By The Wiz

1. Sorry. You just described my life. The only solution I’ve come up with (and threaten often) is to throw them all out. The toys. Not the children. Although I’ve come close to doing that, too.

   Comment #1 by cherylJanuary 29th, 2008 at 7:32 am

2. Smaller bins?

   Less toys?

   Rotate toys?

   Comment #2 by Susan MJanuary 29th, 2008 at 7:34 am

3. Put your house up for sale…you would be amazed what you can keep clean! LOL…JK…kinda.

   Every Christmas Night (yea, I know…a little weird) I go through the kids toys and throw about half away. This is all while the kids are engrossed in their new toys or game or video, so they aren’t aware of what is happening. They have yet to remember any of the toys I get rid of.

   We have two bins like these:
   http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BFfdsJEnL._AA280_.jpg
   one for the boys and one for the girls toys, Anything that doesn’t fit (the large toys, strollers…ect) goes along side of it. I seriously don’t keep a lot of toys in the house. I don’t have a toy room either, it is in the family room, it forces me to keep the toys picked up. The kids help out every night to pick up the family room!

   That is what works for me!

   Comment #3 by LeiGulJanuary 29th, 2008 at 7:49 am

4. I do a couple of things. Take a picture of what toy goes in what bin, laminate it and tape it to the front. That way the kids know what goes where.
   I rotate toys in and out of the garage to mix things up a bit.
   I also put a bunch of toys in the garage I don’t think get played with and wait a couple of months. If they don’t miss them, they’re out of there.

   Comment #4 by mmilesJanuary 29th, 2008 at 7:50 am

5. Two thoughts:

   1) We used to keep all toys in the toyroom, now we have divided toys into bedrooms and the mess is soooo much less. My older kids (7 and 6) rarely make a mess with their toys, and when they do it’s not too daunting for them to clean.

   My two little ones (3 and 2) share a room and it’s also the toyroom when little friends come over. We do bins and, while it gets messy, it’s pretty easy to sort it all back in. We put certain toys in certain bins so they don’t have to dig (dump) so much to find favorites.

   We started at a very young age making sure the toys were put away each day and that the kids helped. Definitely more work for me initially, but now even our youngest knows where most the toys go and cleaning up is an easy habit.

   2)We have “family garage sale” once or twice a year. First we ask the kids to go through their toys and get rid of anything they don’t want anymore. Then DH and I go through the remaining toys with them and offer to buy toys we’d like to see go. We start with 5 or 10 cents. We go up to about 50 cents ($1 on things we really want gone). If they still won’t take the offer we know they REALLY want to keep that toy.

   We don’t do yard sales generally, so we take all the toys we purchased from our kids to a thrift store or the church nursery.

   We round up the money the kids made from us to $10 or $15 to purchase ONE new toy at the store. Kind of a lot, but they generally bring home better quality stuff with this amount. One bigger toy is a lot better than 25 smaller ones cluttering the house. Plus, I figure whatever we spend on new toys we would have spent on new storage for old toys.

   Comment #5 by solJanuary 29th, 2008 at 7:59 am

6. You have hit on a subject near and dear to my heart! I am obsessed with toy organization. Sometimes I actually find it fun to dump out the entire bucket of toys just to reorganize all the parts and pieces that people just throw in there. I know, I’m totally nuts. Here’s what I do: Any toy that has lots of little pieces or accessories gets its own shoe box sized plastic container. That way when a kid says, “Mom where are my little plastic animals??!!” I can point them in the right direction. The containers all get stacked on a shelf. The larger toys or toys with no extra pieces just go in a large plastic bin. Any toys the kids don’t play with for a while go down in the basement to take a break for a few months. Then I rotate the toys every couple of months. The kids love to see the old stuff from the basement come back! If some toys just don’t get played with often enough or if I find them particularly annoying, they get donated. So listen up grandparents, unless you want your gift promptly donated don’t give the kids toys that require batteries!

   Comment #6 by apple pieJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:06 am

7. It’s like I started singing after the second toys, didn’t even need to read that it was from MFL….now that’s songs in my head thanks a lot.

   Comment #7 by KageJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:15 am

8. Toy Bags! I sorted my son’s toys into piles and then cut and sewed drawstring bags for each pile. The bags can go in a closet or hang on hooks on the wall. I also had my husband draw a picture with a fabric marker on the front of each bag (a car on the cars bag, a lego on the legos bag…). It has worked well for us. He rarely empties more than one bag at a time. The bigger toys that don’t fit into a bag, go into a box on his bedroom floor.

   Comment #8 by JuleeJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:17 am

9. No advice. Just laughing sadly. This very morning I sent my children out the door with the empty threat that I was going to clean their room with a garbage bag while they were at school. The threat was empty because I don’t want to clean their room any more than they do. I feel kind of bad about it now, but just a little.

