OK, it’s day two of our organizing week and we’re currently working on our crazy sink drawer that we shared yesterday. In the meantime, this isn’t one of those organizing play by plays with before, during, and after pics (that’s this afternoon’s post) it’s more a full breakdown of a system that works for us when it comes to taming the Clara-phernalia that threatens to take over our house. Around twice a week we get a question like: “can you do a post about how your organize Clara’s stuff? I could really use some ideas on how to control the chaos!” So here’s the rundown.
In the beginning it was pretty simple. She was little so we had a small ottoman and a basket with rattles and balls, and a swing and a few little blankets on the floor for tummy time. You can actually read a post all about that stage of kid clutter here.
Well, that was child’s play compared to toddlerdom. Why? Those were the days before she had A MILLION AND ONE THINGS. Ok, I’m exaggerating. But really, the girl has books, crayons, bowls, drums, stuffed toys, faux food for her kitchen, buckets, balls, blocks, toy cars, and dolls galore. As much as we said we’d try to keep it simple and not buy more things than one toddler can play with, well, we got hand-me-downs and birthday/holiday gifts, and it all added up.
And I was not good very very bad at devising or maintaining any sort of system for nearly 10 months (pretty much since she got mobile it got crazier). I just crammed the growing piles of kid clutter into various baskets and ottomans (seven of them!), never taking the time to group things so that I knew where to find them later. It just all got piled in, and some nights it just stayed on the floor because I was too tired. And remember our new ottoman which started out looking like this?
Well, that actually became the key to my organizational epiphany. And now it looks like this (don’t mind the pink tint, I forgot to white balance):
But that more cluttered “after” above is a good thing. It brings me immense joy that so many toys can be crammed in there. Why? I finally decided not to leave every last toy that Clara might play with out at all times. So many friends of mine said their kids were happier/more stimulated if their toys were switched out, instead of just giving them free rein of a million things at once. And when I read this quote in The Happiness Project (remember John got me that for my b-day?), it sealed the deal:
The head of Eliza’s school told a story about a four-year-old who had a blue toy car he loved. He took it everywhere, played with it constantly. Then when his grandmother came to visit, she bought him ten toy cars, and he stopped playing with cars altogether. “Why don’t you play with your cars?” she asked. “You loved your blue car so much.” “I can’t love lots of cars,” he answered.
So right then and there I decided my big white ottoman would become my “toy store.” It would be the place I stashed every last toy that wasn’t Clara’s current favorite. I literally combed through everything and pulled out only the “best-of” toys that she plays with all the time – the rest got piled into the bit white ottoman. Would you believe I was left with one basket?!
One glorious, manageable basket (from Target by the way). The kicker? It could be a developmental coincidence, but Clara started playing independently for longer stretches pretty much as soon as I made this switch. I’m not sure if she was getting bored or overwhelmed with her old bounty of everything, but she definitely spent time with many of the things in her basket for longer periods than she used to when she had an explosion of too many toys to really focus on anything for more than a minute. It was like Clara’s Greatest Hits: The Basket.
It takes way less time than you think to ruthlessly yank out anything your kid doesn’t currently play with (no maybes, just leave favorite toys only) and stash the rest in a big plastic bin in the closet or an under-bed storage container. Maybe it took me half an hour total? And now I can clean up her basket in two minutes when she goes to bed – and quickly rotate other toys in and out whenever the mood strikes. But I always keep it to one basketful. That’s the key. She loves when new things show up, since it seems to keep her interested. Here’s what’s in there now:
A few favorite stuffed animals, a wooden pull toy, balls, a purse from Grammy, a few baby dolls, a dress up skirt that she wakes up and demands to wear, and a pot that she loves taking small items in and out of. But the favorite items are actually in that fabric pouch (remember we got that for her as her Easter basket?). She likes the fabric pouch itself for the fun she has opening and closing the zipper…
… and as for what’s in there: few favorite cars, a fake cell phone and John’s old disconnected real one, a wood train, a small ball, some plastic animals, a plane that we got her for our Hawaii trip, and a shaker, two sticks, and a scarf from music class.
