We all know that kids may be small but they come with a lot of cargo! So many of my clients ask me for magical tips to help keep their toy rooms, living rooms, and bedrooms organized and unfortunately there there isn’t one. The only way to keep these rooms under control is to schedule time to sort and maintain. I know, this isn’t what you want to hear but putting in the time is the best way. Working with a professional like me can help cut down on that time, manage the project, suggest great products, and come back every few months to maintain the space.
Besides working putting in the time sorting, here are additional tips to help keep the toys under control…
- Schedule time to sort through all of the kids toys and books every four to six weeks. Create piles for what you would like to keep, donate, and toss.
- Also sort toys before Christmas, Hanukkah, and birthdays to create extra room for new items the kids might receive as gifts.
- Rearrange the toys every time you sort to create new interest for your kids. Switch the bins around and the placement of things on the shelves.
- Remember that it is up to you to make the bulk of the decisions, don’t put this pressure and stress solely on your kids.
- Don’t feel like you have to have all of the toys out at the same time, think about boxing up some of the toys to bring out at other times of the year (summer break, travel and road trips, snow days, and long weekends).
- Designate toy areas in your home, this will help your kids build habits of putting them away and the spread of toys throughout your home.
- Remember to consider your kids eye level when putting things away. Put popular items at the lowest levels and organize your way to the top by prioritizing how often toys are played with.
- Dump everything out and start over! There are lots of little pieces stuffed into bins and you want to make sure everything gets sorted out and wiped out clean.
Before
These before and afters are from a session with a busy family of four. They had toys surrounding the perimeter of their large living room. They had an art/toy room in an extra bedroom and I suggested they sort through all of the toys and consolidate them into one space. We ended up two truck loads of toys that the kids had grown out of or didn’t play with.
After
All of the toys were moved into the toy room, leaving only a small table with play dough and the children’s books in the living room. We rearranged the furniture to open up the room and we decluttered all of the shelves. Their daughter loved the transformation, she
couldn’t wait to play in the new space.
Before
So many of my clients have these little toy chests and when I help them get organized
I always dump everything out and sort it before we put things away. My clients give me
a worried look when they see the mess but they are always happy with the end result.
After
This shelf now looks much less cluttered, all of the little toys
are contained and the kids can find what they are looking for.
3 comments :
It is truly amazing how little ones accumulate so much stuff! Great tips Amanda!
I hope that cute little girl loves it enough to keep it that way, although I'm sure her parents will be encouraging her! One thing we did when my son was little on those little bins was put pictures and later words on the front of them, so he knew which category toys went in which. Worked great, I used to love watching him over there figuring out where they went.”Wait, no you don't go in there” kind of commments. Too cute!
The placement of the couch makes a big difference.