Wednesday, September 10, 2008

A clean toy room!

We have toys. A lot of toys. And lately, I have just been getting completely sick and tired of said toys being strewn from heck to breakfast all over my house. I don't know how so many of you out there manage to have it all together and keep your houses orderly and presentable, but this is something we struggle with over here. My kids can take a clean house and turn it into a CPS case faster than I can use the bathroom.

So it came down to this: either throw away all of the toys, or find some way to lock them away so that I can have control. We came up with the (rather expensive) solution of purchasing plastic bins with lids from Walmart and gigantic wardrobes with shelves from Ikea. And so, $600 and some serious hard labor later, I have a newly organized toy room.

Our new rule is they can each play with one bin at a time. If they want to play with something else, they have to clean up the first bin before they can get another out. And again, without the locks there is no way this system would work around here--not with these two around.
I am mad at how blurry this picture came out, but it is still cute.

15 comments:

Brandi Jo said...

I love to organize!! I just made my blog private. Send me an email and I'll send you an invite! bambiejojo@cox.net

Carly said...

Wow! I am impressed. I'm sure I'll have to come up with something similar when we have another one. It's not as hard to keep up with one little rascal. It looks great! I hope this helps you to be able to relax a little more.

brookegfunk said...

Wow! I dream of such cleanliness!

The Dominguez Family said...

It looks really good and I think the one box for kid works pretty well because when cy was over it didn't take long for them to clean up...

Phil and Stacie said...

Wow! I only dream of such organization =)

Lexi said...

that sounds like a good idea. and it looks great. i like that last picture. very cute.

Maylene said...

That looks great! I'm sure it will be way worth it for how organized and clean things will stay. Plus you won't lose so many pieces to toys.

Téa said...

Wow, Hillari, fantastic idea and implementation. I completely understand about the child tsunamis that rip through the house in no time at all.

That lower pic of Isaac & Sareny is precious!!

Amy said...

I LOVE it! I'm thinking we need to do something along those lines at my house. Thanks for the idea!

Summer said...

I love organization! What a great idea! We just keep throwing out the toys. My kids would love this alternative!

Amy O'Neill said...

That is such a great idea! One day I would like to be that organized... your gonna have to share this at our upcoming Enrichment on organizing! ;)

Charlene said...

I love it. I wish I would have thought of that when my kids were younger. It would have saved a lot of aggravation!

Vicki said...

You are so organized!! You are my hero! I should try that, but I would probably need 100 bins to fit all of our toys.

Anonymous said...

Wow, the cabinets are awesome and the kids hugging...so cute!

Sarah & Eddie said...

Those turned out real nice!! Our idea of orginization (and toys) aound here is: keeping the mess in the play room and closing the door when the mess gets too out of control. I like your method better :)