Hellobee Boards

Bins bins and more bins! I buy the clear plastic ones and sort out the toys for what ds will currently play with and take out a few at a time and keep the rest in a closet/basement. The baby toys I store in big colored tubs for baby #2 and have them in a corner where ds can't be curious about them and try to play with them again. I honestly can't wait to purge some of these toys though.

let me start off by saying that no one would look at my place and think that i actually had things under control. however, i'd like to think that i keep it a few degrees less than total toy apocalypse by using lots of bins and baskets. i also have a good number of toys stored away in a closet because i started the toy rotation thing (but didn't get very far), and if LO wants to bring something out from the closet, something else has to go in.

I try to keep it organized and every 2-3 months I look and see what junk we've accumulated in the toy box (party favor type of stuff) and immediately junk it. Then as I see things he's outgrown but I'd like to keep just in case there's another baby someday, I put them in storage.
My gonna lie, most of the things my MIL buys don't make it to storage But she's so excessive she'd never notice.
I donate anything in good shape (which is most).
I have to be pretty cutthroat because we're in an apartment.

If there's a toy I'm undecided on, maybe one that was in the back of the toy bin and I'm not sure if he wants it, I put it out in the evening or during a nap and see how he reacts when he gets up. If he's not interested I donate.

I don't have the discipline to rotate, my son has had access to everything, all the time. I do a donation round once or twice a year, either to families with smaller kids or to my son's school if the stuff is in good shape and has all the pieces. Otherwise, I recycle what I can and send the rest to the dump. There's no point in sending puzzles with missing pieces to Goodwill, IMO.

But really, the best defense is being careful about what I allow into the house. It's a lot easier to control that flow, than the outflow, because my son can not part with his stuff.