Yes! Limit the amount of junk that comes in the house. Use easy bins, and make them ( learn ) to pick up when they're done. There's no magic involved. : )

Yes! Look at the Montessori method rooms (even if you are not into the schooling). Everything is open, no bins (or very few bins). We do that and it works for us. We do have bins for lego and such, but they are clear, so you can see if they get junky and -de-junk them. Also they play a lot more with all their stuff if that is out in the open. Also, make sure, not to put things high up, so they can reach it and leave you alone!

A few different containers and command hooks/hangers, but the biggest thing is not having too much stuff.

I love the montessori concept. I did something like that once upon a time. It worked out really well, as long as the amount of stuff was under strict control. Rotating toys when they are still babies was useful too. It's harder to rotate toys when they are old enough to know that you are doing that. To answer your poll, bins work if they are for specific things such as legos or cars, and not used as a random toy box.

Plastic tubs were a godsend. When kids are under 4 years they can just dump everything into the tubs, no sorting. As they grow older they will start to "sort" with no prompting...because they want to be able to locate something specific.

Love IKEA for this. The tubs are big enough to fit a lot of a category. Here's an action shot from today, mid destruction mode (was clean yesterday), of the modest playroom for a family. 99% of the toys in the house are here. (Yes, that's a fireplace. This is supposed to be part of a family room, but I divided it.)

Everything is always sorted. They can recognize words with no reading instruction at age two when they're motivated. No need to be clear.

when my son was about 7 his various preoccupations began to become more difficult to manage. I found that the bins would tip and too many were required, for the 5 types of building blocks, the 5 differents sets of animals, including the huge dinosaur, and the multiple systems of vehicles from planes to aircraft carriers to cars and trucks. I finally happened across the perfect and most reasonable system. contact paper on copier paper boxes. when young they can even sit on them, I found that although he might have 100s of pieces they would hold multiples. If he was interested in something at the current moment, that would be in a smaller bin or box, and could be out or inside the larger one.

^^^This! There is no need to overwhelm children with too many toys.

My kids have a fraction of the toys that most do. The huge chest is all dress up--which every kid in the neighborhood loves. (Two bins also have more fragile items.). They can't have more than fits...in the bins! (Though a lot aren't full.) The toys still need a place to be! The big mess yesterday was all kitchen stuff. The kids have zero toys in their rooms.

A fifteen minute pick up, and the room looked looks like this:

As far as limits go, limiting KINDS as well as AMOUNTS makes a huge difference. We have two bins for "kitchen stuff." You can have an enormous feast with two bins of food and get it up fast!

We only have LEGO and DUPLO compatible building systems. One size of building blocks. Only wooden Thomas the Tank Engine train system. Only American Girls 18" doll and Barbie fashion doll. Only 1/12 dollhouse toys.

This lets the kids play deeper and more imaginatively and makes clean up a breeze!

I too did not try to have too many toys for my son. he was the only child in the family with one aunt and one uncle. All his toys were thought provoking. He knew the difference between an antelope and a deer by time he was 1.5 years. He had 4 types of building systems all were costly and most involved motors and very basic electronics. you never know what will spark their interest at what point in their life. And some of the toys he took with him when he grew up. And of course whenever the appropriate relative came to visit you had to show that toy, even if you explained it was on a break at that time.

Safe containers, are best but in all honesty lol kids are curious, so when you put away all the stuff in different baskets, they will want to 'discover' again what's in there, and they will of course, empty them. They see them better ( visual) when spread out on the floor lol.

I think trunks are very good, something they can't move , so instead of tipping everything out, they will search and roam for stuff inside the trunk.. containers and baskets can be easily pulled, then tipped.

Having said that, I use to put some toys away in a container ( not favourites) and every so often exchange the toys. Limiting them is the key really.

What you limit to depends on your kids, of course. Some will want a stable of Breyer ponies. Mine couldn't care less!

We had been given a lot of building systems, but most were barely touched. Better for us to ditch them. And honestly...in retrospect, Lincoln logs and tinker toys kinda stink, and the marble system is fun for a while but not that long for them. And it's just frustrating having a LITTLE of three different train systems.