This small pouch full of favorite toys probably comes into play at least four times a day – she loves it. And I love that it all can get shoved into one basket every evening. Still haven’t gotten around to dusting the media cabinet though- haha. Someday…
In my new system, we also have two baskets of books. One in the office (which she likes to look at on the rug on her own or read in the chair with us)…
… and one in the living room.
Sure, she’ll bring a few books into other rooms throughout the day, but now that we have two designated book baskets, we know where they go. Books used to be mixed in with toys and balls and stuffed into ottomans in a bunch of places. Now it’s nice and streamlined without any thinking necessary. Toys go in the toy basket and books go in the book baskets. Someday we’ll get her a bookcase but we’re convinced she’ll just take everything out of it every time we fill it up, so baskets work for now.
Recognizing how many Clara zones there are for her to enjoy really helped me not get all down on myself for “limiting” the stuff that’s at her disposal by stashing un-favorites in the ottoman. For example, she has her coloring desk (which used to be our desk that we made from a door in our first house’s office):
I love that you can tell she’s a leftie from her scribble. Awww. That’s marker scribble, so it’s something we do with her (those things can get messy, so we supervise markers, play dough, and chalk). But her crayons are just stashed in that small zippered green pouch and her stickers are in the yellow pouch (both of which came from TJ Maxx for a few bucks, and offer her unlimited entertainment when it comes to taking things in and out and zipping and unzipping them).
Then in the hallway we have her rocker (a sweet gift from the grandparents a while back). She’ll randomly hop up from paging through a book or playing with her cars and just walk into the hallway to rock for a little while (see how we kid-proofed the frames at the bottom of the wall here).
Then she has her Christmas play kitchen (that we Santa made for her here).
It thankfully stores all of her kitchen-stuff in the cabinet under the sink and that small metal shopping basket I found for 20 cents at a thrift store. So those things have a spot too. If I see one in the kitchen, I bring it back into her room and put it away instead of tossing it into a random jumbled basket.
We also have two baskets (from Linens N Things about five years ago) under her dresser, one that’s full of blocks and one that’s full of puzzles.
One of my biggest annoyances was that Clara couldn’t do any puzzles since her puzzle board might be in one basket in the office and four of the pieces would be in the basket in the living room. So I organized them once and for all by giving them their own basket. Of course I still find pieces in the living room or the kitchen, but now I know where they go. So each night I usually make one trip back to her room as we’re putting her to bed (with any puzzle pieces or play kitchen items that need to be dropped off). It’s much faster than desperately searching for missing puzzle pieces and realizing they’re all over the house and I’m about to lose an hour of my life trying to find them.
I actually got the puzzles-in-a-shallow-basket idea from my neighbor (she has a daughter about a year older than Clara). It might be obvious to some people, but after trying to shove them into big round baskets and ottomans (and hearing all the pieces clatter out and fall to the bottom), I saw shallow baskets next door and realized they were a great way to keep the boards and pieces stacked together.
There’s also a book basket in Clara’s room with a bucket of wood blocks next to it. They usually don’t leave Clara’s room, but if they do the books can go into either of the other two book baskets, and the blocks get brought back at night when we bring play kitchen and puzzle pieces back. This might sound complicated, but it’s one walk down the hall with stuff that goes into Clara’s room each night since we know what goes in there now. It’s novel. And we’re also starting to ask Clara to help us clean up (she even sings the clean up song!) so sometimes she brings things back where they belong instead of us. That rocks too. It’s nice that even Clara’s picking up that certain things have “a home” to be returned to.
Oh and here are those “supervised” activities that we do with Clara (they all get tucked into a drawer in the kitchen so they’re special things we’ll whip out if she’s ever having a restless moment and we want to change things up. Since they’re not always out at her disposal, they’re always met with excitement.
And when it comes to outdoor activities, the rock box has continued to be a hit among toddlers. Our three year old neighbor actually joined Clara in a little Sunday afternoon rock romp, so it’s nice to know that it’s another “zone” where Clara can have some fun and dig around.
