Toys, Toys, Toys

Yesterday I spent 6 hours unpacking all the boxes of toys I had been avoiding.  How on earth do they get so many toys??!!!??  And no matter what your philosophy on toys is, can we all just admit that our kids have too many?  Yes, we can compare and squabble over how many more toys your kids have than mine (or vice versa), but I've yet to have a playdate at a friend's house where they just pull out some wooden blocks and dress up clothes in the spirit of simplicity and declare "this is it!".

And the toys just multiply and get smaller as they get older!!!  Sure, it's easy to police the toys when they're two - but these 5 year old toys are ridiculous.  Fifty parts, all of them under 1 cm, and they are all needed or the toy is useless. 

So I bought an obscene amount of those plastic shoeboxes and started sorting.  I'm proud to say it's done, and I now have four medium-sized boxes for selling and dontations!  You may even see some of them going for free on facebook as well.  My boys are finally getting past the age of some of their toys now that Corbin is almost four.  In the past, I couldn't get rid of anything because I needed toddler toys for Corbin and preschool toys for Hayden - which is why the toy pile got so ridiculous in the first place.  Fortunately, their maturity levels are a lot closer now and they basically play with the same things. 

The room is still a work in progress, but at least it's useable now and there are no more unpacked toy boxes!  Now, I just have to get rid of the extra toys in stealth - heaven forbid I get rid of their precious happy meal toys - broken though they may be.

Anyone have any secrets for dealing with the toys?  I'd love to hear them.