i know i have posted about my toyoverload syndrome before. this week i have decided to make it my thoughts for thursday post. why? because i am in desparate need of some suggestions. this weekend is going to be dedicated as much as possible to project organization. i am going to try to start with tucker's room (more specifically the toys that are strewn throughout the entire house). lord help me.
we do not have a large house. tucker doesn't have a playroom to catch the overflow of toys from his room. no, that's what our living room/dining room/kitchen is for. urgh, not any more! last weekend i did pack up one more tote of 'babyish toys' from his room, but i still have more to do.
as you can see in the picture here, he does have drawers that are big and deep that i can store things in. he also has a bookshelf for his books (along with another basket of books in the living room). usually these are all over the floor because he picks out 30 books a night to read! anyways...i also had bought him a twin bed in the beginning of the year because i got a deal on it. it has storage underneath it, four drawers and a small cupboard to be exact (sorry, no picture). right now he has his socks in one drawer, pj's in another, pants in the third, and the fourth has some shirts. i'm thinking this will stay clothing storage so he isn't messing with the drawers all the time. in the picture you can also see how small the toybox we have is. the toybox is great, but i want to divide up his trucks/blocks/people/etc. i've been thinking about getting these, but they seem so 'cheap', and i would rather get this. it's kind of cute. but i need more storage than that. oh boy.
so, on my mission to a more organized life kid's bedroom, what tips do you mom's have for me? i know some of you are good at this and do cool things in your kid's rooms. so dish ladies!
needs some other thoughts to chew on today? here are some other tft bloggers: nicole, heather, jess, heather, jenny, amy, michelle, kristi, kasey, denise, ashley, zoe, and mary.
lets seeeee, first you could buy some box like baskets of different sizes, then you could have matt build a longer (but low enough for tucker to reach on top of it)shelf like unit for the different baskets, it wouldn't cost much for matt to put it together and it would match his room. i think that would be super cute, if the baskets get bad over time you could just replace them............he could put it together after hunting season. i think it would be neat!! maybe i could even buy the wood and call it part of tucker's x mas present???
Posted by: jenny's mom / tucker's gramma | 2007.10.27 at 08:03
we battle this too because our house is very small and filled with too many people and too much stuff. like nicole i also like ikea...their stuff is practical, functional and affordable.
Posted by: zoe | 2007.10.26 at 12:15
I'm not sure if this would help but my sister would box up some of my niece and nephews toys and put them away in storage for a few weeks. Then on a rainy day when the kids are bored of playing with the same old toys, she would bring out their toys that have been boxed up for a few weeks and it was like Christmas for them. They had forgotten that they had all of those fun toys to play with. So then, she would do the same thing with the toys that were still out. It was the rotation of toys which helped keep her small house with 3 children be less messy, chaotic and cluttered.
Posted by: Denise H. | 2007.10.26 at 10:48
Urgh! I'm sorry to say that my only ideas in dealing with the massive amount of toys an only child and only grandchild accumulates are of the garbage bag variety.
We have a large rubbermaid bin for his train tracks and one of those Sterlite drawer units for cars, action figures, etc. Sadly, this doesn't cut it and our home is trashed by toys. I'm planning on going through everything and getting rid of the ones he doesn't play with often, but the older he gets, the better his memory becomes. GAH!
Posted by: MrsPop | 2007.10.26 at 10:07
I wish I had some advice for you! I am a huge fan of baskets, but even then it seems like there is always clutter in our house!
Posted by: Jenny | 2007.10.25 at 21:19
We have the girly version of the Target bins (I got them on sale at K-Mart for $25) in Alyssa's closet. It works really, really well for her. She has a bin for Barbie and her junk (lol), a bin for her doctor kit, etc, etc. She likes it because it's easy to put the stuff away. She has some larger containers with lids for her art supplies, and she always has to be reminded to put them away instead of just laying the stuff on top of the containers...so I'm a big fan of anything she doesn't have to take a lid off of, or pull off of a shelf...it's much more likely that I won't have to nag her about cleaning up as much! It works great for the smaller toys, but we still struggle with the bigger stuff. It's never-ending, isn't it?!
I really love that IKEA system that Nicole left in her comment!!!
Posted by: Jessica | 2007.10.25 at 17:13
I love these Trofast storage things from Ikea. If you go to the "Children's Room" section on teh website it shows different sample rooms and ideas to use the different Trofast systems. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10091453
They're relatively cheap and you can choose what size buckets to use in them (there are 3 different sizes).
Posted by: Nicole Barczak | 2007.10.25 at 15:05
I don't really have any advice either. For us, we don't have a ton of toys because I don't believe Matthew NEEDS them. He could use some new ones now that he's older but we still get them in moderation. I used to rotate his toys so they always seemed new until we moved and I just don't have the space right now to put some away. Right now we are using a laundry basket to house a good portion of them until my dad makes his toybox. We also have 2 canvas bins we had for his changing table that have now become toys & storage for smaller toys. But, the biggest thing for us is we have a corner in our living room designated for his toys and then he has a few in his room. We make him help us put them all away before bed every night and he actually does a pretty good job most of the time. For his books, we have a place for them but ended up having to take most of them away because he chewed holes in them or they are too long that he has no interest in reading them so for now they are in his closet.
If there are any toys you'd like to get rid of though, I'm sure I know a little boy who would love to put them to good use ;-)
Posted by: Sarah S. | 2007.10.25 at 14:39
i have the target bins. i was really hesitant of them as i thought some other similar ones were rather cheaply made. i have had the target one for almost two years, and they're still like new.
i too am on a quest to be organized as well. the toys are definitely my big issue. as for my advice, and what i am trying to do (though it's almost 8 years too late) don't hold on to as much stuff or don't get as much to begin with.
i don't know what you have with respect to toys but my advice to people is to keep it simple. it makes things so much easier!!! hope this helps.
Posted by: amy | 2007.10.25 at 14:32
ugh! The clutter! It's the story of my life! I use to be so organized but it has gotten out of control! It's on my agenda for the weekend to get it back in order. My sister has the colorful target bins and I think they work great. This past weekend I got two tub like bins that were kind of cute from Walmart. I got one for books and one for random toys. Sorry I don't have better advice.......I'm in the same boat :)
Posted by: Mary | 2007.10.25 at 13:59