A kids dream is a house full of toys. It’s also a parents biggest headache. But luckily I’ve found a way to keep the mess at bay, and keep myself from constantly picking up toys all day long. I’ll show ya’ll how I keep things organized, and a tip I’ve learned and implemented from my son’s speech therapist to keep things easy.
First of all, before I even started organizing, I purged. I went through all my son’s toys and made 3 piles. Keep, take to the grandparents, and donate/sell. The keep pile was toys he plays with on a daily basis, or favorites that I know he couldn’t live without. Both my parents, and my mother-in-law live nearby, and both have “playrooms” at their house. So toys that he still likes, but doesn’t play with all the time, are taken to the grandparents house. (Also toys that are too loud and drive me insane are taken there.) And then toys that he has outgrown that I don’t think Kaley will play with are either donated or sold. I try to purge before Birthday’s and Christmas so that we aren’t overwhelmed when the new toys arrive.
Next organizing. Big toys, like the Paw Patrol Lookout Tower, and our Hot Wheels Track are left out, but put along the wall so they aren’t tripped on. They aren’t too heavy, so when Braxton wants to play with them, he can pull them out himself. Small items though are grouped, for example all the Toy Story figurines are in one bin, all the legos are in one bin, all the Hot Wheels cars are in one bin, etc. Keeping all the parts of a set together and in one bin is key to organizing and staying organized.
Delta Children sent us a Spider-Man Toy Organizer and an Ocean Friends Toy Organizer. You can find both of these at Wal-Mart and Amazon. They are super affordable and help a ton in my organizing. They have different size bins which help, and Braxton loves the graphics on them. We have the Ocean Friends Organizer in the playroom and the Spider-Man in his bedroom. I put any small toy that Kaley could choke on in the Spider-Man Organizer and he knows to keep those away from little sister. He loves that he has toys that are “just his” and it makes him feel special having his own space. We also have a Toy Organizer that I bought on Amazon, and some cube storage from Target. We are lucky that we had the “office” in our house to change into a dedicated playroom which keeps toys out of the rest of the house.
Lastly, staying organized. This is something my son’s speech therapist did with Braxton in her sessions and he did so well at it, that we tried it at home and it made a huge difference. It may sound simple, but if you don’t enforce it then that’s when you get the mess. Braxton has been taught and understands that he only gets out one bin at a time. For example, if he wants to play with his Avengers Figurines he gets out that bin, dumps them out and plays with them. Before he can move on to something else, he has to put them back in the bin and clean up. Then he can get something else out. (That’s not to say I don’t let him get creative, he knows he can have his “Toy Story” characters play with his “Paw Patrol” or “Incredibles” stuff. But when it’s time to clean up, he still knows to put them back in the right bins.) He actually likes having it organized because then he always knows where his toys are, and there’s never any asking where something is. I usually try to keep toys in the playroom, but he can bring a bin of toys wherever I am. Say I’m in the kitchen cooking, or in the nursery feeding Kaley. He can pick a bin, and bring it to play nearby where I am without creating a huge mess for me to clean later. Because when I’m done and moving to another room, he just puts everything back in the bin and either puts it back or follows me to another room.
Obviously I don’t expect this when he has friends over. During that time, it’s like a tornado hits. But it’s funny because when his friend leaves, he tells me they made a mess and he wants to clean it up. He helps me put everything back where it was, and he remembers where everything goes. It’s because of that, that I don’t mind the mess when it happens.
Implementing this is best with repetition. I started as soon as we had toys in the house before he could even crawl. Every single night, I made sure to pick everything up, and put everything in the correct spot before going to bed. He watched me do this, and started helping or putting things back in the same spot himself before he could even talk. Having a “home” for every toy makes life so much easier. Remember, kids watch everything you do. The good and the bad. So while he might have been watching some of my bad habits over the past few years, like sneaking lots of candy, he’s also been seeing my good habits and I’m so grateful he copies those too.
