How I Became the Toy Keeper

Happy Monday! We had the best weekend relaxing as a family and I went to bed on Sunday night beyond grateful for my family but kind of sad that weekends ever have to end!! 

I wanted to share our laundry room organization with you guys because it has revolutionized our life. Being able to stay organized and clutter-free with 4 kids is almost a full-time job but this has made things so much more manageable. 

We don't have a closet in our playroom (biggest fail ever) so before doing this, it was a toy explosion. I bought these shelves from Amazon (the BEST DEAL ever) and loaded them up with these white crates and these storage bins. From there, I went through the piles around the house that didn't have a home (our laundry room is a drop zone, so I started there) and started sorting. We have a bin for winter hats & gloves, summer hats & swim diapers etc., extra diapers & wipes, random shoes that get sorted later, tools and larger games with odd pieces. I also sorted all the small toys that ended up being land mines all over the house. That means all the Peppa's & Daniel Tigers live together, marble tracks, blocks, puzzles, magna-tiles, little people, Minnie Mouse dress-ups and more. I used S hooks to hang things like reusable shopping bags and totes on the side and then used some bottom shelves to store things like extra diaper bags and duffle bags. Not only has the allowed us to maximize an otherwise unusable empty wall, but it gives everything a home - which makes organizing and cleaning up a task that requires little thought. 

Since we've done this, I'm really able to control some of the mess in the house. The rule is only one bin down at a time - which might sound a little rigid, but otherwise, things start to unravel. We have lots of other toys around the house that don't need keeping, and are free to play with whenever. So if Winnie (the typical culprit) wants to play with magna-tiles, she has to put away all the little people before I will get the next bin out. The kids have learned that they have to pick up after themselves, and there's a delayed gratification that comes from not having full time access to some of their favs.