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:
Ashley says
I am liking your system. Our son will be one next Thursday, so his toys aren’t totally out of control yet, but I can see where they can get there. And we definitely have a few toy favorites and a few things that don’t get played with all that often. I think I’m going to sort out his stuff today, and put some stuff away, and then I can do it again after his birthday party on Saturday.
Sarah PH says
I will solve your puzzle problem. Puzzle pouches!! I saw this on pinterest and it changed our lives… or at least our living room. We try to keep only 1 puzzle out at a time but really it’s usually 2. http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2009/01/puzzle-pockets.html
YoungHouseLove says
So smart!
xo,
s
Maria says
sweet jeebus that’s brilliant!
Christy Panzarella says
You had accumulated way too much for your simplistic selves. I see some toy swapping going on in the near future. Lol.
Mel says
I really think kids get too overwhelmed with stuff.
I had a friend who’s mother-in-law (very sweet and well meaning) would bring a stuffed toy every single time she visited. My friend didn’t know how to tell her (nicely) that she didn’t want any more gifts, and that the child had too many animals. The husband didn’t broach it, so what my friend did one time was: instead of cleaning the child’s room, and stuffing all the toys in the closet as usual, she left all of the stuffed animals all over her room (which MIL stayed in when she visited.) You couldn’t see the bed and much of the floor. At all. So the gifts stopped coming. Not very direct, but that worked.
I think having fewer toys is a great thing–it’s more calming, less chaotic, and I think stimulates more imagination on the part of the child!
Kathy W. says
I’m a mom to four, and a grandma to one with another on the way. I want a “like button” to push! I can’t agree more about kids having too much stuff – less really is more.
Micha says
The whole toy clutter gets worse from year to year: my 8-year-old will hog and collect -anything-. In order to keep the clutter halfway under control, I admit to sneaking into his room during the day when he is at school about once a month and filling up a trash bag with toys he doesn’t play with anymore. This bag gets donated to a local charity, and everybody is happy.
Little Man? He’s never noticed a thing.
Yes, I’m that evil :o)
A.S. says
Great post and very applicable for my soon to be 1 year old. Do you suggest starting now (he’s 10 months)? Also, does Clara go into the Ottoman to look for other toys (i.e., does she know where the other toys are hiding?) Thanks!!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, the ottoman is my secret! It only opens when she’s napping or in bed for the night. She doesn’t even realize it opens and definitely doesn’t know I keep toys in there! Keep the toy storage spot a secret if ya can! As for starting at 10 months, I would just start whenever you need or want to- it can’t hurt! Good luck!
xo,
s
Amy @ The Button Casa says
We bought a 9 cube organizer from Target a few years ago and that’s worked pretty well except that we’ve outgrown it. It’s hard to have stuff for two girls crammed in one organizer. Plus our youngest is a pack rat. She wants to keep every rock she’s ever found. So a couple of weeks ago we secretly threw out a lot of “treasures” and got rid of some Dora things (sniff) which she actually approved.
Serina says
Funny how you say your system might need to evolve as Clara and her toys get bigger, but I found that as my child got bigger, her toys got much, much smaller! That was the challenge for me in organizing her “big kid” toys. I went with an organizing system from the STUVA series at IKEA that holds 12 small buckets and doubles as a table top :)
YoungHouseLove says
Love that tip Serina!
xo,
s
Abby K. says
I love this post! Thank you for sharing all your tricks! The way we manage all our kid clutter in our tiny house…that we don’t have any space for a designated room for toys, was to pull our couch out from a back wall in the living room about 6 feet. The room is long and narrow and doing this didn’t make too much of a huge difference for watching TV or make it super teeny. All our girls’ (3 & 4) toys are back behind there in a “toy alley”. They know where they belong, and we are happier not having a toy explosion everywhere. We also diligently edit their toys every few months, by ruthlessly tossing anything broken and filtering the not-so-popular stuff to be donated or my brother’s or grandma’s house to be enjoyed there. All their books are kept on a bookshelf in a common hallway (with the “good” books up high so as not to be anihilated by ripping fingers) and they have only their lovies in their bedroom. We have always chosen to omit toys from their bedroom so that when they lay down for nap or bed, they sleep and don’t play. I love your guys’ use of baskets for storage, we have a similar system for oraganizing! Thank you for all of your wonderful ideas!!
