Managing Toys

After several years of trial and error, I have finally found a system for toys that works for me.  It is unrealistic for our family to clean up and sort all of the toys every day.  We have to be able to do a quick pick up and be out the door or off to bed.  We keep all of our toys upstairs but inevitably there are a few (or a lot) that get brought downstairs every day.  For this reason, I purchased these mesh hampers.  You can find them at Ross for as little as 5 dollars.  I keep one in my closet under my stairs and another one upstairs in Adam's closet.  I could put one in each one of my kid's closet but I think they would get REALLY full before we would get around to emptying them out. 

     At the end of the day, as I straighten up my downstairs, I pull out the mesh hamper and put all of the toys that have been left downstairs inside.  I do the same thing upstairs.  I try to have the kids put their toys away in the right places at the end of the day but for those crazy nights the toys get thrown into the hamper. 

     Ideally, each Saturday we would spend time as a family sorting out the toys and putting them in the right places.  This can be tricky because the toys are all mixed together and they belong in three different rooms.  You could waste a lot of time walking back and forth between rooms.  

       I take the hamper and dump it out in each room.  Anything that doesn't belong in that room gets thrown back into the hamper and then what is left on the floor is sorted and put away.   I then carry the hamper into the next room and we repeat the process. 

     I have tried many different storage or organizational systems for storing toys and these are my favorite.  For the two little ones, the bins are open and it is easy for the kids to see what goes where.  Audrey and Rachel have outgrown this system and now have baskets on the shelf full of their barbies and littlest petshops etc.  I also use the stack able sterilite or rubbermaid bins for things like legos and blocks.  They even have big ones for dress ups or stuffed animals.  They are stackable but are sold separately so that you can buy as many as you need.  The middle part slides out easily so that the kids can remove the bin while they play and then return it easily to it's place. 



     Figuring out how to manage the toys in my home has really helped me to keep my house clean and avoid stress!  I remember a friend of mine once saying to me while my kids were really little, "It is important to have clearly defined 'adult space' and 'kid space'."  I whole heartedly agree with this.  

What works for you? 

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