I also have a five year old, and am interested to hear ideas. Have you already inventoried and purged? Have her help you identify what she doesn't use or want any more. We just gave away the duplos, for example, because 5 is regular lego territory (which we will store in rolling craft carts).

We have stuffed animals in a big pretty basket in the corner of the room, though they will soon be moved to one of those toy hammocks over her bed to free up some floor space--both very affordable options (particularly if you shop at second hand stores). Are those books in the back? Get a small bookshelf (or add them to an existing bookshelf elsewhere in the house).

Other options just depend on what all is in there and how much of it needs to be available.

Thank you!! Yes those are great ideas, thanks! I started going through stuff myself to get rid of more stuff as my sweet little one always says she wants to save things for her kids when she’s older.

Hahah.. my daughter "hates babies," so I don't have that problem! I do talk to her a lot about how other kids may love her old things, and the more she gets rid of, the more room there is for future presents. Any time she asks for something new we talk about what she already has and is ready to let someone else enjoy.

This is amazing advice!! Thank you so much for taking your time to give me a strategy. I so appreciate it. We are going to work on this with those bins. I talked to my daughter about the plan this afternoon. She’s on board too. She plays so much better when there is less.

No problem at all! My son had a ton of indecisive toys in his bin and was petrified I was going to just get rid of them immediately. But when he understood it was going to be stored for a time, he eased up. The older he got (now 12), it became so much easier to go through things and decide on the appropriate action. Let us know how it goes!

When kids toys and bits and pieces are all over the house or piled in piles or boxes, it all becomes one big scramble of mess. My own now grown kids never had so much that it was hard to keep up with. But, my grandchildren have so darned much stuff with little parts that never are all in one place that most of it is just worthless junk.

If you can manage to cull it out and take the best of them, put the pieces all together and put them on a shelve, take them out to use them and put them back there will be more appreciation for more of them. Having too much is the bane of our clutter and mess. I know it sounds like a lot of effort, but having fewer things to wrestle with is the key to enjoying it all more.

When you begin to look for alternative storage ideas it is evidence that you need to look to pare it all down. You can't stuff ten pounds of stuff in a five pound bag.

Once you get everything organized and pared down, going forward when something comes into the room, something must be sold, thrown out, given away, or donated.