We have an unbelievable amount of toys in this house. I do a pretty good job of disguising we have so many by stashing them in every conceivable place. I did learn long ago that many toys is the price I pay for having so many kids. You see, having three boys, each three years apart, means that I have toys from every possible age range.
Ellis' preschool toys: blocks, Mr.Potato head, fake food, doctor's sets, trains, cars, and books.
Emmett's grade school toys: action figures and more action figures, weapons. Oh, and Legos
Ethan's older boy toys: science supplies, art projects, video games, board games, and more books.
We determined with all of these toys that it is not practical to let the kids have the toys in their rooms - because they will NEVER get picked up and everything will get broken and lost, so in every house we have lived in, we have had a playroom. Usually, the playroom is a disaster, but I could just shut the door - then maybe once a month I would insist the boys clean it up.
Now, no matter how organized you are, the toys never end up back in the right spot when the kids clean up. They throw the toys in the closet or into whatever bin they can find. This means that eventually it is such a disaster that they won't play in there because they can't find anything they want to play with.
This leads me to the clean-up. Every few months I conquer the toys. I sort them, find all the pieces I can match, and throw out the broken or missing parts. I also purge the toys that they have outgrown or don't play with. I am amazed at the amount of cheap crap they collect: fast food toys, dollar store stuff, things from the prize basket. All of this stuff loses their interest and collects in every bin and drawer in the house. This means I throw out a trash bag of stuff from the playroom at least a few times a year.
Before Christmas and birthdays, I also make the kids go through the toys and donate the stuff that is in good shape, but they don't use. We usually pick a kids' charity, and they go with me to deliver the toys; I am always shocked at how willing they are to give up some prized possessions to some kids in need - it is a win/win and makes us feel good. Plus, we have the rule: nothing new unless something old goes. This makes the toy pile manageable.
The house we are in now does not have room for a playroom - it also means Emmett and Ellis share a room, so the amount of space we have is limited for their toys. We purged a ton when we moved, and I am strategic in the play area we have carved out in the corner of the living room. The toys are limited to one giant cubby shelf - 5'x5' with 16 cubby holes. The toys mostly fit in there, and recently I made a cloth cover, so you can't really tell they are toys. There are some things in their bedrooms, but only stuff that really can't get to messy.
The problem with the play area in the living room is that there is no door to simply shut to hide the mess. It also doesn't help that it is right next to the backdoor - the main door we use to enter and exit the house. This means my house seems to be a disaster all the time. It also means that the odds of stepping on a Lego and screaming in pain are really high.
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