11/08/2010

Yeah, I finally organized the toys!

As part of my pregnancy nesting instinct, I wanted to organize our toys.
We have 3 levels in our home, since we have a basement.
Toys end up on all 3 levels, totally disorganized with pieces here, there, and everywhere.
It makes it hard for the kids to play with the toy sets, with the set all over the house.
It drives me batty, bonkers, crazy, up the wall, etc!

While I toilet trained Sadie, I stayed in the house for a couple days and organized the toys.
I sat in the family room and organized, and from time to time, had Sadie do her thing.

I got a bunch of clear, plastic bins with lids and labeled them.
Then placed the bins in a closet.
Magic! The house feels cleaner.  I know this system won't last.
We will soon have toys all over the house again.
But, when I go crazy over the clutter, I know I have a place now for the toys to go.
That makes me feel much better.




I got my inspiration for toy organizing here and here.

Since Christmas is coming, (Do we really need more toys?), I appreciated this post from DesignMom (she has 6 kids) about keeping it simple for Christmas gift giving.
If you like her post, make sure to read the comments, a lot of moms gave some great suggestions, too.

I love the idea of 3 gifts just like the wise men bringing 3 gifts to the baby Jesus.

I love the idea of sticking to a theme every year or rotating through about 3 of these ideas each year.

Get 1 thing for each kid from about 3 of the categories below:

Something to Wear
A Book
A Game
A Toy
A Craft
Something to Build-Create-Make
A Movie
Hygiene (Bath fun, hair stuff for a girl, band-aids, etc.)
Something Electronic/Media (for older kids)
Something for outdoor play (skates, skooter, jumprope, bike, etc.)
Something to Eat (Something you never get for them, but they drool over at the grocery store.)


(For ex: Each of my children would have a new book, toy, and craft for that Christmas.
Maybe next Christmas they would have an outdoor toy, something to wear, and something to eat.)


I personally like to get my kids something to do over the long break from school and our long, cold winter months.  It helps me and them. The new gifts over Christmas, help us all survive winter.

3 comments:

Erin said...

Hi Katie!

Your toys look GREAT! It feels so good, doesn't it!? And your'e right...they still end up all over the place, but at least there is a place to put them when it's time to clean up! Love your big labels too. Thanks for your sweet comment and for linking my blog!

Mama Yo said...

I am loving the organized toys! I need a nice big closet like that. If I had one, I'd put a lock on it too! That would be heaven!

Sara @ Our Best Bites said...

I just organized the toys too- and did it when my kids were gone for the day so I could throw half of them away! lol I stole a great idea from a friend of mine as well. I once labeled all of my toy containers in hopes that my kids would then put things where they go only realizing after that my kids couldn't read! ha. So my friend bought cheap plastic luggage tags and slipped a picture inside each one, of cars, dolls, legos, etc. so the kids could tell what should go in each one. I loved that idea.