Getting Started - Sell or Donate
I chose to tackle the boys's toys(es) first, because they overwhelm me and have been on my mind for quite sometime. A few weeks ago we took some time to clean out the closet in our guest bedroom, which was just full of bins and boxes, from our move, that never got unpacked. Mostly? You guessed it. Toys. And baby stuff. Most of it went to Goodwill (a carload full).
Quite a few of those items were still in tubs or boxes because they are toys that, frankly, get on my nerves, and in the interest of simplifying just went. Because they are "stuff". The rest of the baby toys went back in to that closet.
I made another round through the house and gathered items that right away just spoke to me, begging to go to Goodwill. This time it was toys that they rarely, if ever use; that only hold their attention for ten seconds at a time; that we have multiple of.
Sort, Organize, Simplify, and Rotate - Reclaim Your Space
I love being mom. I love toddlers. I love a house that looks like we do life with toddlers. Finger prints smeared on the glass, sippy cups in the middle of the living room floor, scraps of breakfast under the table, and even the not-so-gentle reminder of a matchbox car to the bottom of a bare foot.
I don't love looking at chaos.
- Reclaim your living space. When the kiddos are either not home, or in bed, sort. The main areas that had been taken over by toys were our living room and our basement area. I made one pile of toys that needed homes in the "play area", another pile for Goodwill, and another pile of toys that could stay in the living room. I also set aside items for a busy bag (puzzle books, sticker books, etc) and a pile of items that they have yet to grow in to.
- What stayed? The boys have a small kitchen and toolbench in the living room. The accessories for those two toys stayed in a decorative basket, under the sofa table along with a small stash of wooden building blocks, the boys's matchbox cars, nesting blocks, a football, and a small musical tractor.
- Books. I have a basket of books on every floor of the house. I left one basket of books in the living room, as that is usually where we spend our time between having supper and putting the boys to bed.
- Rotate the toys. I plan to switch out the few toys that are in the basket, once every couple of weeks. I will tell you, those nesting blocks hadn't been played with in months and now that they are one of the only options downstairs, they use them for everything. Building castles. Serving me "coffee" and of course their intended use of stacking and nesting. I put together a large bin of toys that is out of the way, but readily available in storage. At the same time, I put together the bin of toys-to-grow-in-to (100+ piece puzzles, card games, etc).
Ta-da! Peaceful looking living areas (let's not talk about my lack of home decor, k? K.).
Oh, and about that vacuuming, it should be much easier now that I can see the floors.
And with the simplified living area, hopefully we'll do more of this...
Making the Best Use of Space
Initially I thought I needed to purchase all types of toy organization systems. As it turns out, once the sorting was done, I had more space than I thought, I just needed to use it more wisely. For example, I have a set of plastic drawers in the boys's closet that had miscellaneous toys in it, but usually they were emptied and the toys ended up in other areas of the house, because none of them had been given a true home. I originally had their various building blocks in canvas bins that were basically overflowing. I moved the blocks to the plastic drawers, where they fit perfectly, and that opened canvas bins for more smaller toys.
I also had some unused compartments in the changing table. I used that as extra book storage. That way, the books are still easily accessible to the boys, but can also be used to store books for rotating the baskets throughout the house.
The toy room in our house was jam packed with their big-ticket toys and we were at the point where maneuvering the room became difficult and thus not that exciting to play in. The problem is this is where the most exciting toys in the house are located, and where I originally envisioned spending peaceful time with the boys. We moved the playhouse to their bedroom and that really freed up space for playing and re-discovering toys.
Introducing Chores
One of the "52 Bites" is to develop a chore system for the kiddos. With that in mind, once I found a home for our toys, I tried to put pictures and labels on certain drawers and bins to help create a clean-up system that would be easy for everyone. {Also? Because nothing is more frustrating than spending your week getting organized just to find everything put away somewhere else within 24 hours.}
The idea for the "picture labels" came from a post over at The Pilot's Wife {Taming the Toys}
::: ::: :::
One thing I did not tackle was our art and craft supplies - wrangling the toys was enough for the week. We keep one drawer full of craft items in the kitchen, and an easel located close-by. Otherwise, everything else is in the basement. I am thinking that, if I can get organized and motivated, I will plan a couple of projects for each week and have a basket with the needed supplies.
::: ::: :::
I wish I would have had a system in place for toys, from the beginning.
What are your tips and tricks for keeping toys from becoming chaos?
How do you teach your littles about cleaning up and chores?
I'm a newbie toy mama. We had one basket of baby toys. Then he turned one. Now I don't know what to do! I rotate but still feel like there is too much. Most toys end up in the living room and I keep trying to get them back in his room. I recently moved all books to canvas boxes and that helped. One is for nice, paper books and stored up high. One for the living room, under an end table. One for him, down low. I don't know what to do with the plastic bags that blocks come in. They aren't pretty but they store the toys. Thanks for the post, it's very helpful and inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI only let our kids have one toy box, everything has to fit in it, or we start getting rid of things. Now, the toy box is not always organized, but at least we can throw everything in it and shut the lid :-) We mainly play a pick up game at the end of the day to get the toys put away. Trying to do it throughout the day just ends up frustrating me because they then take all the toys out again. You can read my project simplify post here
ReplyDeletehttp://www.townsend-house.com/2012/03/project-simplify-kids-stuff.html