One organizational thing that we do need to tackle is an outdoor storage bin (we’re thinking of grabbing something like this) for the buckets and trucks that don’t fit inside her rock box when it’s covered. So we’ll keep you posted! In the meantime, that’s our kid-clutter rundown. We have no idea if this system will work for us when Clara and her toys get bigger – in fact I’d bet that it’ll keep changing and evolving – but you know we’ll blog all about it as we go.
What do you guys swear by when it comes to organizing kid stuff? I’m sure there are a million ways to skin this cat (gross expression, sorry) so we’d love to hear what works for you. My BFF has a giant playroom packed to the gills with stuff and her kiddos love that room, so there are definitely lots of ways to go!
Psst- Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint color we used? Just click on this button:
Mona O | rentersinlove.com says
Clara’s kitchen is the most adorable thing ever!
Kristen @ Popcorn on the Stove says
Ah – it must feel so nice not having toys strewn about! That’s a very clever plan to have some baskets of her favorite toys and hide the others. I’m also digging those baskets from Target – I think I need to get one or those square storage ottomans to hide some spare blankets and other things we’d like to hid in our living room!
Amy says
I love organizing posts!
Can I give you some ass-vice? (That’s un-asked-for advice.) Splurge or save up for a nice wooden outdoor storage box unless you don’t mind having to paint the resin one you linked to every other year or so. Of course, with your love of spray paint, you might not mind having to paint it after a year or two. We bought one and it’s very, very faded and ugly. I’m actually in the middle of painting it. What color, you don’t ask? ORB! Ha!
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh thanks for the advice! Definitely something to think about! It’ll be living in our covered carport (eventually to be our garage) so maybe that won’t make it fade as much as being out in the sun? We’ll have to see where we end up!
xo,
s
Kelley says
Make sure it has drainage holes! In the off chance that it gets rained on, or even sprayed with the water hose. Don’t want to encourage mosquitoes, mold or mildew!
YoungHouseLove says
Smart!
xo,
s
Holly says
I don’t even have any kids and find this advice useful for organizing! Noticed your piggy pillow in Clara’s room – I have a few from the same company (deer and terrier) and love them!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, isn’t that thing cute? It’s from her uncle!
xo,
s
Mairi says
What company is the pillow from? I also would love to know where the rocker came from! So cute!
YoungHouseLove says
That rocker is from John’s parents from diapers.com and the pillow was a gift from my brother but it says it’s organic on the tag. Maybe search organic pig pillow and see what comes up? Haha. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Vidya @ Whats Ur Home Story says
That’s great organizing. Wait till they get older. In addition to all the toys, they start collecting stuff!!! My 6 yr old goes crazy over anything that looks pretty even if it is a business card. I have tried to squeeze as much storage as I can into her bedroom, under the bed, in baskets, cubbies, hampers, ottoman, side table etc.
http://whatsurhomestory.com/room-fit-for-a-princess-reveal/
YoungHouseLove says
So cute!
xo,
s
Allyn says
My mom used to swear by switching out toys. For a while, there were 3 of us girls in one bedroom, so space was a premium. Obviously there wasn’t room for everything. She just kept big tubs up in the attic and switched them out every season.
Love that Clara has so many books! And that she’s starting to clean up too. Your lives will be so much easier with your system in place and her being able to clean it up herself!
Lauren@FilingJointly says
I am LOVING these organization posts. I so need to organize my life right now.
Your Clara posts always make me want a baby immediately. Like by Friday. And then I text my husband “I want a baby.” and He texts me back “Who blogged about babies/children today?”
I’m very transparent it seems. And also sleepy. I still can’t understand why my boss won’t let me take lunchtime naps under my desk. Tyrant.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I think it’s funny that your hubby knows you’ve been reading kid-related blog posts. I’m usually the one saying “I want to paint something” and John will blame blogs or pinterest. Haha.
xo,
s
Lisa says
You think you are sleepy now girl…wait until that baby gets here. You will reach a whole other level of sleepiness and your new boss (the baby) is even tougher than the one you have now! ;)
Brie says
We have a six year old and I swear by the fact that everything must have a specific home. Now that she can put her toys away by herself, everything has to have a straightforward home and she needs to know where that is or things never get put away/she can’t find them. Our toy areas are setup very Montessori style. Everything for one activity is in one basket. She’s great about taking one thing out at a time and putting it back. I have a lot of short bookshelves with shallow shelves and small trays and baskets. Things like puzzles that we have tons of, I rotate. She has a giant bookshelf full of books that she looks at constantly. I feel like books are one of those things that we really can’t have too many of. It works for us!
