Post-christmas toy organising

[erin99]

How is yours going? Have you chucked out much outgrown stuff? Bought new storage? Slotted new stuff in with old?

We keep most toys on open shelves so there is nowhere to hide, and we have both birthday and christmas presents to contend with. I'm struggling with what to get rid of this year because at 8 and 6 they have largely abandoned whole genres of toys now (kitchen stuff, musical instruments, most small world) but I am reluctant to get rid completely. Without them we are pretty much down to games, lego and books which sound very uncreative and unimaginative. (DS enjoys lego but only follows the instructions.) But the toy kettle, small world animals and so on are not really earning their space at the moment.

This is tomorrow's task.
Dd is 5 and outgrowing some of her small world (happyland) but isn't ready to say goodbye yet. So everything else is having to slot in around it.

I didn't do a cull before Christmas foolishly!

My plan is to get a few boxes to store things for now & once she is back at school have a good cull of unused/broken/bits missing/ (things that's annoy me ) toys.

The playroom was so nice and organised until Christmas happened!
She really didn't need anything more, I almost suggested clothes to relatives (DD wouldn't have thanked me though )
Hmmmmm I'm not looking forward to it!

Well, at 5 (youngest in a mixed Y1/2 class) and 2, my DC seem to be covering a huge age range - Dc1 wants to play with the stuff her 7yo classmates/friends are playing with, DC2 is still very happy with the 12m+ stuff. We have Happyland AND Playmobil, Duplo AND Lego, board books AND chapter books...

I can't cull . And I can't live with it either.

Did a charity shop trip with baby stuff before Christmas. Off loaded more to friend with new baby. waiting for DD to go back to school before I tackle her room. We have ikea expedit shelves. Heading to ikea tomorrow to very more storage boxes for it. Some new stuff slotted in with old like new lego and playmobil. Reshuffled some stuff today to organise it all better. Lots more to do still. Very time consuming.

We had a new years eve party so had to clear the lounge of toys before that. Luckily a friend was getting rid of a set of shelves which with a bit of shifting around, fit in DS's bedroom. All of the new Lego has been displayed on that. A few things moved round to the 'out of the way place' which gets cleared and restocked from other parts of the house about twice a year, we have three children so there is a constant shuffle of toys from one place to another!!

Nearly there now. DS (6) seems a bit too keen to chuck out all sorts of stuff, I've had to sneak some of it back into storage, but we have a huge box of things for charity/handmedowns and some things thrown out too.

Blackbird that does sound like a challenge. Happy I hope the box shopping went ok.

why on earth do you want to keep stuff that they have grown out of? go to the charity shop with it all! or eBay it!

Let them sort it and then charity shop/sell anything unwanted. Why choose to keep stuff that will waste space?

Sell the items and let them use the cash for other stuff

Scrimper DS is only just 6 and things he considers he's grown out of include all the generic lego, numerous chapter books, connect 4 and every toy car he owns.

No way would I chuck out all the lego and half the chapter books on a 6 year old's sayso! Some of this stuff he hasn't even grown into properly yet.

I've done it. Le Grand Toy Cull is complete. A huge bag for Oxfam and now we have enough Trofast space for everything. for me tonight. It took bloody ages and was mind numbingly boring.

why on earth do you want to keep stuff that they have grown out of? go to the charity shop with it all! or eBay it!