Lou says
We converted our garage into a playroom. We have two small boys and there are a million toys in there but I just shut the door and pretend I don’t see it!
Rachel says
Awesome organization tips!
I bought that same box at target last year to keep on my covered deck to store rain/snow boots, umbrellas, and small gardening items and I love it! My one complaint is that it gets dirty very quickly. I’m slightly OCD so I thoroughly clean the tops and sides once a month, but because of the textured finish, it holds grime quite nicely :) Its very good quality though (we use it as a seat when we have a lot of company outside) and the most affordable/largest box I could find when researching.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Rachel!
xo,
s
Amber says
Great post! I have a 4-year-old, 2-year-old and a baby on the way. Toys are a constant “issue” if you don’t keep up on the O-R-G! We used to live in a much smaller house so I had to keep things really pared down. I came up with a brilliant idea. I had one basket of toys for each day of the week. The rotation kept the toys fresh for my kids and they loved it. Now they are older, our house is bigger and having “favorite” toys makes it harder to rotate. So we have a big toy room with an Expedit filled to the gills. I’ll be honest, they don’t play as well with this system b/c they can get into everything at once and it gets old. You’ve inspired me to get my ORG on and make their toys interesting to them again. Thanks!
laura says
Great ideas! One thing I started doing with my sons puzzles is I numbered each puzzle. I would use a permanent marker and number the back of each puzzle and then take a ziplock bag and number those and put the puzzle pieces for puzzle #1 in the bag labeled #1. It started to get very annoying because all of the puzzle pieces would fall off and get mixed up and even though it takes up a little more room with the bags it was nice to pull out the bag and puzzle and know that all the pieces were there. Ryder is only 2 and he will pick them up and put them in the right bag (most of the time) so I think it helps with recognizing and matching the right numbers too! Win- Win! :)
YoungHouseLove says
So smart!
xo
s
Maria says
You hit the nail on the head about the books on the bookshelf. My 19 month old yanks EVERY SINGLE BOOK onto the floor the second she goes into the playroom. It’s almost like a comfort thing for her. Drives me nutty, but I have finally just let go of the books being anywhere but a giant pile on the playroom floor for now. Hoping this phase passes soon!!
Cynthia says
You’re not ready yet, but soon enough your child will be leaving stuff (that has a home, because you’re organized!) all over the house. My kids are eight and five, and the stuff lying around is a constant battle. As part of our recent effort to get the kids to do chores and make my life better, we have one addition that has really helped. I bought a foldable canvas cube from Target for each child (each got to choose his/her own color). As I find their stuff lying around throughout the day, I drop it into the respective child’s cube. They know where to look if something is missing, and I don’t have to make piles or 47 trips per day up to their rooms. When the cube is sufficiently full, they take it to their rooms, empty it, and put away the contents. Well, we’re still working on that, but we’re getting there. If you’re interested in seeing the Target cube or seeing more about our basic chore list, you can look here: http://flotsamofthemind.blogspot.com/2012/04/mastering-basics.html
YoungHouseLove says
That’s really smart!
xo,
s
Mary-Beth says
This is a motivating post for me. I am going to go home and pick out my boy’s favorite toys and leave those out. I have been meaning to do that but thanks for the nudge. I will also be basket shopping soon ;)
Shannon says
Our twin daughters are only 6 months, but even baby toys can easily overwhelm our small house. I am ruthless when it comes to toys they have no interest in. Even if they’re gifts from a relative, if the girls have no interest in them they go into storage for now. All that we have out is an activity mat, their Sophies and crinkle blankets. Doesn’t sound like much for play time stimulation, but they stay plenty entertained. :)
Megan says
The way you organized the toys is how I like to do it too. I don’t think that they should all have to go to a play room or bedroom. Kids like to be with you. Having zones is great! It’s high time that I do some tweaking with our toys! Thanks for the great post.
