Corral those tiny toys & a #SpeedClean!featured
Here’s the thing: toys are transitory.
(Heck, childhood is transitory and fleeting, but that’s a whole ‘nother box of tissues.) Toys will always be acquired, ignored, outgrown, and piled. So an abundance of toys doesn’t stress me out anymore. Quite literally, these too shall pass.
But as for storage…
I encourage/force my kids to constantly sort their toys into sell/keep/donate piles. (It helps that we live near a bunch of great secondhand shops, so anything sold easily facilitates a quick trip to purchase yet more Lalaloopsy dolls. Rinse, repeat.)
And the stuff your kids absolutely can’t live without (for today)?
That stuff needs a place.
That stuff needs a place that’s highly functional.
That stuff needs a place that’s highly functional and able to be understood by your kids.
This brings me to my three rules of toy storage:
Keep like with like.
It’s easy to shove All Small Pieces or Anything Soft into the same bin- but the moment someone needs something in a vaguely sorted box? Welcome to Floorpile City, population: the dregs of your sanity. It doesn’t need to require flow charts, but cars like to hang out with cars, and tiny people shouldn’t mingle with ponies. (Those jerks hate each other.)
Be truthful about the limitations of time and space.
Again, it feels good fill a toy chest or basket to the brim…until the moment you need something. Sorting beforehand may feel crazy (especially when you start talking for the Barbie dolls), but it’ll help figure out how much storage you actually need. Which will also save you from stressed-out Not Arguments In Front of the Kids once you’ve assembled those adorable, handmade Etsy boxes that, like, hold two LEGO cars. (For example.)
Repeat steps 1 & 2 All. The. Time.
The act of picking up toys will never be finished. As long as you have kids who keep winding up with Happy Meal toys, you’ll have clutter. So you can either rush through their childhood- oof- or implement systems your kids acknowledge, if not fully dig. (Plus, once you have specific places for each type of toy, you can sweep up trolls with push brooms and feel like a marauding giant.)
My friend B gave me this fantastic cubby shelf, originally from Target- which I painted white in about thirty minutes of hands-on time in the backyard. (Pro tip: When you start painting a lacquered shelf, it will initially look terrible. Really terrible. This is normal. Let dry in between coats- and definitely give it three coats. You’re welcome in advance.)
This is also a great time to say that, unless you’re talking about an heirloom or really, really nice piece of woodwork, don’t be afraid to paint. It’s paint. Paint is a) relatively cheap, b) decently fixable, and c) incredibly impactful.
Back to the shelving.
We added some 13inch canvas baskets with sturdy handles. (Whichever storage options you choose, make sure you measure, measure, and measure again for the inserts. Nothing kills a decluttering buzz like bins or baskets hanging over the side or crumpled down on top.) We’re fond of these cute, brightly colored ones from Amazon. These are great because the baskets are virtually indestructible, easily replaceable, and hold a respectable amount of pretend kitchen food.
My trio and I decided upon categories that made sense TO THEM for their smallish stuff. Because it’s all well and good for ME to decide how to store things, but if they know where stuff is supposed to go? Half the battle. Three quarters of the battle, in fact. We made sorting piles well before I ever began painting- annoying to have piles just hanging out in the playroom, but so incredibly helpful to know if I was tilting at windmills in terms of if things would fit in the new storage unit. (It was also a great opportunity to throw stuff out, donate, and stage an epic troll battle.)
Our categories (for now)
- Instruments
- Balls
- Tiny People, all brands
- Trolls (very different than Tiny People)
- Pretend Food
- Pretend Cooking/Serving Implements
- Littlest Pet Shop (Pets)
- Littlest Pet Shop (Accessories)
- Cars
And they all fit! And now, when I’m less than pleasant in my tidying directives, there’s veeeery few helpless cries of “But I don’t know where it goessssss.”*
(*Definitely still happens. But now I know that they’re entirely making it up.)
And now, for fun, my first-ever Speed Clean.
(Or- “Isn’t it fun to watch someone else organize for 30 seconds?)
Comments? Thoughts? Questions about the ukelele?
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