Organizing Tips - Payne,OH

Clean out / throw away, garage sale, donate.
There aren't a lot of toys that are truly "special" so you don't have to keep things that haven't been played with for a long time, or that they've outgrown. My oldest son has a dog, a bear, Bob the Builder, Diego, a cow beanie, and a bear from his big brother class at the hospital. That's all. My youngest son has a bear, a frog, Bob the Builder, and Donald Duck. That's all. There's just no need for tons of dolls/animals. Moderation is a good thing.

I have three junk drawers too. So I can't be of very good help. I do have the best doll /stuffed animal storage device ever though. I use an old baby bassinet (mine is antique wicker). it gets stuff off the floor, its a breaze to vacuum and great way to contain the animals. I'm supprised just how many dolls and stuffed animals I can fit into it.

Definitely go with picture labels.

My kids have one small cabinet apiece for stuffed animals. If it doesn't fit, something has to go.

One small bin for things that don't go with anything else (slinky, bday party junk). Ours is shoebox sized. Again if it doesn't fit, it goes.

the best thing to add to those clear plastic bins is a picture of whats inside. If your kids can see whats in them great, but when the bins are empty, its hard for them to rationalize what goes back in the bin. With pictures on the outside, they can easily help.

We use the clear, back of the door shoe holders for two places in the house. One in the playroom to hold dr.'s kit, dress up jewelry, doll baby bottles and diapers, misc. toys, etc. The other one in a pantry closet for tape, batteries, and the junk drawer stuff.

I also label everything and put pictures of what is supposed to be in each bin. That takes the needing to read out of the equation for clean up.

We keep very few stuffed animals - esp. large ones. We also bought a HUGE four drawer plastic compartment (two LARGE drawers and two small drawers). The large drawers hold the baby dolls and small stuffed animals and dress up clothes and costumes. One small but wide drawer hold hats and large accessories for dress up. The top small drawer holds some electronic Leap Frog toys that need to be out of the babies reach and not collect dust.

Good luck. Once you get it organized you HAVE TO instill the daily pick up of it. Once you train them that everything has a home, it is easy for them to put things away and not get overwhelmed. :)

I would get a 'hammock' for the stuffed animals. They make them with 3 ends specifically for this, so it can easily fit in a corner. :)

I recommend you not use 1 large bin for the little people, barbie, etc. My boys had 1 large bin for legos and would dump the entire thing to look for 1 kind of piece - it was all over the floor all the time. We went to smaller bins with types of legos divided (building, vehicle parts, people/animals, etc) and it worked much better. You can get all kinds of sizes of clear bins at the Container store at Easton in Columbus that are inexpensive and stack well (they are near the shoe box/hanger section). I put stuffed animals in one of those big round tubs with handles.

I second the hammock idea from red.

Also, if it doesn't really "go" with anything, get rid of it. You cannot keep clutter clean and you will find yourself back where you started sooner than you would like.

We keep very few stuffed animals - they are never played with and they just sit and take up space. Have the kids pick one or two they really love, then tell them we (as a family) are going to donate the rest to kids who probably don't have any stuffed animals and/or few toys. Then bring the kids with you to a shelter or similar agency and donate the items. They will remember it forever and what better way to organize your home? Do the same with all other "misc" items!

Also, we just purchased a toy box from Wal Mart - about $70 plus free shipping site to store - holds almost all the big items - one toy box per child. Those items that didn't fit got donated - so if they really wanted to keep it, they had to make it fit!

They also make bins that fit nicely into a holder - see onestepahead.com for some organization tools like what I am referring to. We store so many items in these bins: scissors, glue, stickers, glitter, little cars, flash cards, army men, the list goes on. They also have a really neat book holder, but it is quite pricey. Below are a few links I think may be helpful. Good luck!

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/thumbnail.jsp?siteId=...

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&sugexp=l...#

big toys I always store on a table where they can be played with in a corner. Like my DD's barbie castle (hopefully it goes to goodwill soon actually) it's in a corner and I sat it at an angle so that there is a space behind it and that is where the container of barbies sits and hides. play sets for little people and such I always shelve with the container of smaller pieces next to them, then just laminate a picture so they know what goes on the shelf. Clear contact paper works for that as well. Stuffed animals-the hammock is my best suggestion as well, get a big one, or several and hang in a corner, I've even hung two, one above another cause my DD had a ton of stuffed animals for awhile. They also making hanging cubbies, it's a mesh container, normally round with openings and we use those for stuffed animals as well.

Something to keep in mind, that I never thought of till after the fact either, if you are making a storage shelf yourself, make it to store what you have. if you have a doll house make sure you have a shelf space for it, ect.