   Comment #9 by wesley's momJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:17 am

10. We do the smaller plastic boxes with lids for small toys or toys with lots of pieces as well. What a life saver!

    Comment #10 by solJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:18 am

11. We have theme boxes. One for the legos, one for the tinker toys, one for the lincoln logs, dolls, dress-up clothes, etc. Plus, I am the mean mom and I keep the toys way up high where they cannot be reached without the help of an adult, so the toys cannot all be dumped out at once. We also have a strict one-box-at-a-time rule…it really cuts down on the mess and I always know where everything is. Twice a year we go through the toys and find things to donate, which helps as well.

    Comment #11 by fluffychickyJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:18 am

12. You definietly need theme boxes. That way the boxes don’t have to be dumped out for the kid to find something to play with - they just automatically know where to go to find what they are looking for. We have the blocks box, the plastic animal box, the princess box, the stuffed animals box - and like it’s been said, cleaning up is a BUNCH easier because they know where everything goes.

    Also, if I ever see any kids dumping out a toy box I INSTANTLY ask them to put everything back inside and only take out the toy they wanted to play with. My daughter is really good at it now and when her friends come over and start dumping out boxes, she reminds them not to and helps them put everything back. It’s a miracle!

    Comment #12 by HollywoodJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:33 am

13. I need advice too, but i’ll share the little I know is working for me:

    2 shallow and wide drawers under a trina table. someitmes we use them for all the small misc junk. but truly, with their missing pieces they’re junk. so, get rid of stuff. really, don’t be shy. pass it on. Find a shelf to stakc puzzles and coloring books and games, otherwise they’ll be destroyed. something kids can see and remember to use but not reach too easiyl, or else they’ll be a mess on the floor.
    then, get a lot of shoebox-size clear plastic bins. one for each type of blocks. these are good for under the train table.

    we also currently have a wooden train set in our only laundry hamper and a few baskets of tiny stuffed animals. Maybe not the most lovely solution, but they are in use all the time so for now, it’s the best way to go.

    Comment #13 by cchrissyyJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:40 am

14. We’ve recently cleaned our our play room and resorted stuff. I’ve got theme boxes too- but with four kids playing with stuff it’s entirely likely that four completely different games with different toys are going on at any one time.

    My solution is to make them clean it up before lunch and before dinner. Then the mess doesn’t get too out of hand.

    Of course we’ll see how long it lasts before I get lazy…

    Comment #14 by Amber @ Soggy CheeriosJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:51 am

15. I have a bin for each type of toy. We have several Rescue Heroes, and they all go in one box, with their gear and animals. We have one big bin for Little People; the castle and farm don’t fit in it but that’s ok, everything else does. We have a bin for Wooden Thomas stuff, and one for Duplo Thomas stuff. I have some cloth bags too, for mega blocks and beanie babies.

    I mostly keep all the toys in the storage room and try to get out one type of thing at a time. My little one and the next door neighbor are playing with the Little people right now and they’re having a lot of fun because they haven’t played with them for a long time.

    Comment #15 by VickiJanuary 29th, 2008 at 9:10 am

16. my advice is to get a large cabinet (ikea rocks) that you can close AND LOCK. We have seperate bins for each type of toy and they all get locked up… and then… they can only get out one or two types of toys at a time. am i mean? i lock up my kids’ toys? who cares! i have my sanity!

    Comment #16 by AlissaJanuary 29th, 2008 at 9:14 am

17. I did the picture/laminate thing to, but I laminated it on the inside of the box, on the lid, and on the shelf where the box goes. I know it sounds anal, I used to work in a preschool. Also, I put up shelves in the kids’ closet because I never hang up alot of their clothes anyway, so top to bottom shelves were great. Now the toys with a ton of pieces or ones that are only for my older child can go at the top where the toddler can’t reach them. And I hang up any dress up on a peg rack, so its easier to find and put away all of the stinkin’ princess dresses that my daughter’s grandmother feels she needs.

    Comment #17 by McMommyJanuary 29th, 2008 at 9:35 am

18. I love all of the ideas! I only have a 2 year old and an infant, so I don’t have too many kids here all the time to make a mess, but we have LOTS of friends come over because I do some respite work part time (meaning that our “friends” are often disabled, extra hyper, etc.). I have certain toys in certain rooms. Board books are always accessible, paper books are locked up and taken out for story time. Puzzles and other things that I like to played with at the kitchen table I keep in a locked kitchen cupboard. Mr Potato Head, Train sets, legos, etc all have separate bins and are kept out of reach in the bedroom (we don’t have a playroom). When it’s just me and my boys we only have one toy at a time. When we have company there are often several things out, but if one set of things is not being played with, everyone helps to clean up. I also sort through toys every few months to pack away ones that are no longer favorites, and resurrect old ones from the closet. It’s like Christmas every few months. Actually, my sons got so many Christmas presents that several of them went straight to the closet!

    Comment #18 by LucyJanuary 29th, 2008 at 9:59 am

19. OK, I now have “piles” of toys. I am heading right now to Target to buy boxes for them. Oh holy hannah, I hope this works.