Jill says
Um. Her rocker looks like a Vespa. That has to be the coolest thing ever.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, isn’t that cute? John’s mom got it from diapers.com!
xo,
s
Kari says
How has the Vespa rocker held up? I’m considering getting one in blue for my nephew (who was just a bun in the oven when we took a family trip to Rome this year) but have read mixed reviews on the quality…
YoungHouseLove says
Still kicking after Clara and many of her cousins have manhandled it. Haha.
xo,
s
Kari says
Thanks good to know!!
Amy says
Our formal dining room currently acts as our play room. He’s at a great age where he’ll sit in there and play on his own (he’s 28 months old). We have a very open floor plan so we can still hear him (and even see him from some angles) when we’re sitting in the family room.
I made sure all of his toys have someplace to go when he’s done playing with him. All of his toy cars, crayons, and little people get put in clear shoe boxes so he can see what’s in the box (the crayons are put up high so he needs to ask for help to get them).
We also turn clean up time into a game and see who can run around and collect the most toys the quickest. Since he has a designated play area, most toys stay in that area but of course there are always a few that make it into random rooms….
When he’s old enough (probably around age 6), we plan on moving all of his toys to our finished basement and will finally furnish our formal dining room!
Erin says
Where is Clara’s crib from??
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s that post for ya: https://www.younghouselove.com/nursery-progress-crib-notes/
xo,
s
Calypso says
Thats awesome. I rotate toys too every couple weeks. BUT.. he still just plays with his train set. ONLY THE TRAIN SET.
I might as well just put EVERYTHING up and just leave the trains and train tracks out.
Rebecca says
Interestig pig pillow in the picture of her play kitchen. Was that a local craft buy, thrifted, from etsy? Don’t know why but that just popped out at me.
YoungHouseLove says
Isn’t that cute? It’s from some local/organic company from my brother (Clara’s uncle loves showering her with animal-related gifts).
xo,
s
Jenn says
I think what you said about the one favorite car vs. ten cars is so so true! I find that with both our toddler and seven month old- it’s like they get overstimulated with too much and therefore just don’t want to play with anything. I think we’re that way too, especially with clothes!!
Ashleigh says
Do you know where the little scooter rocker came from? I am in love with it!
Ashleigh says
Oops! Of course if I would have read the comment above I would have answered my own question.
YoungHouseLove says
No worries at all!
xo,
s
Bethany says
I started reading The Happiness Project when I read about it in your birthday blog and kept meaning to ask how you liked it. I loved how it got me thinking about so many aspects of my life including the kid clutter. Amazing how one little person has so much stuff.
I have only been reading your blog for a short while but am so thankful I stumbled on it…where have you been all of my life YHL?!?!?!?
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Bethany! I really liked that book a lot. Earmarked lots of pages and took lots of notes! I can’t wait for my BFF to read it so we can analyze it together!
xo,
s
Rebecca @ the lil house that could says
Do you guys still plan on dedicating the spare room to a playroom? I’m interested to see what you have planned for that!
YoungHouseLove says
We knew when we moved in that it would eventually be Clara’s big girl room when she has a sibling who will go into the nursery (we wanted the small room to always remain the nursery) so the plan was to make that a playroom but now that we know how we live (mostly in common areas like the office/kitchen/living room with Clara right there with us) we’re thinking we might never make it a playroom and just wait to empty it out after a yard sale and secret book project charity thing and then we can make it a big girl room! Someday…
xo,
s
Jess Larsen says
I have never been able to contain the toys to one or two rooms either (my kids spend time in every room except our bedroom) so I use the same tactic as you. We have designated spots/containers for their toys in the rooms that spend time in. My kids are 7 and 4 and I can tell you that this system works and is so conducive to the kids cleaning up on their own. We rarely pick up after them since they know where everything goes :-)
Anne Marie@New Weigh of Life says
My hubby has been begging me to limit the toys my 18 month old can play with. Currently, we have a huge rubbermaid tote with a million and one things that our little guy could never play with in one sitting. I think this post finally gave me the push I needed to rotate his toys. Thanks, guys!
