There aren’t many things that get me as excited than a Chikfila sandwich and a new season of Vanderpump Rules, but organizing definitely makes it on the list. In this post, I’ll share with you my method for children’s toy organization in 5 simple steps. I wanted to start the new year off with a post about how to organize every parents most dreaded part of the house: toys! A new year means new beginnings and for most people it means cleaning their homes, decluttering, and organizing (especially after Christmas!).
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Toy Organization Step 1: gather all toys into one common area
You’re going to hate me for this, but I promise it’ll be worth it. You have to get all of the toys into one common area so that you can see what you have, and what you need to get rid of. So, if you’ve got toys in different areas of the house, gather them all into one area for the next step, sorting.
Toy Organization Step 2: sort toys by categories
In step 2, you’ll sort the toys into 2 categories:
- Sell/ donate
- Keep
- Throw away/ Recycle
Toys to Sell/ Donate
Pull out all of the toys that the kids have outgrown or no longer play with. These are the toys that you want to sell or donate. If they kids have not played with the toy(s) in more than a few weeks, then it’s time to give them to a home that will get more use out of them!
The key here is to get these toys bagged/ boxed up and taken to Good Will or their new home as soon as possible, otherwise it will just add to your clutter. The point is the lighten the load, so get rid of them as soon as you can!
Toys to Keep
This pile is obviously for any of the the toys that the kids still play with and enjoy. Make sure to keep these in a separate pile because you’ll have to organize them in step 3!
Toys to Throw Away/ Recycle
This pile is for any of the toys that are broken or no longer work. Get rid of these right away so that they don’t add to the clutter. See which ones need to be thrown away and which ones can be recycled.
Toy Organization Step 3: organize toys by type
Now that you’re left with all of the toys that you plan on keeping, you should organize them by type. For example, you might have a pile for:
- Cars
- Dolls
- Dress up
- Blocks
Toy Organization Step 4: put like toys into labeled bins/ containers
Next, get some bins and/or plastic containers and put all like toys in the same bin/ container with labels. Check out these clear containers and bins from Amazon.
I like these clear containers because it would be easy for kids to see what’s inside of them.
Here’s an example of two containers in our toy cabinet:
This is what the inside of our toy cabinet looks like:
I think it’s important to label your bins/ containers so that both you and your children (who are old enough/ can read) know where things belong and can keep the toys organized. Plus, it helps when they’re looking for a specific toy.
Toy Organization Step 5: store toys in a bookshelf or covered cabinet
Using a book shelf with bins, or some other kind of covered cabinet is a great way to keep your toys organized. I like our cabinet we got from IKEA because it has doors and hides everything! Ours is actually a TV stand, so if you’re looking for something similar be sure to look in that section.
The best part about having a cabinet? When you don’t have time to clean up and keep the toys organized you can just throw everything in the bins and shut the cabinet doors! Voila!
Bonus tip: get into the habit of cleaning up toys before school and before bed. Get the kids involved and make it part of their routine or on their chore/ responsibility chart. I never start work or go to bed without the kids helping me clean up whatever mess they made with their toys.
I know it seems like a daunting task, but it’ll be so worth it once you have an organized toy space, especially one where toys can be easily accessed and found.
What are some of your favorite organization tips or hacks for organizing children’s toys?
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