multiple kids, toys and books and sharing

So DS has craploads of toys and books. It's ridiculous, to be honest.

Some are things I've been stockpiling since my own childhood, then there's gifts from others, and some from DH and me.

There's enough that there's really, *really* no need to buy any toys for Ziggy.

How do you organise the distribution of toys and books and art supplies etc in your home, with your kids?

My general thought is that anything that DS is particularly attached to can live in his room (and he doesn't have to share) but most toys are family toys, and Ziggy (when older) can play with them, even though they were given to DS ...

How does it work in your home?

We sort through and figure out what's age appropriate. I've just put rattles, board books and soft spongy toys into the nursery and a while back we boxed up toys that DD just wasn't interested in anymore. There seemed to be lots of plastic Fisher Price stuff (things that sang abc or you have to push buttons to make things pop up etc) that she no longer played with. It was all bought for her but it's now waiting until baby will be a good age to be interested instead of taking up much needed space.

We have a playroom it's organised so the toys for ds are at the bottom then toys for the girls up higher with special ones for the girls in their rooms. Trying to get rid of broken ones or baby ones is hard when they are around as they get upset about it.

Dd1 had outgrown her baby stuff so it just got passed down to dd2. Same with books. These days he have a toy room and pretty much share everything, except for a few treasures and precious items that dd1 keeps on the shelf above her bed.

I already do 'toy recycling' with DD1 so she has a few staples (her toy kitchen, blocks, train set) then the rest gets put on a rotation so a bunch is packed away then brought back out every so often (keeps things fresh, stops the clutter and her being overwhelmed by lots of choice so she can focus on things a little more). As time goes on, certain things don't make it back out (as she gets older and loses interest). Those things will then come back into rotation based on DD2s needs. DD1 doesn't really have any huge attachment to any of her toys, she already gives DD2 things and trys to involve her. She only got her own room when we moved here so she is used to play things being in a common area.

We have the age appropriate things that get passed to the younger child. DD2 didn't get any presents from us for her first christmas because she has so many things passed along from the bigger kids. Now that they are getting bigger the toys are becoming communal - like the duplo was DS's is now brought out into the lounge for both big kids to play with. DD has had a couple of duplo presents to add to the set to make it a joint collection, same with the matchbox cars etc.
There are some things that are their own, like DD has Schiech figurines and DS has lego but they are expected to share that as well. DS plays with DD's dolls and she plays with his trucks. So far we haven't had any ownership issues.

I went through and culled al the toys that were too young for the girls months ago but gradually they've found them all and brought them back into the toy room. They're very good at sharing though and are telling me what ones are good for the baby to play with.

As for their toys, because they are so close in age really if its appropriate for one its appropriate for the other, or they want to play together with it anyway. With their birthdays only days apart I try and buy similar but different gifts for each of them ITMS - so a craft thing for each but a different craft, a jigsaw each but different design etc. They know which is "theirs", but still share them. There are a very few toys that are very definitely their own personal property though - I think they have a right to their own special toys that they don't have to share.