I still haven't quite decided if this idea of mine is genius, or a little cruel. But it is working for us, so I'll share it anyway.
We have two small closets in our playroom. There wasn't a whole lot about our house that I loved when we first bought it, but I've always loved the space we enjoy in our upstairs bonus room. My wise husband was able to see past the wallpaper, popcorn ceilings (those aren't going anywhere anytime soon) and brass fixtures and see the great potential for the rooms in our house. All I saw was 1993. It was a great time, really. We were all watching Family Matters and Full House and all was well for me as a third grader. But, just so much floral wallpaper. So much.
Back to the playroom. Our house has dormers, so the space between those windows has small closets. The playroom has two, one with shelves already and one with a clothes hanging rack. Not too long ago, I had an epiphany. Or I got really tired of always picking up toys and decided right then and there something had to change.
I put almost all the toys in a closet. And installed a lock.
In my true
I don't care if things are clean, but I like for them to be organized fashion, I gathered similar toys into some boxes, put puzzles in others, etc. Then I neatly placed them into the closet and chain locked them away.
The deal is, I will get one box out at a time. Once they are finished playing with that box, they have to pick it all up and then I'll get another one out. On the other hand, since I'm the one who put them all up in an order that makes sense to me, if they're looking for something specific, I can usually put my hands on it pretty fast. Also, in desperate times, with permission, our oldest can get up on a chair and unlock it herself. It's mostly the two year old that is the most destructive, but no one likes to pick up a room full of toys.
You may not have an empty closet that you can lock toys away into. Another trick to keeping the toy clutter down is putting toys that they don't play with often into a 30 gallon tub and storing it out of sight: garage, attic, back of a closet, grandma's house.. Every season or so, I bring that tub out, empty it, then fill it back up with toys that they've had out recently. I usually do this about the same time I'm changing out their clothes for a new season. They are hilarious. "Oh YE AH! I love this! I forgot all about this! Thanks so much for getting this out, Mom, you're the best!" (having no idea I just filled it back up with other toys that had been in the playroom) I think other moms call this cycling toys, and it works. Again, that is only helpful if you have room to store these things. If not, fill up that bucket/box with things they don't play with, take it to a thrift store and drop it off with no regrets! Our kids need to play outside more anyway with sticks and rocks and stuff.
Here are some other options I saw today at HomeDepot that get the same job done without looking so dungeon-y.
Fall is a great time to purge and those of us with multiple kids understand the need to purge toys every now and then. Handing down toys is also a great thing. We have several younger cousins. Sometimes I bargain with mine and offer them a dollar if they will donate a toy, or pass it along to a cousin or friend. I don't make them, but that's when you know they really don't need it anymore if they're willing to part with it for $1. Keep sentimental toys for grandkids. I love that our moms still have some of the toys we played with as children. Don't trash it all, but don't let toys overwhelm you. That's pretty silly. And no fun!
You know what is fun?!? It's the first day of fall! My very favorite time of the year!! Hooray!!!! Mums galore!