A Wife and her Carpenter says
Oh my goodness…Once Upon a Potty is the best book ever. Thank you for bringing back a bunch of childhood memories!!! :)
Stephanie says
We don’t have any kids (yet) but considering I still seem to have a problem picking up my own “toys” (my poor husband… “Hey baby, why is your craft room in the living room now?”) the ideas for quick clean up are really helpful! I like the idea of having a designated container maybe for projects-in-progress, which is where I always lose it. I’ll be in the middle of something and not have a good place to pack it away while I’m not working on it, and then the project mutates and takes over the entire house.
Marie says
I love how you’ve contained all the kiddie stuff. I remember the days of chunky and easy to stash toddler toys. I recently made my 6 year old clean out his closet and bins; he proudly announced he was finished. I went into his room to find everything piled by his bed. He beamed as he announced that this was the “keep” pile. I told him it was a good start but that if he wanted to make room for new things for big boys he’d have to make some decisions. I asked him to sort through it with mommy, and for every pile of like things I asked him to choose 5 things to give to children who needed some toys. We managed to get through the entire room with no drama.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, that’s so sweet!
xo,
s
Cheri says
I am in love with the shelving we put up in my daughters’ room. They have a MILLION books and love them ALL. So I found the idea for gutter shelves on another blog this summer. This way, they can see all the books and it’s easier for a 2 & 3 year old to put away as well!
http://www.mcgregormosers.blogspot.com/2011/08/mind-in-gutter.html
YoungHouseLove says
Such a fun project!
xo,
s
Karen F says
I have to admit, I’m kind of envious and in awe that you’re able to keep her stuff so contained and organized! My girls are a little older (5 and 2), and honestly have too much stuff. I’ve gotten it somewhat under control but it still raises my blood pressure at times. We finally gave in and bought an expedit for our playroom, which has helped a great deal. The playroom is also my office, so I have some of my stuff in it as well. My older daughter is actually pretty good about purging (I’ll tell her to pick 3 toys she doesn’t play with to donate to day care, and she’s actually eager about it). I just keep telling myself that they’re going to grow up really fast and these toys won’t be here anymore, and then I get a little misty and suddenly it all doesn’t seem so bad.
You are off to a really good start with Clara’s stuff – I think the key is having a system and getting into the routine of where things go early on! Your ottoman idea is genius – I’ve read about “rotating” toys in an out, but I know if I put some in a bin in the basement they will never be seen again! At least yours are readily accessible for easy switch-outs! Sometimes something can seem so simple but it actually takes a while (and a lot of trial and error) to get to that point!
Karen F says
sorry for the long comment – clearly you hit a nerve!:)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, good luck with everything Karen!
xo,
s
Krystle @ Color Transformed Family says
Thanks so much for sharing about this. I was wondering how you handled Clara’s toys. We are still at the blanket and rattle stage but I don’t want the house to become overrun by toys when she gets bigger. I really like the basket and zone ideas.
Jess says
Streamlined and tidy, love it! One thing that we did with puzzles, to combat roaming pieces, was to make a fabric envelope that velcros to the back of the board. That way the pieces could go in the sleeve if putting the puzzle together was too time consuming. Especially helpful with full picture puzzles!
Off to organize some more cupboards. Thanks for the inspiration!
YoungHouseLove says
The fabric pouch is so smart!
xo,
s
Kate says
We have a box like that for our deck cushions to keep them out of the rain. It’s filled with cushions, ants and wasps. Yuck. If anyone knows of a deck box that is affordable, relatively attractive and seals better than one of these, do tell! Please – those bugs are really nasty. :(
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, someone clue us in too!
xo,
s
rachael says
John could build you a custom one made of cedar!!!
