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Aloha Friday Question:
What is your favorite tip or trick for organizing toys?
For those of you who don’t have kids, how do you organize your toys? It can be anything really, I just need ideas to reduce the clutter, have easy access to things and not such a mess all the time.
I spent two days this week doing nothing but organizing toys. I threw two bags of broken, not working toys in the trash and I have another two bags of items to give to charity. The toys in this house are out of control. We have two toy boxes, and a couple shelving units that have baskets of different toys. Yet, I still can’t keep my house in an organized state.
I find it so easy to toss out things that are broken and don’t work. I have a harder time getting rid of things that are not broken but I can do it. The kids are even worse at letting things go, Luke will happily give up a toy if it means he can go buy a new one. Someone needs to explain that it doesn’t work that way.
I have three large baskets full of big, medium and small Lego’s. Really, how many Lego’s does a kid need? Three, count them three baskets of cars… We can’t play with this many cars at one time so why on earth do we have so many? Then there are all the trains, dinosaurs, games, puzzles…. Do I really need to go on, I think you get the idea. If you have kids, I know you get the idea.
The worst part is I must do all this when the kid’s dad is not home. He is worse than the kids and he won’t let me get rid of a thing. Luke has bunk beds and the top bunk is covered in stuffed animals. I said I was going to bag most of them up and get rid of them and he had a fit. Seriously, no one plays with them and they are doing nothing but collecting dust. Personally, I don’t think the wall-to-wall toys bother him because he doesn’t pick them up all the time like I do.
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16 Comments Welcome:
I learned there is not trick. If the child isn't ready to be organized, then the toys won't be organized. I can't tell you how many times I spent money on bins and hours on organizing. To come in a day later and find nothing where it should be. *sigh* No tips from me. lol
I use those plastic, covered boxes A LOT!!! Kids can see what's inside and toys stay organized. Plus they look nice on a shelf!
Big rubbermaid containers that are see through. Also, if they don't put stuff away after 3 warnings, I'd throw it away.
http://iamharriet.blogspot.com/2009/07/dear-jon.html
I would give more away, and then I would also put some in a closet or something that the kids don't see...and then circulate them...you won't have as many toys out, and when you bring the old toys back out its like new all over again...
The other thing would be to put pictures of the toys on your bins so your kids know where they go (if they don't already!).
I do think it's hard if your child doesn't like to "set up" (we called it) their stuff. I have 2 neat kids and 3 who are a mess with their stuff. I didn't do anything different! With my littlest, I try using buckets or little bins from Target. I use different colors. At least all her stuff is "in" something!
Hey Nina, (feel like you're a friend of the family from my wife's blog) :) Anyway, the easiest way to organize toys is to get rid of all of them except the few they actually play with. - or at least bag them up then open every few months. They think it's Christmas again and again. :)
First of all, while they might be the kid's toys, I never went through the toys w/ my kids around to help until they were about 8 or 9. I always waited until school & then did a major purge. Neither of them usually notice/d a thing.
I also use color coded bins/shelves & buckets. And I started to have them clean up one mess before they got involved in another.
Good luck w/ the eternal purge!
We have toy chests, cabinets, shelves in his closet and bins to organize toys. He knows where everything goes and makes a good effort at putting things away. Pretty good for a four year old at least. Aloha and take care.
-Kiki
lol I have come to the opinion that nothing works LOL Just a couple of weeks ago I took trash bags to the kids toys..and today I look around.. and I swear their toys gave birth to new toys!!!!!!!!!!
My kids USED to have a lot of toys.
Used.
Every time I cleaned up I threw away a bag.
And then we got these beds for our girls that have three drawers, a head board with a book shelf, and a footbard with 6 cubbies. They can only have what they can fit in their drawers, cubbies, and on their book shelf.
My son has two huge drawers that go under his bed for his stuff. If it doesn't fit in there, he doesn't get to keep it.
And we've pretty much stopped buying them hardly anything at Christmas and birthdays.
My kids had too much stuff.
It was really hard as a parent to get rid of it and to not buy it. But my children didn't appreciate it. And they were overwhelmed to take care of all of their things. There are a few things that they like and play with a lot (the little cars, which I think we have like 400, are still a keeper). The rest is just GONE!!! No one misses it!
I used to like having bins or rubbermaid containers as long as they looked nice. It was always hard to keep under control. My daughter had so much Barbie stuff.
Anne
The easiest way is to throw things out. If you are having trouble throwing things out, just remember how frustrated you are right now.
I bought them each a large toy chest when they were first old enough to get a toy for themselves. Then I made a rule. If you get it out, YOU put it back. And they did!!
Sorry I'm no help. We just dump all the toys back into the toy box and close it up. I am not very organized. Happy Friday!
I can so relate to this problem right down to the stuffed animals on the top bunk!!!
Lots and lots of see-thru containers. That way you can see what's inside each one without having to open them all.
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