I'm not going to lie - this is probably one of my less interesting posts! But gosh darn it, I worked so hard on getting these toys organized that I'm writing a post about it!
Our playroom has been OUT OF CONTROL. Maybe because we've been stuck inside for a month straight and have major cabin fever? Maybe its because we just added a dozen new toys between Christmas and Leo's birthday? Regardless of the reason), the toys and the mess have been overwhelming me. A lot. I tried implementing a "rule" that we clean up the playroom before naps and bedtime. It makes the space clean, but it still is a problem because it takes up too much time. Time I'd much rather spend doing something else!
Seeing that the above clearly wasn't the solution to my problem, I knew I had to implement some better organizational methods with the toys in order to get our playroom under control and make it easier to maintain.
Before we get into that, let me SHOW you the problem. Here is our playroom on an average afternoon before nap time. Yes, this room was clean in the morning.
Anyway, now that you've seen the embarrassingly messy corner of my house, let's move on to the solution. It was a little overwhelming to begin with because honestly I didn't know where to start. I didn't even have a handle on what we had or what kind of storage we needed. That being said, I just dove in and started organizing the toys into categorical piles so I could see what I had... balls, dinosaurs, blocks, tools, trains, etc. I didn't have storage bins yet, so once everything was sorted I put them into plastic grocery bags so I could keep my piles together and get an idea of how many bins I would need and how big they should be. This helped me quantify things a TON!
Additionally, as we organized toys we decided to donate A LOT of them that the kids just never really played with. We filled a huge box for "kids who don't have any toys." It was awesome seeing Miles understand that he was making a sacrifice to help other people and he was HAPPY to give things away to other kids. (In fact, I had to hold him back a little!) Warms my heart!
We also took two bigger bins of toys to the basement that we can rotate out to keep things "fresh" and also to help reduce the clutter upstairs.
Once this process was complete I went online to Amazon and ordered two six-packs of Sterilite 18-quart clear storage bins. Just the right size for each of my piles! Thank God for Amazon Prime and the fact these arrived 48-hours later because I couldn't wait to get the toys into the bins.
I then got these chalkboard labels from the Container Store so I could label each bin.
And there we go.. a place for everything and everything in it's place!
Honestly they've already been a big success. I feel like the kids are looking at their toys with fresh eyes and are way more focused/engaged when they are playing. And of course, it's a lot easier to clean up just one small bin containing 10-toys than two huge baskets with 200-toys! We're ALL thankful for that!
Anyway, like I said, I know it isn't the most interesting post in the world but for us it was truly a game changer and a time saver!
I have a few more things in this room that we are overhauling in the near future, so stay tuned for more!
We finally finished Miles' playroom and couldn't be more pleased with the result!
We started with a new, plush carpet and then added in all the toys a little boy could dream of. We got him this awesome Restoration Hardware tent for his first birthday. It is a HIT! He loves crawling in there and playing peek-a-boo, and it is his favorite spot to read books. I have a feeling he will continue to love this even more as he gets older! He also loves the lights - they are from Bright Lab Lights.
Next, we brought the bean bag down from his bedroom, which is great because it is getting way more use down here. He loves running to it and collapsing on it (usually in a fit of giggles). We have his wagon in here as well for rides around the house until it gets warm enough to go outside again.
The pack-n-play is a MUST as this is our go to "safe spot" for him when we need to leave him alone for a minute.
Last but not least, all of his toys are lined up along one side of the room for easy access and easy clean-up.