YoungHouseLove says
We have thought about building one, but John really wants something plastic that we can hose down when it gets spiderwebs and dirt in it. We’ll have to see where we end up!
xo,
s
Lisa says
I buy the zippered covers for cushions and then just leave them out all summer long, or if it is going to be nasty, I throw them inside for the storm, then pop them back out.
For the outside kids toys, the thing that has worked best for us are just the plain Rubbermaid/plastic bins with a lid on them. That keeps the snow/rain/bugs/snakes/mice out! We just throw all the toys in there and close the lid, then we tip them on their sides so that the rain doesn’t collect on the tops and provide a nice home for mosquitoes. I just bought the tan ones and they work so great. We put them out of the way when we aren’t using them.
So, you don’t have to spend a ton of money…just have a little out of the way spot to drag the boxes when not in use (even under a table or behind a bush!) and it keeps things tidy for little money!
I also bought a cheap plastic cabinet with two doors at Lowes and it has been awesome! I put it under the deck on our patio, so it doesn’t get full on rain on it, but it stays SO dry. So we have shoes, hats, sunscreen, bug spray, gloves…everything in there and it stays so neat and clean and DRY. So, we can step out on our patio, grab our shoes and hats and we are ready to play!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for the tip!
xo,
s
Brenda says
It’s so smart to pare down and have a home for things. We had a playroom growing up, and that’s where all of our toys lived. The problem was that things never really got weeded regularly, so the collection just kept growing and growing. My dad eventually built floor-to-ceiling shelves on one wall, and a half wall of shelves on another wall. That just turned into more spaces to shove junk, and as we got older it just turned into a junk room that you couldn’t even walk into! After my first year of college, I just couldn’t live with my sister anymore, so my brother and I spent a full month cleaning that room so I could have my own bedroom. We were able to clear out most of the floor and take down the half wall of shelves. Now it’s my brother’s room, and he just covered the remaining (still full of stuff) shelves with fabric. All this to say that it’s great to start early with organization!
Jessica@HomewithBaxter says
Great advice Sherry! We don’t have kids yet, but this will def come in handy when we do. We don’t have space in our house for a designated play room so seeing how you were able to neatly store a few toys in every room without it looking like kid zone was great.
Kari says
Your system reminds me of mine, back when I only had one child. I find it much more difficult now that I have 3, each at different stages. It’s a continual battle.
The one thing I have discovered that helps more than anything is ruthless labeling. The obsessive/compulsive part of me goes a little overboard, but anything that I have labeled with a picture of the toy actually gets put where it belongs with some sort of regularity–it helps when the kids have friends over and we’re all cleaning up together, and it defines for the kids where things go (and what things DON’T belong there). So, for example, if it were me, I’d make a label with a picture of puzzles and put it on your puzzle basket, and another one for blocks. I’ve recently devised a system wherein I made a whole bunch of signs with Velcro on the back that I can stick to more permanently placed holders on baskets so that as I swap out toys, I can swap out signs, too, quickly and easily.
I’ve also learned that so much depends on how kids play with toys, too, and where (according to the layout of your own house).
YoungHouseLove says
Love the picture labeling idea!
xo,
s
Amy Spears says
I really love your system, the different play zones and the ease of clean-up. I can tell that our 19 month old is overwhelmed by the selection at our house and notice she plays much longer and independently when at her grandparents where she only has two baskets of toys. I guess this will be next on our project list! Btw…where/how do you store the excess toys, or do they all fit in the ottoman?
YoungHouseLove says
They actually all fit in the ottoman! I even got “baby toys” like teethers and rattles in there, which I thought I’d put in the attic, but it’s so nice that they fit in there too! Clara also has an upper shelf in her closet where I keep some stuff too, just a box of blankets and other “baby” stuff.
xo,
s
Jessica says
Seriously, you guys are geniuses…..GENIUSES, I say! lol. We have a similar system, but it needs to be updated after a big birthday last month. There’s lots of new stuff now and we need to pare down. I think we also need to start putting stuff she doesn’t use as much out of her reach and hopefully it will help her to play individually for longer periods of time like Clara does. One or two of the baskets of toys we have is stuffed full of things that she NEVER plays with….ever. You guys have me fully motivated to get to getting when it comes to my little lady’s toys! We’ve got all the supplies….just need to get ‘er done! Yay!!!!! Thanks!
