Not sure if this is ok or not here but I am so over toys and need to do a clean out but I need help organizing and what to use. I need ideas. We don’t have a lot of room, toys are everywhere all the time. I get it it’s just I need help finding what works with so many options or even DIY ideas. My mental health is drained lately because I can’t stay organized and I just don’t know what to do. My kids are 3 and 9 months it’s a lot to just take care of their needs let alone not feeling organized.
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Divvy up the toys into categories. Pick some from each category, including the favorites. Box up the rest & rotate them out.
Once the kids have played with cheap plastic items they are usually done. I used to collect them in a drawer. Once they reached critical mass I’d bathe the McDonald’s plastic toys and the like in alcohol & give them to elementary schools to hand out as prizes/incentives. They probably just threw them away, but I have trouble tossing stuff so that was my solution.
Take control of the toy box. Each child can have 3 toys out but if they want another toy they have to return one. You may have to put in lots of time exchanging toys, but after a while they will learn to do this on their own so you no longer have to police the process.
Play music and have the kids pick up the toys and put them in bins as an activity. Do it at the same times every day if possible. Give them 3, 2, and 1 minute alerts (make it sound like fun vs. punishment) then all the toys have to be put away before the end of the clean-up song. The one from the old Barney the purple dinosaur works.
The best suggestion has already been mentioned- rotate toys out! My youngest is 6 and loves different types of building block sets. For small toys: I have totes that are about 8x15 and 12 inches tall that I sort all the different sets in along with other toy sets like cars. They are stacked in the top shelf of his closet. He has 2 sets at one time in one of those 3 cube storage units. 2 of the openings in the unit have the fabric cubes for the sets and the other we leave open for books. He’s special needs so he can be quite fixated on the same things for awhile. But we usually rotate at least one of the toy sets out every week or two. For bigger toys: he has a toy box in his room. I don’t really limit how much he can take out but there’s probably only 12 things in there total and he can put them all back pretty quickly- but this is in HIS room, not a common area like the living room.
My 10 year old has a storage ottoman in his room that acts like his toy box. He also has totes that roll under his bed for legos- I LOVE these because he doesn’t even take the legos out of the bins. He builds everything right in the bin and when it’s time to clean up he puts the lid on and rolls it back under his bed.
Those are for my kids “personal” toys that belong to them specifically.
We used to have “house” toys that the boys shared or just didn’t want in their rooms. Those were in the basement living room. They lived in one of the 9 cube storage units. If you can’t tell, I like cube storage lol.
Our house is very small too. Here’s some things that help me in general (can be applied to toys). Everyone in the house here is also neurodivergent…so I’ve had to adopt some more creative strategies.
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utilize vertical space. For example we bought a cloth shoe organizer and hung on their door for their crayons and coloring stuff. It could be used for other things too though. Then we had a old shoe rack that had like a metal frame and we hung it on the wall put hot wheel tracks in
In my bedroom I got some metal planters and hung those on the wall and have put some of my crafting stuff in them…this one looks kinda neat. -
cubby shelves and then categorize…adding a label to the bins. If your kids aren’t old enough to read draw or print a picture of the kind of toy that’s in each bin.
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Clean out. I think this one is the most difficult; but if it hasn’t been actually used or played with in 6 months then it’s probably time to let it go (with some exceptions like seasonal specific items or things for special occasions)
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cheap Tupperware or Ziploc bags for things with lots of pieces (puzzles Legos ect)
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Junk boxes have been a lifesaver.
Every room has a pretty little basket or bin. i Toss stuff in them and then at the end of the day (or whenever they get full) I’ll just carry it with me as I put stuff away.