Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Organizing Toys - LFW


Help!! Princess just turned 3-years-old last week. Of course, with a birthday comes a whole new truck-load of toys. And Christmas is in 2 months (YIKES!!). You can see where this is going. How do I organize all these toys?
Here are some of the issues:
* I have girl toys and boy toys.
* I do rotate toys.
* How do I decide what to give/throw away? What if the next child would play with it?
* Stuffed animals - need I say more?
* I have a toy room and they each have their own room.
* Lots of books - some board and some paper.
* I have a 5 shelf bookshelf, toy bins, and a 3 shelf bookshelf.
HELP!!! How do you keep control of toys in your house?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have two children, one of which is a 3-year old just like Princess. For toy storage, we're having success using a variety of bins, drawers, and a toy chest. We also label the bins and drawers for easier clean-up. (My plan was to do so with photos but I only got as far as masking tape). And to reduce the speed at which the bins and drawers evolve into a useless jumble of mismatched clutter, we keep the smaller toys sorted within using zippered see-through mesh bags (KidsKlutterKatchers.com)
Stuffed animals go in a small laundry basket. Books go on the bookshelf and also on the display shelf. (We bought a used one like they have at preschool... Seeing the book covers has totally made reading the most desirable activity of late.)
We rotate toys in and out of a stock-pile of Rubbermaid tote bins in the crawl space.
Happy organizing!

Tiffany said...

I can SO totally help you on November 15th on our IKEA excursion. AND, for some sick reason, I love to put flat-packed furniture together, so arm me with the little 3-inch allen wrench it comes with and we'll have all those toys organized in no time. (Well, probably more like a few hours, but still, I'm on board.)

The Gang's Momma! said...

Stuffed animals continue to be the bane of my existence and finally, by kid #5, I have conceded defeat. They love them and I have to tolerate them. The major thing about them is that they have to fit in one of those under-the-bed rolly things or there's too many. I just gotta find one for Li'l Empress now, who has quite an impressive collection already.

You really MUST post before and after pics of your IKEA finds - I've been thinkin' of heading to ours and making some organizational tweaks here. I want to see what you get and how you use it. :)

Promises said...

I am looking forward to seeing what you (and Tiffany) end up finding and doing! I enjoy getting new tips!