Kelley says
Love organization posts! We have an almost 9 month old and have a basket (from target!) in the living room and one in the nursery for toys. We’re still in the stage where toys a pretty small and minimal. In the future, I’m hoping we don’t get too many big toys. I like a kid friendly, but also adult friendly and somewhat organized house!
For clothes organization, I keep a basket in her closet floor and just throw clothes in there when I realize they don’t fit. That way we can be sure that the clothes that are in her closet and drawers actually fit!
Lisa says
I love your ideas. I have kids aged 12 and 8. My 8 year old daughter has a lot of barbies, pet shop animals, stuffed animals and polly pocket dolls. I organize them all in ikea bins. They have wooden frames and the bins come in different colours. When she wants to play barbies, she pulls our one of the bins. When she is done, she puts everything back in the bin and puts it away. No toy picking up for Mom which is great.
Rebecca in NC says
Thanks for this post! We have three kids and the kid-stuff can get out of control sometimes.
Mikey @ Shabby French Cottage says
Isn’t this how you clean??? I call this the Hide and Clean method!!! LOVE IT!
And not to be all stalkeresque, but I was out yardsaling on Saturday and ended up driving right by your house, I recognized it instantly, and told my friend I was with that that was your house, blah, blah, how amazing your blog was, and he was totally clueless! Ha!
Happy Tuesday!
~Mikey @ Shabby French Cottage
http://www.shabbyfrenchcottage.com
http://www.mikeyfullermusic.com
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that’s so funny Mikey! What a small world! I’m glad I wasn’t outside all sweaty in the yard. Or was I? Haha.
xo,
s
Julia @ Chris loves Julia says
Our little Greta (turned 2 in February) has two ottomans in her room with toys and a basket of blocks in the family room. She also has her Prince Lionheart “Wheely cow” we got her for Christmas in the main living space, but it is such a good looking toy, we don’t even mind.
We realized we don’t have a ton of toys. In fact, other kids that have come over to play have pointed that out. Hahaha. But, surprisingly, Greta prefers to try on shoes, grab a paintbrush and pretend to paint a wall (wonder where she got that one! :D) or run around outside and kick a ball around. We’re ALL okay with keeping the toy count down around here. Although, if she changes her mind one day, we’ll be happy to accommodate that, too.
LauraC says
I’m gonna guess and say that you’ll find this system will work and keep working for several more years. Yeah, you’ll have to change things up as she gets new things/toys, but your system sounds almost identical to ours: different toys in designated spots around the house. Perfect! We have a 4 and a 2 year old, and boxes for each type of toy (trains, doll house furniture, Lincoln logs, horses, etc) and they know what goes where. They help pick up each night (with some exceptions). It’s pretty fast pickup when you know exactly where things belong.
And I totally hear ya on the toy explosion. I can look at any toy area and pick out what we bought, usually 1/5 of the toys, if that. Crazy, but we’re thankful for the love our family shows and handmedowns!
Jimmy says
Can I believe all the favorites fit in one basket? Of course! We’re a less-is-more home with our toddler. That began mainly out of necessity – we have a small one bedroom apartment. A little goes a long way (toward creating insane clutter). So we tell friends and family to keep the gifts small in size and number. We’ve got a small toy chest and a little book shelf of toys and that seems to be more than enough for him.
I also realized that half the time he’d just stand at the toy chest pulling everything out only to play with nothing in particular. The less toys there were the less likely he was to do this. Like you found, he actually started focusing on one toy instead of all of them when we narrowed it down.
If we had to get rid of everything I think he’d be happy with just his little Ikea train set and a few pieces of sidewalk chalk.
Leigh says
My little man is 10 months old and his stuff has taken over my living room! We put all of toys in a basket and his books on a bookshelf. Well, one of his favorite games? Pulling the books off the shelf and dumping the basket upside down in the floor then throwing things in all different directions so there are toys everywhere! We desparately need a new “system”. I am going to try some baskets for books and one smaller basket for fav toys and see what happens. Fingers crossed!