    Did I just type ‘holy hannah?’ Yow.

    Comment #19 by The WizJanuary 29th, 2008 at 10:23 am

20. well apparently I have lots of moms who share my OCD here! lol
    I organize everything into it’s own box with a one-box-at-a-time rule as well.
    It’s the random stuff that doesn’t fit in any box that drives me nuts–happy meal toys from grandma, etc. So we keep it in a bin until they get bored (or I get antsy enough) and then I put it in the Goodwill bag.
    Of course we don’t have a playroom, so it’s easier to enforce the rules since the toy boxes are in the living room.

    Comment #20 by snow whiteJanuary 29th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

21. Rubber Maid totes with lids.

    Pictures of what belongs inside taped to the fronts of said totes.

    Only a few totes available for playing with while the others are stored away.

    One tote at a time rule.

    But I see you’ve already gotten that advice….several times.

    And, btw, cye!

    Comment #21 by Tammy and ParkerJanuary 29th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

22. I’ve found that keeping after my kids for cleaning up when they are done gets the best results. That, and staying away from garage sales. Sad as it is, I just can’t seem to help myself when I see a toy that I know costs $10 or $15 in a store at a garage sale for fifty cents. Then, I convince myslef I’m justified becuase it’s like recycling, and not only am I getting a bargain, I’m helping the environment by buying this toy (that my kids don’t need, and I’ll end up giving to goodwill in three months anyway). I get into more toy-room trouble that way…Sigh. Oh well.

    Good luck, Wiz!

    Comment #22 by mellocelloJanuary 29th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

23. I use clear plastic boxes too, but I also have a large laundry bin for big toys.For all of the misc toys (like Happy Meal junk, er, uh I mean highly valued Happy Meal Collectibles) my son came up with his own “lost and found” drawer. He has one drawer in his dresser that he can load up with whatever he wants. Every 6 months or so we clean it out, but it keeps the random stuff out of sight.

    Comment #23 by SherrieJanuary 29th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

24. My SIL decided that she was sick of all the toys and not getting picked up. Her kids were 5 and 3 at the time. So she took them all away. She left books and puzzles. Her daughter kept saying “when I get me toys back…..” and my SIL would say your not and my neice would say I want to go to aunt Valerie’s she has lots of toys.
    I can’t remember how long this lasted, but the kids didn’t die, and they got along quite well. They did eventually get some of their toys back but I don’t think all of them and they are very good about picking up after themselves.
    Worked for her.

    Comment #24 by ValerieJanuary 29th, 2008 at 7:16 pm

25. Wow…toys. Yeah. I have one. She’s 16 months old. She has toys she’s outgrown before she ever even got to them! I’d suggest (and I’m going to do this myself), purging the toys like we purge old clothes. DI loves toys! Other kids will love your toys! My father used to tell me to pick up my room. Anything NOT picked up an hour later (yes, I was excessively lazy) went into a large garbage sack. Sometimes the whole sack was given away. Sometimes the sack was hidden and pulled out 6 months later to replenish my toy supply after ANOTHER sack had been filled. Either way, BBJ and I are going to purge a lot of the toys soon!

    Comment #25 by TeahJanuary 29th, 2008 at 8:37 pm

26. We just went through this one. We bought a wire cube system at Target…6 cubes for $12.99 on sale. Then we headed up to BigLots and bought some foldable fabric cubes…3 for $10. Two sets and we have smaller bins that can be inserted into the wire system and can be organized. We also have used storage bins that we placed pictures on the outside of for easy takeout and pick up. Soooooo organized! We’ll just see if the kids keep them that way!

    Comment #26 by mommy of fourJanuary 30th, 2008 at 11:13 am

27. Here’s an idea for “motivating” (read threatening) the kids to clean up. (My mom did this. You can tell it was memorable!) We set a timer for cleanup time every day. The specific amount of time sometimes varies by the size of the mess, but in general I think 20 minutes is reasonable for our playroom and the ages of our kids. Then they have to beat the timer. If not, whatever is left out goes into Mr. Box. Oh, he’s a bad dude. (But it’s him, not me, ha ha!) They can earn things out of him by beating the timer the next day. We’ve set it up that they earn one thing back the first day of beating the timer, two for the second consecutive day, four for the third consecutive day, eight for the fourth, etc. This encourages consistency. We clean up every day–sometimes I feel like it sucks a huge amount of time out of their afternoons, but on the other hand it gets done! Oh, and before you start it of course helps to clearly organize and label where everything goes and make sure they know.

    Comment #27 by mbJanuary 31st, 2008 at 8:28 am

28. My friend suggested this a year ago, I got it, and our toy “situation” has GREATLY improved. I can’t believe how such a small thing can make me so much happier

    I loved my first Expedit so much (medium size), that I just got another (large size)! I use Rubbermaid bins or the cheap $3 buckets from Ikea.

    See it at: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40047675

    Comment #28 by Saved in TXFebruary 1st, 2008 at 1:29 pm

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