I thought they were fun, maybe making something like this yourself? Just a good idea for soft animal storage.

I have three boys, and a daughter. The only toys we have are Legos, and some random things that we accumulate and get rid of regularly. Oh wait, we also have uberstix, which are similar to Legos. They are 100% happy. I say get rid of all the toys. They only ended up on the floor. Only keep the ones they actually play with.

Small containers work best. Put them on shelves. Toy boxes are screaming out to be dumped. My kids are so much happier with less. So am I. I am sure we will start to get some doll stuff as my daughter gets older, but it will not get out of control.

If you can’t get rid of everything, only keep out one or two toy items at a time, and store the rest out of reach. Switch them up every so often.

As my kids get older, I am thinking of putting one small wall shelf up for them so they can keep a few select items other than the large Lego collection they share.

You could probably get rid of 1/2 of that stuff and the kids would never notice. They don’t see and/or play with the stuff on the bottom of the pile anyway. I went into Princess’s (6yr) room about a month ago and-I kid you not-filled up an entire 33 gallon trash bag with toys etc, put it in the basement and then straightened up her room.

She hasn’t even noticed the stuff is missing, and although her room still gets messy (like the poster above, she loves to set up “displays” all over her room. Sigh) things acutally fit in the places I have provided for them. More or less.

What did I take out? About 1/3 of her stuffed animals. The “non special” barbies with ratty hair, happy meal toys, anything broken or missing pieces or geared to a toddler. She never plays with the dolls, so all but one went away, and only a few sets of clothes. . . You get the idea.

Good luck-this is a never ending battle for all of us, especially since every time I turn around someone seems to be giving them more stuff. ..

Don’t even get me started on the art drawer. . .

I have tried lots of things. Eventually, I figured out what each child would do. I have one daughter who doesn’t like to put anything away because she wants to keep track of all of her stuff. She is afraid if she puts it away, one of her siblings will get it, and she won’t know. For her, I have given her lots of display space with shelves and tables.

Personally, I don’t think the closets are that bad. My girls are older, and they leave things all over the floor. I can’t stand that. Noting makes me more upset than seeing my house “trashed” although my definition of trash would be other people’s idea of messy. I guess when my kids don’t take care of their things that their dad and I worked hard to give them, I feel like they are inconsiderate and just ungrateful little brats.

Manuela

First of all, bigger is not better for storing kids’ toys, unless your goal is to break many of them to reduce their number, or end up with mountains of toys in the room each time they play. Invariably they will dump the big toy box, even if you think it is too heavy for them. Stick with drawer style bins on shelves or racks that hold specific types of toys. Teach them that the bins are the toys’ beds if you have to, and make a ritual of tucking them all in before bedtime. Stuffed animals (the bane of any mom’s existence because they seem to multiply faster than rabbits) can be given hammocks in corners if they actually play with them. If they just like having them around, a few on a made bed are fine, but consider attaching the majority to a chain hanging from a hook on the ceiling.

Train and car tracks that are too big for small bin storage fit great in plastic under-bed storage boxes. Make sure you measure the largest (longest) pieces before buying the bin. If you’re not nervous about your kids falling out of bed anymore, you can also consider bed risers to increase storage space a little bit.

Lastly, consider rotating, if you really don’t have the space in their rooms. Box some toys, store them with the Christmas decorations, and take them out again a few months from now. Be sure to box up some other toys when you do that, unless you are doing another toy bin cleaning that leaves you with about the same amount going out the door permanently.

Once you have it organized, one way to keep it organized is a white board. Make a responsibility chart (mine came from a school fundraiser, and was printed by Build-A-Bear). List the kids’ chores, include keeping the toys in order, and set goals with rewards. Right now I owe my six-year-old a Leapster Max game cartridge, and he’s working to get a charger for his Leapster. (We agreed that we’d get both once he met both sets of goals, since the batteries die too fast for him to enjoy a new game without putting us in the poor house from battery purchases.) That’s another thing that helps with the clutter – as the kids get older, toys get more expensive, but they also get smaller! Hand held educational video games are great, they don’t take up much space, and bonus is that I don’t have to worry about unsafe toy recalls (it’s been an age since I’ve seen a recall on any of the major electronic game systems.)

Good luck in reclaiming your home from the infamous toy monster!

Toy boxes are nice, but it never fails, they want the toy at the bottom of the box and dig out everything else to get it. I really like the plastic rolling carts with drawers, and recently organized my son’s Legos in one, separated by color. I’ll be interested to see if you get any good suggestions (that I can use, too! lol) Check out my blog to see the ongoing “room shift” project I’ve been working on. There are photos in one of the earlier posts of the rolling cart and toy shelf. Here’s a link to all the “room shifting” posts:

http://needles-and-pens.blogspot.com/search/label/room%20shifting

Good luck!

If your daughter has a hard time cleaning up her toys, you could try a library system. Keep all the toys nicely organized, categorized by how she plays with them. Then let her “check out” one box of toys at a time. When she’s through, she can return that box and get another one. It will be cumbersome for the first week or so, until she gets used to it, but in the long run you’ll both be happier. She’ll have a much more manageable mess to clean up (just one type of toy), AND she’ll have all the toy parts she needs for play every time. You get a nice, organized toy closet.

Good luck!
Tricia