Lindsey says
Totally agree that fewer toys = more playing.
My bff’s house is a toy orgy and every time we are there for a playdate, all the kids do is swarm us and complain of being bored. At my house, there’s like 3 baskets of toys between the kids’ bedroom and playroom and we don’t see them for hours at a time.
Way to go minimalistic on the toy front! I’m about ready to do another purge myself… Easter put the clutter factory into overdrive around here…
Jessica @ Quirky Bookworm says
We have 2 designated toy/book areas: shelves in Eleanor’s room upstairs and a small shelf in the corner of the living room. I rotate toys all the time – we also have a big box of toys in the closet, and I keep things moving between upstairs, downstairs, and the closet box so that she doesn’t get bored.
What bugs me is that Eleanor’s 2 favorite things are (1) her dollhouse and (2) her dishes set, which get strewn around. I can’t tell you how often I step on a small plastic person or the salt and pepper shakers.
But we do the same thing as you – every night I do a quick pick-up downstairs, and put everything in its place, and then a quick pickup of our room and put it back in E’s room. And we only have 2 bedrooms! Can’t imagine how long the pick-up would take if our house was as big as yours…
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so funny because I was just thinking “I can’t imagine how long it would take to pick-up if we had an upstairs and a downstairs!” – haha.
xo,
s
Stacy Marvin says
I never thought of putting books in baskets, my daughter (23 months) just walks over to the book shelf and yanks out all the books and dumps out all of the buckets full of blocks and small toys and then walks away, drives me nuts. I agree a serious paring down of toys is in order. I could probably just keep out her pull along dog, and trucks/cars and she would be happy. Thanks for all your great tips!
Shana says
I love this so much I pinned it because I think my sis may benefit. Her 18 month old becomes chaotic when he gets near the toy storage, there is no playing with toys per se, more just the dumping out and spreading around of said toys. I’m hoping this will help him focus and maybe gain something educational from playing with one toy at a time.
Lauren says
Oh I am not looking forward to those days. Right now my 6-week-old’s play gym, bouncer, blankets, books and small toys already feel like they’re taking over our small townhouse!! We might have to move when she gets to the toddler stage just so we have room for all her stuff :)
Katie says
Since we spend so much time in the kitchen (who doesn’t?) our son has a low kitchen cabinet that is all his own, and we store a lot of his toys in there. He can grab a toy and play while we cook dinner or if he gets restless at the table, he can be excused and grab something out of his cabinet. When he was younger this also helped stem the “want to get in all the kitchen cabinets” urge since we could steer him back to his own cabinet.
Loren says
Hi, love your ideas! Where did you get the fabric zipper bag?! So cute!
YoungHouseLove says
That was from a local gift shop here in Richmond called Buford Rd Pharmacy. It’s covered with Amy Butler fabric, so maybe try searching online for Amy Butler fabric pouch?
xo,
s
Zandi says
Something about the fact that there is kids stuff in literally every nook and cranny and open space of your house is cracking me up.
YoungHouseLove says
I’m telling you! It multiplies! But we love how our house has changed since having Clara. She’s part of the house too, so she gets her little zones and spaces and it works!
xo,
s
Kristin says
Awesome post! I love the idea of not keeping all her toys out and switching in new ones periodically. I will be doing that with my sons toys this week. :)
Rachel says
Hi guys! I’m a huge fan of your site!
Just wanted to share a little experience with that storage bin from Target. I have the exact one you are looking at. I haven’t had any problems with it fading at all. However, the lid will drop and smash fingers or bump a toddler’s head quite easily. My son Gavin is almost 3 now. He never got hurt because he was always supervised around the bin, but there were several close calls. If you will always be with Clara, which you probably will, it’s no biggie. My parents found one (at Lowe’s) and the lid kind of springs up when Gavin lifts it and has to be pulled down (by an adult because he can’t reach it), rather than falling down on him, so there’s never a possibility of mashed fingers or a bumped head if Clara gets into it alone. Hope this helps!
Love this week’s theme! Can’t wait to buy your book this Fall!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for the tip!
xo,
s