The Neverending Toy Story

I have spent countless hours and shopping trips devising various ways to store and sort the toys. I've done the whole put some of them in a closet and switch them out. I've bought bins with lids and bins without lids. I've used fabric drawers and plastic drawers. I am ready to admit defeat, but I am not ready to have the toys rule our house.

I am of the opinion that my kids have a reasonable number of toys. The problem is that this reasonable number of toys have an unreasonable number of parts. Tinker toys, legos, train tracks, blocks, and so on. It has gotten to the point where I feel I am spending more time sorting the toys out than the kids spend playing with them.

So once again I am trying to come up with a solution for the "toy problem." Do I get out a box and have them fill it up with toys they don't want anymore? Do I search for an even more advanced system of organization? Do I just saw to heck with it and let them wallow in their junk? Or is there a better option?

I am toying with the idea of putting each toy with pieces in its own lidded container and putting a clear label and photo on the container so the kids know which toy goes where. But that still doesn't solve the problem of them opening all the boxes and dumping the toys on the floor, mixing them around and leaving them for me to sort.

Another option I am considering is to go in there while they are otherwise occupied and just filling a box myself with toys I know they don't play with at all. If they ask for the toy anytime in the next month, I will get it out and give it to them. Anything left in the box goes bye-bye out of my house.

The other sad thing is that I am putting this much time into contemplating it as though it were some sort of life or death situation. I suppose whatever I decide to do will be fine. I guess it is time to just go get it done already.