Hi there,

One thing I quickly began to notice as my first boy grew older and older, was the amount of toys he was accumulating.  There was alot!!!  And then when his younger brother arrived 18mnths later, the toys seemed to quadriple - it was really quite terryifying!!! 

My boys have a room each, and at one stage each boy had a large container, two smaller ones filled with toys, not included the requisite soft toys and teddies they get when born, or the larger toys that dont need containers. 

Well one day it hit me (when i had to go clean up every last piece that had been thrown around the room)  that there were alot of toys that:

1.  I had not seen my boys actually play with in a vry long time.

2.  Were broken

3.  Were too 'young' for them.

4.  Were MacDonalds Toys - really, that stuff belongs in the bin - it just accumulates and they get over its novelty the next day (these are mostly frm grandparents who op-shop and grab those cheap bag-o-toys).

Anyway, my solution was I think a simple one.  Here is what I did:

1.  Emptied all the toys into the middle of the room.

2.  Threw all broken toys into the bin.

3.  Bagged up for donation all the toys that the boys didnt play with, or were to young for them.

4.  Filled up 1 large container/toy box with toys they most often played with, and a smaller one for all my eldest boys Hotwheels cars.  Larger toys that didnt need a container, were lined up under the end of the bed (They have vry small rooms, so space is an issue)

I feel that my boys dont need to have lots of toys.  They have toys they regularly play with, but they enjoy other activities like reading, colouring in and playing outside.  Geez, The amount of toys just one of my boys has equals what my sister and i had combined when we were growing up.

Now days, I go through the boys toys to clean out and reduce their amount every couple of months - the rooms look alot less cluttered, and when they do the boy thing and totally demolish their rooms, it is a blessing to not have to pick up little maccas toys and broken or unplayed with toys.

I hope this idea helps any parents who find it hard to throw out their childs toys, or who desperately want to reduce clutter.

cheers, Lisa