DDs (and us) LOTS of gifts. Lovely and very generous, but a nightmare as far as storage is concerned.

Maybe take the opportunity while they're distracted with new toys on Boxing Day to have a cull of lots of old ones? If you can't bear to chuck loads instantly then bag them up in the garage/shed/loft and if they don't ask for them within three months then get rid.

We are fairly minimalist on the toy front, but the DCs never ask for toys when I use this strategy to clear things out a bit, so the bag always ends up going to the charity shop.

I cull quite frequently. DD today mentioned today a game she hasn't seen for a while and says she misses it and asked if I could get it out of the loft. Except I don't think it's in the loft - eek!!! She's only 4. I feel awful now.

Hell yes! But then I do every year, with good reason. We live in a modern three bed house, which is fine except DH is a hoarder and we only have two built in cupboards in the whole house. Needless to say, you open a wardrobe and things literally fall on top of you, the garage is a fire hazard, and the attic is stuffed full. Our house is a constant mess because we have so much stuff without a home, and the worst thing is, it's always been that way. In the garage, we have three cupboards of plain paper, that DH brought home from work. Some of it dates back to 2000! But he won't get rid of it, it might come in useful.

Today, I asked DH and the children to sort through their rooms (DH did the garage) and tidy up / get rid of things no longer needed. DH did that, but put it all in the dining room, and now the dining room is completely full and you cannot physically get to the patio doors. The girls must have got rid of half a box between them... and half of that they refuse to get rid of, they'll only agree to put up in the already overcrowded attic! I keep everything minimalist, don't keep unnecessary items to try and compensate, but I'm losing the battle and it'll only get worse next week.

So yes, can I join you in the panic, please?

No help for this year but I am committing myself to doing a car boot sale once every 6 weeks next year. I get stressed withall the mess and I can't sit down without moving something out of the way first.

We have moved a lot of stuff into the garage. DH now says the garage looks like one you see on those channel 4 de clutter programmes.

I am dreading sorting it in the New Year. A lot is charity shop, but have some things to list on ebay, and some things that I'm not sure whether to keep or not (baby clothes )

We have sorted out enough storage space for the things we have bought the dc, but have no contingency plan for my mother and the havoc she can wreak with brightly coloured plastic. Big mistake.

I hate throwing out baby clothes too tarnished. It makes me so .

I went through the loft the other week and DH tried to give me a target of 1 big plastic box each of old clothes - to last them forever!!!

Well I don't mind throwing the manky vests; stuff that's good but holds no emotional value I give to friends. But things that pull my heart strings and bring the memories flooding back just have to stay! I got rid of a lot but then put my foot down at 3 boxes. DH can't see the point in keeping this stuff, but I know when my babies have grown up and left I'll be sitting in that loft smelling their old clothes!!!!