Clearing out little bits and pieces - is this too harsh?

[Polygon]

We have two drawers where dc (6 and 3) are supposed to keep all their little bits and pieces (marbles, shells, Kinder Surprise toys, pottery pigs that they got from a jumble sale, odd Star Wars cards, stocking-fillers from distant relatives, the such-like). The problem is that these things come out and appear all over the house EVERY DAY. Dc are not good at tidying up but with this volume of stuff which doesn´t really belong anywhere (except in the drawers), they tend to tidy up some of it and the rest ends up in another cupboard or down the back of the sofa or displayed on every windowsill in the house. I have had enough and would just like to bin all of these little bits and pieces and start again. Is this too harsh? What do you do about this kind of stuff?

When I do a clear out I tend to bag everything up that I'm going to get rid of and stash it in a cupboard. If it's not asked for in a few weeks, it goes!!

My son has what I fondly refer to as his 'bucket of crap' in his room. Keep it all in their bedrooms in a bucket so they can sort through and find what they want and it's easy to tidy it up

Those are the only sorts of things my son is interested in btw. He's got a room full of Lego and playmobil but would rather play with a mini pack of cards from a cracker

I regularly sort out DS's little bits of tat and throw them out, especially kinder surprise toys and other plastic tat. I also have a policy of any broken toy getting immediately binned (unless valuable and fixable obviously) and this really cuts down on the cheap plastic tat we accumulate.

I clear these 'bits' out regularly. Start by putting 2 bits in the bin every few days. I doubt they'll notice. My pet hate are the McDonald's toys they bring home from their dads house! Why the hell I'd want that crap I don't know. I keep them for a few days then bin them!

I'm harsh and any bits of crap left out at the end of the day get swept into the middle of the room, and if the DCs want to save the crap, they tidy it away there and then. Otherwise it goes in the bin. :o

Thanks everyone. I think it´ll be a bin bag in the cellar then to see what happens! It is definitely the same with us that the children really like all the ...stuff!