Susan says
I have three kids; a teen girl and ‘tween’ twin girls in 2nd grade. For the last 15 years I have come to learn a few things about organizing all the family stuff:
1. Label everything and keep it in its place
2. Learn to love having lots of stuff
3. Get rid of the stuff you don’t need, most importantly
4. Absolutely essential that everyone can access and clean up her own stuff- even when they’re 2 years old. Stuff maintenance is an all family activity. I still sing the ‘clean up clean up song.’ We also still do ‘Bit patrol’-Picking up all the bits. It turns hours of mom grumbling and cleaning while everyone else is sleeping into 15 minutes of family time.
Marcia says
Are you familiar with the following ditty you can sing with Clara?
“Clean-up, clean-up, everybody everywhere,
Clean-up, clean-up, everybody do your share!”
That was our “let’s put it all away” song when my daughter was little.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes! She sings along now!
xo,
s
Ty Lee says
We’ve been rotating our kids’ toys and stashing the rest in a bin in the closet for a couple of years now (that was actually my husband’s brilliant idea! I was ready to dump ’em all off at Goodwill).
I have no idea how we’d manage otherwise, since I don’t have just one kid, I have four. So, that’s complete chaos x4 if I don’t stay on top of everything! We also have a bunch of bins that we have sorted by toy type: one bin for cars, one for plastic food, one for dress up, etc. The kids know how which things go where, and makes teaching them to clean up after themselves easier too.
Lynn says
My boy recently turned 18 months and the toys are slowly taking over the living room. We have been using a closetmaid cubby system from Target but it’s time to start swapping out the toys on a regular basis for the same reasons you mentioned. He no longer plays with most toys because they get lost in the shuffle and the cubbies are way too crowded.
I’m planning to move out most of the toys into his closet for swapping out. The cubby systems look adorable with one toy in each section and small toys in the bins. The single toys almost become decorative!
Shaundra Coleman says
I don’t have any children yet but I am big on living with less. I am planning yard sale this weekend and as I was organizing I used the strategy that if it haven’t worn/used/thought about it in a year it was up to be sold. What is your strategy for Clara’s toys? I know you plan to have more children but do you plan to keep all the toys? Are you selling any at the yard sale? Or giving them away? Just curious.
YoungHouseLove says
Sometimes I send some toys home with friend’s/relatives kiddos if they get attached to them and like playing with them and Clara wouldn’t even notice if they’re gone. We have also donated a few that just aren’t things we (Clara included) were very into (very messy things or complicated plastic toys with lots of parts) but all of the good solid toys that Clara loves and outgrows get saved for a future child- believe it or not they’re all in that white ottoman- when she was smaller it was just some balls, teethers and rattles, so they’re not much to store.
xo,
s
Amanda says
I LOVE how you have a place for everything.
I remember being frustrated as a child, when I was told to clean my room because I didn’t have a place for everything, and so cleaning felt impossible.
As an adult, I tend to be very organized and I keep things in designated places, and it really makes cleaning easy. (I actually enjoy cleaning when I know where to put things.)
A lot of my friends had the same experience growing up (it’s something that we talked about in high school).
Colleen in MA says
We have two of those Suncast Deck Boxes. Since we don’t have a basement we keep two side by side on our porch and they are narrow enough that we can walk around them. One holds sporting equipment and one holds gardening stuff.
I find them to work pretty well but they do need a good scrubbing down every spring – the little shallow nooks and crannies in the design of ours seem to attract dust, etc. I empty them, hit ’em with the jet setting from our garden hose nozzle, scrub them with an old sponge, and hit ’em again with the nozzle and then fill them back up. I also take that opportunity to weed out (no pun intended) old or unwanted stuff.
For the price we are happy with them.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Colleen!
xo,
s
Alison says
I am so with you. I find that my son (now 3) plays soooo much better when he has all the pieces in one place. I went to a friend’s house and saw that she uses the “dump it all in one bucket” method and I thought that was so clever – easy, quick, clean-up, until I tried it. It’s awful! The exception, of course, is dumping LIKE things (stuffed animals, puzzles, etc) all in one bucket.
One thing I did recently that has helped my son pick up on his own is that I printed a picture of the toys in a box/basket (I used google images) and then put the name of the toy (Little People, puzzles, whatever) underneath it. I then laminated the labels and attached them to the place where to toy goes (bucket, box, bin, whtever). So he has a visual cue as to what goes in there, and when he is older, it will help with his reading abilities. So far, our playroom is the best-organized room in the house! Now to tackle the office….
