Aaaaargh! I'm drowning under cuddly toys - how do you store your dc's?

[MrsFogi]

We seem to have hundreds and I don't have the heart to throw half of them out so I'm wondering where to put them so they're accessible without taking up all the shelf space in the house. Any suggestions?

Sometimes they just "disappear".

We've got one of those net things that hang from the ceiling for the smaller toys and a hammock that hangs on the wall for the larger ones. Quite effective.

Binbags in the loft
They will need a wash when you get them down though, as they smell a bit musty sometimes.

We have one of the bright plastic tubs and throw them all in there...

we have regular clear outs to the charity shop - dd1 picks 3 (or however many) to rehome. we have no truck with oversentimentality or we'd literally have no room for new toys in 2-up 2-down. have always done this and dd1 is very good about it - is also good about giving her old toys to dd2. to store the ones we keep we have one of those collapsible laundry baskets upstairs and a small ikea basket on the shelves downstairs.

we use one of those hanging pocket shelf contraptions from ikea (you know, the ones to use in wardrobes) - it's on the back of DS's door - so out of sight but in reach for him (all except the most horrendous which live on the top tier!)

I sort them out into 3 piles

• Strange, hideous cheap crap (often given to us by bloody lovely SIL cause she wants rid of it. These ones go into the bin

• Really good/nice toys, presents, toys with sentimental value. These ones are stored on shelves and played with occasionally

• Animals that I can use for my English courses. Disappear into my props cupboard never to be seen again.

You have to be ruthless, anything that came free with a Happy Meal goes straight in the bin.

I cull them and give them away.

They think they're up in the loft, if they even notice!

They are quietly culled. Very subtley but effectively.

There would be hell to pay if I didn't involve dd in the cull (although I have managed to sneak a few plastic cheapo free gifts in the bin). She guards every single toy jealously and knows exactly where each one came from. To counteract this though, I have a rule which says that once the big transparent toy box in the play room is full then its time for a cull. She's usually pretty good about it in the end but the negotations can be lengthy and fraught ... .

I hate seeing all the unloved cast out cuddley toys in charity shops. How could anyone get rid of their Dougals, La Las Tutters and Shawns???
We have one on those pop up things crammed with 'em!!

Wish I could get rid of the monstrosity of a white cat given to dd by my mil. It is truly evil. Straight from Blowfeld's lap.

can't let my mother-in-law's cat kill the thread ....

have you seen www.toytidy.com ??

Large bag in the loft....and those charity bags that come through the door.
Dcs have an aunt that gives about 10 soft toys a week...ARRRHHHH!

Enormous laundry basket (Lakeland have a good one that flexes so is easy to hump about) plus annual charity-shop cull (with child participation, although it does result in several weeks of the automatic response to anything being missing, of - said in suspicious tone - "MUMMY - did you take [my homework/my favourite pen/my latest work of art] to the charity shop??"

Those tall net tower things always looked really good but I shy away from anything that involves screwing anything in to anything else.