It sounds like you have a case of needing a new bookshelf, rather than too many books!

We have lots of books for DD. I don't want to cull any of them! We have lots of books for ourselves too, so if I have to set a precedent I'm not keen!

I get rid of anything broken, torn or damaged so that it can't be used as originally intended. Anything that was given to DD free in something at some stage (small plastic things, for eg, like the McDonald's toys, not that we have any of those). I send away pictures, paintings and constructions of DD's to relatives (aunts, grandparents and godparents particularly love DD's homemade cast-offs!). Once you get rid of the rubbish, it's amazing how much clearer your space is.

I keep aside a box of toys for younger kids, even if DD has grown out of them. We always have visitors who have babies and DD often finds a secondary use for them at some point! I put away those baby toys that I want to keep (for another baby or sentimental reasons). And I give the rest away on Freecycle. (For some reason there's always a bag of stuffed toys, those things are unbelievable!) I do a cull before every birthday and Christmas, when I know she's about to get a whole heap of new stuff.

Best thing is that I keep them organised. DD has a playroom and a very large bedroom. All her toys go in her toybox or boxes I've made for her that sit neatly on shelves (with the exception of the dollhouse, pram and kitchen, you get the idea). I covered Huggies boxes in contact paper (DD loves to pick the designs and has everything from Bob the Builder to Barbie to Dora, etc, etc). Contact paper costs very little, the boxes look bright and pretty, they're small enough for DD to pick up and put back on the shelves and having plenty of small-ish boxes means you can separate the toys into categories (playdough, dress-ups, barbies, kitchen, etc, etc). I watched something once that said children cope much better with cleaning up and finding things if you use a system.

I'm actually rather proud of my toy-sorting system and boxes (can you tell ). Every mother who comes over comments on it! And I might add, I am actually not that anal about tidying or sorting in general (which you would know if you saw my place!). This just works well for DD.