YoungHouseLove says
Love it!
xo
s
Heidi G says
As our kids got bigger, and the toys got bigger and multiplied, we got two cubby storage units at Target. It set up a short wall of cubbies where they could store all their toys, but each toy could still have it’s own home.
Karen says
I love this post – I seriously need to work on pairing down my three kids’ toys. It gives me anxiety. Oh…also did you know you don’t need to white balance every time. You can fix that in most photo editors. There’s usually a little tool that looks like an eye-dropper. You just select that and then click on anything in the picture that is supposed to be true white and voila. If there’s not a true white there are color sliders to make slight tweeks. But I’m sure you knew this… :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Karen! I do try to correct that stuff when I realize it while sizing pics, but I just bulk edited this batch and didn’t realize how pink it looked until it was compared to the old pic above it!
xo,
s
lara says
someone may have mentioned already, but we got a wire puzzle rack on amazon by melissa & doug. LOVE IT. no more frustrated toddler because the puzzle they want is on the bottom of the pile.
YoungHouseLove says
Love that!
xo,
s
Christa @ a*typicaljourney says
Like I said yesterday, I’m SO amazed at how well I relate to this series!
When we set up our playroom in the basement, I weeded out all of the toys from our living room that Evvie barely plays with, along with the bigger toys that tend to make our home look like a daycare center, and took them to the new playroom – leaving only absolute favorite toys & books.
I, too, noticed a change in how she played with her toys after that. She plays far more independently when there are only a handful of toys to choose from. Less distractions, I think. Not to mention, I’m thoroughly obsessed with how much more grown-up my living room looks without all that clutter all the time!
If we had a bigger home, I’d completely steal your idea and set up “stations” for play all throughout the house. As it stands, I really only need one on every level since our place is so small. :)
Karen C. says
Thank you so much for this post! I have been racking my brain to streamline the toy clutter that belongs to my toddler Emily. It is semi-organized right now, but you have definitely given me some ideas that I can employ in my house.
Also, my kiddo loves her dad’s old disconnected cell phone too! Isn’t it funny how kids love real-life gadgets and gizmos in addition to their own toys?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha yes! I think Clara loves “realistic” play the most. So fake talking on a phone or fake cooking are some of her favorite things to do. I find her “reading” my magazines sometimes too. Haha.
xo,
s
Lani says
I’m actually really digging the “zones” for play. We decided that the basement would be the “playroom”…and honestly…it’s always a crazy mess. We don’t have any toys in their rooms, and a few in the living room. I’m seriously thinking of breaking things up like you did. I probably provides for more stimulation too because no matter where they are there is something different. And it’s probably easier to organize because you have ABC in one place and XYZ in another and you’re not trying to organize everything into one basket or shelf. Thanks for that idea…and maybe it will allow me to clear up some room in the basement for myself!!! In desperate need of a sewing space!
Crystal @ 29 Rue House says
Love the post! We have a system and even a “play area” in our living room but it definitely needs some tweaking to look neater and more like a home than a daycare. We separate some toys in baskets/tubs on a expedit sideways but a lot of the other stuff is a mess. I love your idea to have individual round floor baskets in different areas. I’ve read it’s good to rotate toys out and I’m positive it would be beneficial but felt I didn’t have the time – I’m going to make the time now!
P.S. Clara has the cutest toys!
Corey says
We recently bought just the cover for a bean bag chair and instead of buying the beans, we brought it home and filled it with over 30 stuffed animals. Our daughter loves it so much she wants to sleep on it! So we finally have storage for stuffed animals and a handy chair :)
YoungHouseLove says
So smart! I love it!
xo,
s
Kira says
I can’t figure out how to de-clutter and organize myself…you rock! I’m trying I worked on the Kitchen this am and cleaned out bowls without lids and downsized dishes we don’t use. I guess it’s a start but never seem to make it last.
