Do you end up with a houseful of stuff? And how do you organise it?

[AngelDog]

I have hoarding tendencies, and our plans to HE DS (2.8 y.o.) are making it worse. I've been collecting children's books from library booksales for years (I used to be a primary teacher) and all sorts of interesting junk resources from charity shops and NCT sales.

We have loads of jam jars of arty/crafty bits on top of the kichen cupboards and a big Trofast unit upstairs. DH does a job which requires a study at home and currently 4 wall-to-ceiling bookcases, which takes out a whole room. We have a big Trofast unit upstairs for DS's stuff (and toys in various other locations) but we could already do with more space. DC2 is due in 6 weeks, which will only add to the chaos.

We also have low standards in terms of housework and I'm both a natural mess-maker and bad at tidying. For example, on my kitchen floor are:

child's easel
tray for playdough
box of playdough stuff
box of magnetic letters
box of magnetic numbers
basket of drawing stuff
small whiteboard
tube map
bag of pine cones
bag of nuts & seeds waiting to be put into bird feeder
2 cardboard boxes with wrapping paper tubes stuck in them (the bases for models of railway signals)

That's in addition to 2 laundry baskets, recycling box, child's steps, child's table, box of nappy stuff, potty, birth ball, box of apples, bag of clothes to return to Sainsbury's, a pile of soft toys waiting to be washed.

Is this inevitable with HE? Any tips for keeping all this clutter to a sensible level, or vaguely organised? Am I destined to have wall-to-wall Ikea Trofast units in every room?

ROFL. I have a child who does that too. Every time I come home with some new storage boxes she descends upon them with glee, intent upon filling one with everything in the house which is red and another with everything in the house which has holes in it.

I am :o at the dc 'helping' with the tidying in such origonal ways.

How many adults would think of sorting books according to how loved they are and gathering together everything that has holes in it.

So helpful :o

I'm sorry are you a spy? Thats my house your describing. Oh no actually we have trofast, expedet and the HUGE book case which has square holes to put wicker storage cubes in, in the office. Oh abd a billy bookcase, and toy chest in the living room as well as a vintage singer sewing machine that doesn't work but looks pretty. Sigh. How long till the kids leave home?