Sometimes, when I can’t control certain aspects of my life, I turn to cleaning and organization for a sense of control. Recently, I’ve been doing what I call pandemic-cleaning. Anyone else?? Just me?? Ok then.
When I’ve had a bad day, often friends will tell me to ignore the laundry piling up or the dishes in the sink and just cuddle up in bed with Netflix or a good book. Here’s the thing, though. For me, cleaning and organizing is therapeutic. It allows me to do something that I know will look prettier when I’m done with it. Which I don’t know when I go into a loaded conversation with my tantrumming 7-year old or stuck on a math-problem 10 year old.
Maybe for you, this is just what you need to get your mind off the pandemic. If not, I won’t be insulted. Also, if you don’t like looking at other people’s organized spaces, scroll on by. Also, if I’m being totally honest, It doesn’t exactly look this organized at the moment.
I’m lucky enough to have a designated playroom in my house (after years of the playroom being in the living room/dining room) and now that I have one, I encourage all my kids to store toys in here. If they have something special that they don’t want other children playing with, they store that in their room, but all family toys currently go in this space.
When I first started storing toys, I stored them all in closed bins and then realized this made it much harder for my kids to clean up after themselves. One year, with a Target gift card I got for my birthday, I switched to these open bins from Target and never looked back. Being able to throw toys in their designated bins makes cleanup easier for me, my kids, and their friends. Win – win – win!
Also, about once a year, I take everything out and sort through it, and throw out broken toys and give away toys my kids don’t play with anymore (ex. the pretend drill my son used once after his birthday and has been gathering dust since.) I don’t like toys that have a ton of parts or require storage not in a designated bin that I already have. Call me crazy, but it works for me! I find that the less stuff we have, the more my kids play with what we do have.
I tried to sort and label (Yes, I own a labeler. Yes, I may have passed on my label obsession to my children.) each bin into categories – animal, tools, Barbies and all their accessories, bigger dolls, puppets, magnatiles, playstix, etc.
The bigger bins on the bottom are for things that won’t fit in smaller bins – dress up (we have 3 bins for that!), transportation (cars, trucks, planes, etc.), and a whole bin designated for a train set.
The top shelf is reserved for toys and puzzles (which we have bought a lot more of since the pandemic started) with super small pieces that need to be played under adult supervision so someone doesn’t accidentally take them out when we have a baby around. I also have an unofficial “gift closet” – doubles of toys my kids have gotten for their birthdays we plan to regift.
What about Lego? Our Lego storage is my crowning achievement. It is on the bottom right in those white bins from Target again sorted by color. We only did that after watching Lego Masters and my kids becoming obsessed with creating their own Lego challenges with each other. Upside is that they play with it so much more often this way. Downside is that they hate breaking stuff apart – hence the impromptu Lego storage of Lego creations below the loose Legos.
Whatever doesn’t easily fit in to a bin category, I tried as hard as possible to pare down and give away. We have lots of toys for building and pretend play, and very little electronic toys. (I still have the jingle from my son’s ball toy he had when he was a baby running through my head – no more please!).
Not pictured is a game shelf that we have in a bookshelf on another wall of this room and a play kitchen stocked with pretend food and dishes.
And there you have it! Any questions, feel free to comment below and I’ll get back to you!