Kathy says
Okay, I have to ask–does this mean Clara just plays with her toys? Because we already do the toy rotation thing, but then there are the bookshelves he can reach, anything within 3-6 inches of the edge of a table, anything on the coffee table, anything stored under a table, etc.
Kathy says
Oh, and my purse/diaper bag! I just found a hook to hang it on, so hopefully that’ll work, but still!
YoungHouseLove says
She mainly plays with her toys. Most of the other things she can reach are kid-proofed (for example, there’s a box on the back of the console table with chap stick and a few other small things in it, and sometimes she has fun taking things in and out of that box, which I don’t mind since it’s not a danger to her). I keep my purse up on my desk in the back corner so she can’t reach it. Haha.
xo,
s
Nicole Y. says
I have developed a problem called clutter-phobia. I actually get nervous about my future kids’ birthday parties and what to do with all their gifted toys. This post definitely helped to subside my fears. Is it totally crazy that I considered asking party guests to just donate to a charity or create a registry to ease the amount of random toys? hahah
YoungHouseLove says
Haha that’s cute! We usually give suggestions to try to keep things under control for parites! Last year it was “please just bring your favorite children’s book! she has way too many toys already!” – and this year’s is “small outside toys would be awesome, like a shovel, a small truck for her rock box, a little ball or two, etc!” – here’s hoping it works!
xo,
s
heather says
Nicole, I’m so glad someone else gets this too! Sometimes I get irritable and I realize it’s because of the clutter around me and then I pick up and pare down and I feel better. My husband and I both absolutely hate the idea of too many toys, especially when we have so much outdoor space..and really don’t like the idea of plastic toys. We’ll probably change our tune a little as we have kids but I have clutter-phobia too. I call it anti-horder syndrome.
I LOVE the idea of asking friends and family to just come for a family cookout and have them each bring a dish as the gift so it’s just about a day of family fun, not gifts and a traditional birthday party.
Yulia says
Sherry,
Great idea about giving family gift suggestions. But, unfortunately it only works for the first kid. I have three and now I’m completely out of ideas. Whatever we needed, the first two already received as gifts. Anything anyone gives at this point is just extra clutter. My sister calls me a Debbie downer, but I’m so tired of the plastic stuff taking over the house. Wonk, wonk.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, wopp woppp. Sounds like we might have lots of donating going on someday! We only have so much room, haha.
xo,
s
Tara G. says
Interesting tidbit- when children are “forced” to get creative and pretend with the toys/materials they have on hand, the critical thinking area of the brain actually grows.
YoungHouseLove says
No way! I love that!
xo,
s
Danielle says
First of all I LOVE your blog and read it religiously but rarely comment. I have to tell you we have the exact suncast storage unit that you are thinking of getting and we love it! We keep cushions for our patio furniture in it and they stay dry and organized! I recommend it!
Also I am an organization freak and have two kids (3 1/2 and 17 months) and like you I have baskets all around the house in the living room, great room, their bedrooms and we have a playroom that I keep as organized as possible. I think the key is getting rid of the excess and keeping up with your system daily! My kids know their toys have to be picked up every night no matter what! Then a few times a year I get sneaky and after they go to sleep I go through the playroom and the toy baskets and collect things that are broken to toss or items they don’t use to donate! My 3 1/2 year old now helps choose toys to donate to kids who can use them! Thanks for doing this blog – it makes me smile!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad to hear it, Danielle! Thanks for the feedback!
xo,
s
Sheena Field says
Thanks for the post! I have been cleaning/organizing my little guys toys too and these ideas are VERY helpful.
Kasey M. says
Hmmm…I’m looking at all these “zones” you have for Clara and I’m wondering if I can use some of your tactics for my craft gear. Is it odd that I want to use your child declutter tactics to declutter my own craft space?
Craft supplies are just the adult version of toys, right?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, totally! It makes perfect sense!
xo,
s
Mara says
Love the ideas!
We store small items and clothes in Drona baskets in the Expedit bookcase from Ikea. When it’s time to put laundry or toys away, we pull all of the baskets out, my two year old daughter helps me sort, and we slide them back onto the shelves. When she wants to get something out, she can do it herself. It’s simple, hides clutter, and I love having her “help.”
