stuffed animals

My boys love their stuffed animals! Over the last couple years, I have tried to cut down on their numbers, but they still have millions. Okay, maybe just thousands.

This last bout of illness had me feeling crazy about the animals. They each had dozens (literally) on their beds and many found themselves in the path of puke. And then the rest were thrown to the floor in order to change the sheets 4 or 5 times (again, literally -- gaw, it was awful.) It was nearly impossible to walk into their room, since floor space is at a premium as it is. Thankfully, the ones that needed washing survived the washing machine beautifully.

I declared earlier in the week that they could have SEVEN animals on their beds. I wish you could have witnessed the anguish and difficulty they went through in trying to choose their seven. The rest went into a bin, with the promise that they could switch out animals whenever they wanted -- but they had to keep only seven on their beds.

Today I started to tackle the playroom. I went through it when I was pregnant, but you'd never know it. I managed to fill up 5 bags of trash (misc. Happy Meal toys, broken things, things they've outgrown.) Maybe 1 bag would have been worthy of donation somewhere, but I just wasn't going to take the time to sort it like that.

And then I came across another bin of stuffed animals. And then a basket in the closet (which I will HAVE to clear out since there are newborn clothes in there from Nate - who is 5 1/2. But, I think I'm waiting on that for a couple more months.) And yet another bin of stuffed animals. I swear they multiply when my back is turned.

They really care about the animals, and they do play with them. They have elaborate games of jungle, or zoo, or pet store. They are confidants and buddies. Some have special meaning because of who gifted them, others are special just because they struck a fancy. I feel like a meanie by insisting they cut down on the numbers - but they just make a mess!!

Does anyone have any brilliant stuffed toy strategy? (Other than donating them all?) We tried the corner hammocks before, but they weren't able to get them easily -- they would just knock them all out and then couldn't return them. I am donating the extra bins I found in the playroom today -- so maybe being down to just one bin isn't so bad.