For extra credit, I’m considering making them a little prettier like the folks from Ruche did here (http://www.shopruche.blogspot.com/2011/04/dyi-lets-get-organized.html)
YoungHouseLove says
So cute!!
xo,
s
heyruthie says
great post!
BTW: I’m a mom of 4, and I’ve learned I can get a LOT of work done while my toddler plays with play-dough (and similar messy stuff) in the dry bathtub. As long as you don’t mind sitting on the toilet (with a laptop or book on your lap!) you can get a lot accomplished, and not worry about the mess that gets created. You just swish it all out when they’re done, and then rinse any small particles down the drain!
YoungHouseLove says
Love it! We usually set Clara up in her highchair with play dough while I pound away on the laptop! Haha. Bathtime is me or John on the john typing away. Haha. Fully clothed of course. I love the idea of doing messy stuff in the tub!
xo,
s
Anna says
This was SO helpful to me! We live in Richmond too and our daughter is just a couple months older than Clara. Just yesterday I was considering getting a whole lot of baskets and an Ikea shelving unit to contain the toys, but now I think we’ll just pick out the favorites and do the rotation thing. Cheaper and easier–always a plus!
tom says
Check HD for that deck box. We got ours in the brown color for the same price w/ free shipping.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Tom!
xo,
s
Karen J says
I haven’t had a chance to read through all comments, but we have this outdoor bench: http://www.step2.com/p/Outdoor-Storage-Bench. Well, now we have THREE (we started with one but have expanded). I like that they at least “look” like natural materials and they are super durable. We are in Dallas and they haven’t faded one tiny bit after 5+ years). I love that they double as places to sit. We just use them in the grass play yard (separately fenced); we have “real” furniture around the patio and under our gazebo.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Karen! Off to check it out!
xo,
s
Larita says
My son is the same age as Clara (turned 2 on Sunday), so it’s fun to see what she’s playing with – very similiar to the stuff he likes! I’m fortunate to have a playroom, though he prefers to spend most of his time playing in our living area close to me. I do store all his toys in the playroom though, and they are divided up into Rubbermaid tubs and he only gets 1 tub upstairs at a time. I love having all his “stuff” in one place – other than a few favourite stuffed animals in his bedroom, there are no toys anywhere else in the house. I still have to figure out how to teach him not to pull EVERYTHING out when he is down in the playroom (it’s adjacent to my dog grooming room, so he’s in there by himself whenever I’m working), but at least when he does, it’s easy to put away. I divided up his toys several months ago and love that he will now sit down and play for hours at a time instead of just scattering all his toys everywhere and being done.
Ashley says
I just finished reading a book titled Simplicity Parenting–I think you’d enjoy it. It had some very similar advice about decluttering toys to stimulate your kids. In fact, they noted that too many toys and too many choices were having very harmful effects on kids. I took some the advice, and my 7 month old is LOVING IT! 5-6 of his favorite toys are displayed on low shelves, with baskets for other things. He, too has began playing on his own for loooong periods of time. And get this, he takes stuff off the shelves and PUTS IT BACK. Over and over and over again. The cluttered basket of toys in the Living Room? Doesn’t touch it.
YoungHouseLove says
Amazing!
xo,
s
Lisa in Seattle says
Does Burger ever appropriate any of Clara’s toys (or vice versa)?
Like Heather, I don’t have children but we do have two furkids, and our downstairs family room certainly looks like we have toddlers what with all the toys, tubes, towers, etc. The fuzzies have about 30 stuffed toys. One ferret brings them out into the open to play, and the other ferret steals them back and runs around frantically stashing them away again (under blankets, rugs, sofa cushions, wherever is most inconvenient). We do get rid of the ones that start showing signs of wear and just hope that Gaby doesn’t notice, what with the constant influx of new toys. He is very possessive of his things (like Gollum possessive, seriously) and frets if anybody touches them.
YoungHouseLove says
We have gotten one stuffed toy for Clara at a yard sale (it was given to us for free since they were trying to get rid of them) that Burger really took a liking to. We think they had a dog and it might have had that scent on it. So it became Burger’s toy and Clara didn’t seem to mind. Other than that they both have their own toys and oddly enough seem to stay away from each other’s stuff for the most part!
xo,
s